opuntia
Religion is Law
The consequences of believing are that we may believe in something that actually exists or actually does not exist. Faith as a principle is true if something exists, otherwise it is an exercise in futility. Paul the Apostle wrote:
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you [Corinthian saints] that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ [the believers] are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:12-20; KJV).
True faith obviously must reside on a real object; otherwise, our faith is vain. Paul speaks of God as actually existing, where he says that this is the church of the living God. (1 Timothy 3:15). Actualities have the propensity for revealing themselves at some point in time, where we will know for ourselves as to whether an object is true or not.
Jesus has stated that God will reveal Himself to those of sufficient faith:
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8).
What is the point in believing in God if we are never to see Him? It would seem the greatest joy to see and visit with Him. He must be the greatest person you will ever meet. Is God so high above you that He will not come to see you? Jesus said this:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [Greek, a staying, i.e. residence (the act or the place) Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible] with him. (John 14:23).
He has visited Moses to be sure, of whom the record speaks:
Now the man Moses was very meek [Hebrew, humble Strongs Exhaustive Concordance], above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3).
Jesus has said:
Blessed are the meek [Greek, mild, i.e. (by impl.) humble Strongs Exhaustive Concordance]: for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5).
Jesus said of Himself:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek [Greek, gentle, i.e. humble Strongs Exhaustive Concordance] and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:29).
Learn of me He says, where being obstinate is not a favored trait in a disciple, but is teachable, willing to go the extra mile to learn. Many did turn away from Jesus because they could not endure the doctrines He was teaching.
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (John 6:66-69).
Being a disciple at that time was an endurance test, where the Roman government and the people persecuted them. Surely, faith was a requirement for enduring such trials. Paul even said that faith was a requirement for a disciple:
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6).
James, believed to be the brother of Jesus, also said:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth [reprimand] not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-8).
Stability apparently comes from making the right choices where God is concerned. Elijah the Prophet gave the same instruction to the audience that came to watch Elijah contend with the 450 prophets of Baal:
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. (1 Kings 18:21).
Joshua, the successor to Moses, gave the Israelites this choice:
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15).
True faith, then, must be based on an actuality for it to be effective, where a man of sufficient faith could call upon God and He would answer. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. (Isaiah 58:9). But we must ask rightly, it will not do to ask for something He is not willing to grant. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (James 4:3). Jesus was often asked for a sign or to perform some miracle to either amuse the onlookers or to merely satisfy curiosity, but Jesus said that an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. (Matthew 12:39). Sign seeking was not condoned when faith was not in the heart of the person. Jesus had instructed the apostles that signs shall follow them that believe. (Mark 16:17). The credo was not Let me see it first and then I will believe but Have sufficient faith first and then you may receive from God who is gracious.
Faith is a true principle we actually use every day. We get up in the morning and believe we will live to the end of the day, believe in others sufficiently to drive in traffic, believe we will get up the next morning. We believe even though we may have seen something a thousand times. That thousand and one time may not come but we still believe it will. We believe to a degree what we read and see in the news media, magazines, and believe others when they tell us something even though we have not seen that something. We could not live unless we possessed a certain amount of faith in ourselves and in others. Our parents could not have raised us unless we believed in them to some degree. Distrust is a difficult place to live in.
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you [Corinthian saints] that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ [the believers] are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:12-20; KJV).
True faith obviously must reside on a real object; otherwise, our faith is vain. Paul speaks of God as actually existing, where he says that this is the church of the living God. (1 Timothy 3:15). Actualities have the propensity for revealing themselves at some point in time, where we will know for ourselves as to whether an object is true or not.
Jesus has stated that God will reveal Himself to those of sufficient faith:
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8).
What is the point in believing in God if we are never to see Him? It would seem the greatest joy to see and visit with Him. He must be the greatest person you will ever meet. Is God so high above you that He will not come to see you? Jesus said this:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [Greek, a staying, i.e. residence (the act or the place) Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible] with him. (John 14:23).
He has visited Moses to be sure, of whom the record speaks:
Now the man Moses was very meek [Hebrew, humble Strongs Exhaustive Concordance], above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3).
Jesus has said:
Blessed are the meek [Greek, mild, i.e. (by impl.) humble Strongs Exhaustive Concordance]: for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5).
Jesus said of Himself:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek [Greek, gentle, i.e. humble Strongs Exhaustive Concordance] and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:29).
Learn of me He says, where being obstinate is not a favored trait in a disciple, but is teachable, willing to go the extra mile to learn. Many did turn away from Jesus because they could not endure the doctrines He was teaching.
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (John 6:66-69).
Being a disciple at that time was an endurance test, where the Roman government and the people persecuted them. Surely, faith was a requirement for enduring such trials. Paul even said that faith was a requirement for a disciple:
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6).
James, believed to be the brother of Jesus, also said:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth [reprimand] not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-8).
Stability apparently comes from making the right choices where God is concerned. Elijah the Prophet gave the same instruction to the audience that came to watch Elijah contend with the 450 prophets of Baal:
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. (1 Kings 18:21).
Joshua, the successor to Moses, gave the Israelites this choice:
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15).
True faith, then, must be based on an actuality for it to be effective, where a man of sufficient faith could call upon God and He would answer. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. (Isaiah 58:9). But we must ask rightly, it will not do to ask for something He is not willing to grant. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (James 4:3). Jesus was often asked for a sign or to perform some miracle to either amuse the onlookers or to merely satisfy curiosity, but Jesus said that an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. (Matthew 12:39). Sign seeking was not condoned when faith was not in the heart of the person. Jesus had instructed the apostles that signs shall follow them that believe. (Mark 16:17). The credo was not Let me see it first and then I will believe but Have sufficient faith first and then you may receive from God who is gracious.
Faith is a true principle we actually use every day. We get up in the morning and believe we will live to the end of the day, believe in others sufficiently to drive in traffic, believe we will get up the next morning. We believe even though we may have seen something a thousand times. That thousand and one time may not come but we still believe it will. We believe to a degree what we read and see in the news media, magazines, and believe others when they tell us something even though we have not seen that something. We could not live unless we possessed a certain amount of faith in ourselves and in others. Our parents could not have raised us unless we believed in them to some degree. Distrust is a difficult place to live in.
