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Is Faith in God Different From Faith In Other Things?

Excerpt from the book, Explorations of Faith, 2009 (Read/Download Full Book)

FAITH in God is of ultimate kind and is, therefore, both unique and absolute. Since it is not concerned with contingent things of this world it is also not like the belief in the contingent things of the world. Further, belief in God is foundational to our common-sense assumptions about this world as both moral and rational. Anyone who denies God must also deny the existence of absolute morals and absolute truth, for both lose their foundation if their foundation is found within this world itself. It would be like trying to place a ball on that ball itself. Without an unchangeable transcendent ground, there can be no absolute point of reference (as in outer space where all bodies hang in positions relative to each other). The unchanging nature and character of God is the foundation of true morality[1] and His veracity is the foundation of all reasonability and truth. Therefore, divine existence is the surest fact of reality as the psalmist also says that it is only the fool who says in his heart that there is no God (Ps. 14:1). Since God is the final cause, ground, and reason of this universe and all human experience, faith in God is also final and ultimate. It is this reason why God can accept no excuse for unbelief from the unbeliever. For the faith of God (Mk. 11:22)[2] is both distinctive and final; it is the ground of the ultimate form of experience which is divinely given.


[1] This is not the same as saying that the difference between right and wrong is due to God’s fiat, a thesis that Bertrand Russell tried to rebut (Richter & Fogg, Philosophy Looks to the Future, p. 382).  It means to say that moral goodness is ultimately based on the eternally unchanging character of God and everything that is morally good is in so far as it conforms to God’s character. For instance, falsehood is evil because God cannot lie and there is no falsehood in Him: not just because He has commanded us not to lie. In such case, we do not say that God is above good and evil but that God is the embodiment and reality of ultimate goodness; evil is His opposite and therefore against Him.
[2] The Greek word θεου used here means ‘of God’.

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