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Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4 – ASV)
What does it mean to have “faith” from an Hebraic perspective? In our western minds faith is a mental exercise in knowing that someone or something exists or will act. For instance, if we say “I have faith in God” we are saying “I know that God exists and do what he says he will do”.
The Hebrew word for faith is hnwma (emunah – Strong's #530) and is an action oriented word meaning “support”. This is important because the Western concept of faith places the action on the one you have faith in, such as “faith in God”. But, the Hebrew word hnwma places the action on the one who “supports God”. It is not knowing that God will act, but rather I will do what I can to support God. This idea of support for the word emunah can be seen in Exodus 17:12.
But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady (emunah)until the going down of the sun.
It is the support/emunah of Aaron and Hur that held of Moses' arms, not the support/emunah of Moses. When we say “I have faith in God”, we should be thinking “I will do what I can to support God”. In the previous verse we see the support of God being a support for the plan of God.
Unfortunately, in the Western mind, faith is something dependant upon on God. We say we have faith, but often have a mental exercise that we call faith.
Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4 – ASV)
In this verse the word “righteous” literally means to stay on the right path. With these two definitions in mind look at this verse again.
but those that stay on the right pats shall live by supporting God and his plan..
This is real faith. In discussions on this board there are many “so-called” doctrines that do nothing to support or bring about God’s plan for His creation. The first question we should all ask of a doctrine is “How can I work with God in this doctrine to accomplish his plan in me or others?” Unfortunately there is little working to do in some doctrines because they are simply mental philosophies with no components that work in or for the plan of God. They simply have no function or purpose, yet there are those that will spend hour upon hour defending and promoting these philosophies as if they have some secret value.Quote (martian @ Aug. 10 2010,08:13) What does it mean to have “faith” from an Hebraic perspective? In our western minds faith is a mental exercise in knowing that someone or something exists or will act.
That seems more like belief which is one up from hope.Faith is accompanied with fruit or evidence. To me it is an actual substance that enables things to happen.
It produces that which you believe, so it has to be tied with truth.
Although if you believe a lie strongly enough it can produce that which you believe too, but with negative consequences.An interesting problem in quantum mechanics is that wavefunction collapse (the condensation of physical possibilities into a single occurrence, as seen by an observer) cannot be measured because the mere act of observing this process directly alters the outcome. Some have theorised that the act of observation causes the change because at pre-observation, it is in a state of probability and once viewed it becomes classical reality. This is the sort of things that scientists grapple with when explaining the smallest of things (sub-atomic particles) and we know that matter and energy are the same thing.
So given that logic which is the basis of our physical universe, then faith could certainly make that which you observe in your belief (foresight) to become classical reality which is in an even greater sphere, that of the spiritual.
An example in my own life was a powerful vision I received about 20 years ago. It wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have faith. That is my guess.
So if your faith is aligned in truth, then that should accomplish the will of God and the building of the Kingdom. If it is not of faith, then it is sin and will only cause problems or temporal shifts of no eternal consequence.
Quote (t8 @ Aug. 10 2010,09:58) Faith is accompanied with fruit or evidence. To me it is an actual substance that enables things to happen.
It produces that which you believe, so it has to be tied with truth.
Although if you believe a lie strongly enough it can produce that which you believe too, but with negative consequences.An interesting problem in quantum mechanics is that wavefunction collapse (the condensation of physical possibilities into a single occurrence, as seen by an observer) cannot be measured because the mere act of observing this process directly alters the outcome. Some have theorised that the act of observation causes the change because at pre-observation, it is in a state of probability and once viewed it becomes classical reality. This is the sort of things that scientists grapple with when explaining the smallest of things (sub-atomic particles) and we know that matter and energy are the same thing.
So given that logic which is the basis of our physical universe, then faith could certainly make that which you observe in your belief (foresight) to become classical reality which is in an even greater sphere, that of the spiritual.
An example in my own life was a powerful vision I received about 20 years ago. It wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have faith. That is my guess.
So if your faith is aligned in truth, then that should accomplish the will of God and the building of the Kingdom. If it is not of faith, then it is sin and will only cause problems or temporal shifts of no eternal consequence.
I like this statement.
“So if your faith is aligned in truth, then that should accomplish the will of God and the building of the Kingdom. If it is not of faith, then it is sin and will only cause problems or temporal shifts of no eternal consequence.”I would add that if we have a perception of doctrine that is not aligned with truth, then no matter how much we believe or how much we try to make it work within God's plan it will simply fail.
Unfortunately there are those that will keep trying to work with their wrong concepts and refuse to see their teaching's failure within God's will/plan.
T8
I would like to add also —
“Faith is accompanied with fruit or evidence.”
For many months I have been attempting to get certain proponents of various doctrines to show me the fruit of their teachings. For the most part I have been ignored on this subject. I have no doubt that part of the reason for this is the very lack of positive fruit to post. If their is no good fruit then their doctrine must not be of faith.Well I suppose you could say that the fruit itself is that people believe correctly about God and if enough people believed correctly, then the fruit would be unity, and if there was unity, then there would be power, and if there was power, there would be signs and wonders confirming the truth.
It may however be hard to gauge initially because in the early stages it can be hard to see the wheat from the tares. But I think that this is the way it is. In the end it will be evident, and until then, we have to be true and teachable. If we are humble and teachable, then we are likely to learn truth as those who seek will find. But if we are full of our own ideas and give no room to receive truth, then we might win some battles and arguments, but we lose the war.
Quote (t8 @ Aug. 10 2010,14:33) Well I suppose you could say that the fruit itself is that people believe correctly about God and if enough people believed correctly, then the fruit would be unity, and if there was unity, then there would be power, and if there was power, there would be signs and wonders confirming the truth. It may however be hard to gauge initially because in the early stages it can be hard to see the wheat from the tares. But I think that this is the way it is. In the end it will be evident, and until then, we have to be true and teachable. If we are humble and teachable, then we are likely to learn truth as those who seek will find. But if we are full of our own ideas and give no room to receive truth, then we might win some battles and arguments, but we lose the war.
I believe there is one very important fruit that can be seen right now. That is the fruit of hope. If a teaching does anything to negate the hope that is displayed in the character of God or the mission of the Messiah then it necessarily has to be false.
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