Sunday, December 21, 2008

God-kind of Faith

Yesterday I was told that I need a God-kind of faith because then everything God says will come to pass. I do not have problem with the second part of the statement but I am puzzled with the first part. What is God-kind of faith and why do God needs me to have that kind of faith? Three questions immediately comes to my mind;
(1) Does God have faith?
(2) Can we have a God-kind of faith?
(3) Does God require my faith in order to act?

(1) Does God have faith?

Merriam-Webster online defines faith as
1 a
: allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1): fidelity to one's promises (2): sincerity of intentions
2 a
(1): belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2): belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1): firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2): complete trust
3
: something that is believed especially with strong conviction ; especially : a system of religious beliefs faith

So basically can God have faith in God? God is omnipotent and omniscience. He do not have faith because he is God. All the definitions of faith fit humans but not God.
Faith is to believe in someone or something. God does not have to believe because He knows! God does not have to believe in Himself.

(2) Can we have a God-kind of Faith?

No we cannot because God does not have faith. However we may have human-kind of faith in God.

(3) Does God require my faith in order to act?

If he does, then he is not God because his action is conditional to my faith.

The proof text used was Mark 11:22
"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, `Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. (NIV)

It was claimed that "faith in God" was mistranslated from the Greek. It should be "faith of God." In other words, if we have the faith of God, everything we say will happen. This is based on the grammatical distinctive of the Greek text echet pistin theou. This was taken to mean that
(1) God has faith (God faith),
(2) it is possible for us to have God faith, and
(3) we can use the God faith to move mountains.

By using that translation of Mark 11:22, it implies that with God-kind of faith, we can become like God, speaking things into existence.

Somehow I am not comfortable with that kind of teaching. I have only human-kind of faith in God.

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