Ethics

How is your faith nowadays said the main character in a demonic voice from the 1990s movie Stigmata.  That small piece of dialogue in the movie began to raise questions from all of the faithful questions that had to do with the strength of ones belief in the Divine and the Almighty, questions of whether ones faith is in fact strong enough to qualify one as a good follower.  Asking that same question nowadays would enable one to re-visit ones faith in a very critical yet valid manner because the modern era has brought with it many changes and developments that have served to rattle even the very foundations of faith.  The modern faithful, amid developments in science and technology should begin to recollect and review hisher concept of faith and if this faith is in fact consistent with what was intended in the Old Testament, the earliest books of the Bible.  The above question is therefore a very valid question.  Followers of the faith nowadays should be able to qualify faith based on a certain criteria to ensure that ones faith is in fact in line with the teachings of the Old Testament.  Followers with strong faith should go back to the Torah, the Prophets, and their Writings to confirm whether for them faith remains as believing without seeing, trusting in the promise of salvation, and living life according to the scriptures despite lifes painful endeavors and pursuits.

The Old Testament confirmedly defines faith as believing in the presence of a higher and greater power even without the affirmation acquired from any of ones human faculties.  I am that I am. (Exodus, 314) Here in this passage from the Old Testament is the first criterion for knowing whether ones faith is in fact genuine.  This particular passage from the book of Exodus can be further divided into two major components, first, that faith is confidence in this claim which according to the Old Testament is a claim made by God, Himself, and the second, that for one to acquire that confidence one has to go beyond what is known to be human and corporeal.  A further explanation of this passage with reference to faith is found in another passage, this being, Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me, and live. (Exodus 3320)  This basically explains why man should believe in the presence of an omniscient God even without material evidence of His presence.  As humans belief is based on the response of the five faculties to stimuli.  Belief in the inanimate is not as it is literally translated as belief is that which is not alive, rather it is a belief that something exists beyond physical or biological life.  Loosely translated, this means that belief in the inanimate is belief in the existence of life beyond corporeal life.  In the context of religion, this means that for genuine faith to exist one has to believe that there is a being other than the ones defined by the faculties of biological life.  These two passages from the old testament expressly state that the virtue of faith is based on the ideal of trust, which can further be broken down into three elements trust in the existence of a God, trust that this unseen presence is able to shape and affect humanity, and trust that when one believes in the presence of this omniscient being one is inevitably moved towards a path that could only lead to greater benefit and salvation.  If one is not able to nurture this trust that leads to the virtue of faith, what then is in store  The consequences of the absence of faith are also succinctly written in the Old Testament, the passage being, And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be for they are a very forward generation, children in whom is no faith. (Deuteronomy 3220) Now, if one has already acquired the trust required for genuine faith to exist, then one begins to move on to fulfill the second criteria for the basis of this particular virtue.  This second criteria states that in the Old Testament, God had verbalized promises for those with genuine faith and it is based on these promises that one is able to illicit the deepening of the acquired trust that one has in the omniscient being.

For one to truly claim that heshe possesses the virtue of faith, heshe has to exercise trust and belief in the promises delivered by the eternal Divine found in the Holy Scriptures.  This promise is summed up in the passages, The Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him. (Deuteronomy 47), It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Deuteronomy 318), Behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. (Genesis 2815), Know therefore that the Lord your God is God he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 79)  All these passages all refer to only two things, knowing that with faith in God, one will always have God on hisher side, and having faith in God means following His commands.  In return, these passages specifically state that for one who has faith, God fulfills everything that He has promised, these being that He will protect the faithful, shower the faithful with graces, and keep the faithful in His favor.  All these promises create for one an explicit manifestation of faith  one who has genuine faith will be confident in all that heshe does, that everything that heshe does will have the approval of the Divine, and that all that is done in the name of faith will always lead to good things as this is the covenant of love that God had made with His chosen people.  So, other than just believing in the presence of an unseen being, faith also requires that one has to exercise hope and trust in the promises of the Divine and that these promises will be materially manifested in the lives of the faithful.  Finally, the third criterion for genuine faith is more external when compared to the two initial criteria.

Possessing genuine faith means that one should remain steadfast in the belief of the Almighty despite the challenges and obstacles that one encounters in life.  Again, this final criteria is expressed in the old testament in the passages, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. (Exodus 3314) and After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision Do not be afraid, Abraham. I am your shield, your very great reward.  (Genesis 151) These two passages ensure the faithful that even in the direst moments of their lives the Divine will be there to see them through.   Genuine faith, therefore, remains even with obstacles and challenges on the basis of these two passages and the hope of divine emancipation.  Most of the time, people pass the first two criteria for genuine faith and fail terribly in this third criteria because this is the most difficult of the three.  The difficulty comes from ones being human and vulnerable to tangible and material threats to his comfort.  These challenges serve to shake the very foundations of faith.  However, even with human nature and even with the challenges presented one with genuine faith has to remain hopeful in the assurance of the Almighty that He will give respite to all the faithful who need it.

While there is often dispute as to the genuineness of faith based on these criteria because the modern Christian believes that faith is belief in Christ, this does not necessarily disagree with the Old Testaments definitions of the faithful because the new testament is based fully on the old, and is merely a restatement of what has already been written in the first five books of the bible.

So, how is your faith nowadays  Will it stand up to the scrutiny of the criteria put forward by the Old Testament  Genuine faith is within you when you are confident in the presence of an unseen God, when you are hopeful in the promises of the Divine and when you shun away lifes challenges that may compromise the strength of your faith.  Genuine faith may not be literally verbalized, but it always works to ones advantage if heshe is able to review ones faith based on the recollection and the contemplation of these criteria.