On one occasion, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” In another event, he also said, “Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”
“Faith is a powerful medicine.” That was the title of an article which appeared in the January 2001 issue of the Asian edition of Reader’s Digest. This title piqued my interest: Was the author, Phyllis McIntosh, addressing the concept of faith healing? Upon reading the entire article, it became clear that this was not the case. Instead, she was discussing the significance of religious faith.
“We cannot prove scientifically that God heals, but I believe we can prove that belief in God has a beneficial effect,” explains Dr. Dale Matthews, associate professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, who was quoted as saying.
McIntosh indicates that over 30 research studies have established a link between spiritual or religious commitment and increased longevity. Some of the most persuasive findings include:
– A survey involving 5,286 residents of California revealed that individuals who regularly attend church experience lower death rates compared to those who do not, independent of various risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, and physical inactivity.
– People with a strong religious commitment exhibited fewer symptoms or demonstrated improved health outcomes in seven out of eight studies related to cancer, four out of five studies concerning blood pressure, and four out of five studies focused on general health.
– Individuals with a strong commitment to their religious beliefs appear to have a lower susceptibility to depression, suicide, alcoholism, and various other forms of addiction, according to one research analysis.
We usually equate faith with religion. After all, faith is defined as “strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.” Hebrews 11:1 states: “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”
A person does not need to know how or why faith works. But faith does work! Sir Wilfred Grenfell has this to say: “Why is it that the very term ‘religious life’ has come to voice the popular idea that religion is altogether divorced from ordinary life? That conception is the exact opposite of Christ’s teachings.
“Faith, ‘reason grown courageous,’ as someone has called it, has become assurance to me now, not because the fight is easy and we are never worsted but because it has made life infinitely worthwhile, so that I want to get all I can out of it, every hour.”
Grenfell further states, “God help us not to neglect the use of a thing – like faith – because we do not know how it works! It would be a criminal offense for a doctor not to use the X-ray even if he does not know how barium chloride makes Gamma rays visible. We must know that our opinions are not a matter of a very great moment, except in so far as in what they lead us to do.
“I see no reason whatsoever to suppose that the Creator lays any stress on them either. Experience answers out problems – experience of faith and common sense. For faith and common sense, taken together, make reasonable service, which ends by giving us the light of life.”
The Holy Bible, the book of all books, assigns high importance to faith: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed… nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, one of the world’s most widely American authors, explains: “The implication is that while you may not have perfect faith, or considerable faith, or even faith as small as a tiny mustard seed, yet, if what you do have is real faith, then life will be predicated, not on an impossibility concept, but rather upon the fact of great possibilities. Faith strongly held can move you from the area of the impossible into a way of life that is full of exciting possibilities.”
The Bible (II Corinthians 5:7) told us: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
One day, a six-year-old girl was seated in her classroom as the teacher prepared to discuss the concept of evolution with the students. The teacher inquired of Tommy, “Can you see the tree outside?” to which the young boy responded in the affirmative.
Subsequently, the teacher instructed him to step outside to determine if he could see the sky. Upon his return, Tommy confirmed that he had indeed seen the sky. The teacher then posed the question, “Did you see God?” to which Tommy replied, “No.”
The teacher then addressed the class, stating, “This is my point. We cannot see God because He is not present. He does not exist.”
Upon hearing this, the little girl rose and directed the same questions to Tommy that the teacher had previously asked. The teacher listened attentively as Tommy, growing weary of the repeated inquiries, responded, “Yes, I saw the sky.”
The little girl clarified, “Our teacher inquired whether you had seen God outside, and you responded in the negative. Consequently, he informed us that God does not exist at all. Now, Tommy, do you see our teacher?”
Tommy replied in the affirmative. The subsequent question was, “Do you see her brain?” Tommy responded negatively. The little girl then deduced, “Therefore, based on what our teacher has taught us, she must not have a brain at all since we have not seen it.”
An unknown author once said, “A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul.” Because, as Carter Lindberg puts it, “Faith enables persons to be persons because it lets God be God.”
