Religious people, particularly those of a “Christian” persuasion, are frequently referred to as “People of Faith.”  Such are understood to be people who strive to live their lives according to a principle, a moral code, or a holy law because of their belief in God.  By default, then, those that are irreligious are often called “unbelievers.”  The truth is, there are many misconceptions about faith in the world today.  One of the primary misconceptions is that only religious people have faith.

“People of faith” are often equated with backwards, ignorant, un-educated people.  More and more, “belief” is equated with superstition, and belief in God is viewed as similar to belief in an ancient mythology or childhood fantasies.  Those who do not believe in God think of themselves as being free from something as childish as faith.  The difference between the Christian and the atheist however is not that one has faith and the other does not, because in truth, both have faith!  The difference is what they have faith in.  The Christian places their faith in the existence of God, while the atheist chooses to believe in the absence of a Creator.

What is faith?  Really, it is the conclusion we come to when presented with evidence concerning an event we cannot see or experience fully for ourselves.  For example, there was not a single human being around when the world began.  No-one witnessed the beginning of time, the universe, or life.  But we know the earth exists, we know the universe exists, and we know it must have started sometime and somewhere.  Some look at the world and all of the life therein; or consider the vast expanse of the universe, and see those things as great evidences that point towards a creator.  As the psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork” (Ps. 19:1).

Others choose to believe that everything around them is the ultimate result of chaos, chance, and accident.  Atheists and evolutionary theorists purport that life exists because at some point billions of years ago, something came from nothing.  Theories such as the “Big Bang Theory” suggest that conditions occurred that caused an explosion which led to the universe with stars and planets.  By chance one planet was close enough to a star to support life, and somehow the basic building blocks of life were able to form.  Over billions of years non-living matter evolved to living matter, which continued to evolve into single cell organisms, and on to multi-cell organisms.  These great changes took place accidentally and by chance, with no guidance or direction.  And all of these accidental and chance changes finally resulted in life as we know it today.  That is a very simplistic explanation of course, but it captures the essence of evolutionary belief.  If you ask me, it takes a great deal of faith to believe a story like that!  It seems paradoxical, but the truth is it takes immense faith to believe in nothing!

God hasn’t hidden Himself.  He expects His creation to know Him in the most basic sense by simply recognizing Him as the Creator.  As Paul said to the Roman brethren, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:20-21).  God’s creation should be enough for us to know He exists.  This alone is not enough for us to know how to serve Him, and that is why He has spoken to us through His Word.  Thus, we can know that our Creator exists, but more importantly, we can know what He wants from us!

In the end, we’re all people of faith.  The main difference is what we choose to believe.  We can choose to accept the evidence given and believe in God, or we can deny this evidence and believe He does not exist.  But as the psalmist says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1; 53:1).  Like it or not, you are a person of faith.  Will you accept the evidence provided by God, or will you foolishly harden your heart against the Creator?

Article by: Nate Bibens (natebibens@gmail.com)