Fideism Versus Faith

 By definition: faith is trusting in what we have good reason to believe.  We don't have faith in faith but faith in Christ; faith doesn't save, Christ does!  It's the object that counts. 

"Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see," (cf. Heb. 11:1, NIV). 


We choose to believe with our volition, it follows from our heart and where that is; if it's in the right place. We don't believe despite the evidence nor demand that all the evidence be presented before drawing our conclusion or taking a stand. Just like in a jury trial we go with the flow, or in the direction of the preponderance of the evidence--which isn't always conclusive or even certain, and there may be unanswered questions or doubts. Belief is not independent of the facts or evidence but concordant with it.

Evidence is not always conclusive, and may be subjective too (it can be circumstantial, indirect, or direct), but is only one argument to consider in making the final decision. There may be evidence pro and con, arguments for and against, we must weigh all the facts pertinent before making the final decision. We don't reach a conclusion irrespective of the evidence; however, some people cannot be convinced no matter the evidence because they don't want to believe.

(Faith is not believing something you know isn't true! Everyone has faith in something, even Secularists have faith that science can answer the questions of man; it's not a matter of faith versus reason, because we all commence with some presupposition we cannot ultimately prove, whether divine revelation or science. Fideism is the belief that we can attain to knowledge (of God) by faith alone, apart from our reason, while rationalism is the opposite, that truth is arrived only by reason--true biblical faith is based on the evidence and respects the mind, it doesn't insult your intelligence.

Fideism is basically the conviction that faith is mutually exclusive of and opposed to reason. Augustine said all knowledge begins in faith, or "I believe in order to understand." You are entitled to your own opinions and faith in them, but not your own fabricated facts. Conclusions must be based on fact, fitting, and following them, the facts aren't made to fit and follow the preconceived conclusions or notions.)

We must not succumb to the notion that believing something makes it true or disbelieving something makes it untrue-- the evidence is either true or false regardless of acceptance or belief. We cannot prove without a doubt that Christianity is true because God requires a step of faith and we can demonstrate that faith is much more reasonable than doubt and even that doubt can be an element of faith itself (cf. Mark 9:24: "I believe, help thou mine unbelief"). We must make our decision in a rational manner and decide which one fits the facts more fully and completely. Christianity is not rationalism, though, and can be defended on the open marketplace of ideas, but is rational--Christians aren't asked to kiss their brains goodbye.

However, we are exhorted to defend our faith and to have a reason or rationale why we believe in 1 Pet. 3:15 (cf. "have a reason for the hope that is within you")--if we don't, we only confirm infidels in their unbelief! If we just go by feelings we may fall by the wayside and not endure testing and challenges to our faith, as people of other faiths may have duplicate feelings about their God or religion. The unique aspect of our experience in Christ is that it's backed up by and the only religion supported by the objective, external, historical evidence of the resurrection of Christ, as well as personal, internal, subjective experience in the life and heart of the believer--Christianity is based on evidence and facts of history, not fable or sayings of wise men such as Confucius or Buddha--which are really philosophies with religiosity. Christianity is a historical faith or it is nothing, and disproving its historical credibility would discredit the faith itself.

Many have tried to disprove historical references or its historicity, but have failed in the process and have even gotten converted to Christianity in the process against their wills. No amount of argument will convince the unwilling, you cannot argue someone into the kingdom of God or persuade him by rationalism; Christianity is rational, but it isn't rationalism. No one will come to faith in Christ apart from the work of the Spirit within his heart, but he must not base his faith on the fact that he feels Christ lives in his heart--going by feelings--a duplicate experience can be had by other faiths, but he must learn to see the power of the Word in changing and sanctifying him.

God asks no one to have blind faith, which is demeaning to believers and outrage to God, but only to take a reasonable step of faith into the light--faith is the antidote to blindness, not its cause! In the end, we all have a rationale for our faith and should be able to defend ourselves with our personal testimony--like the blind man who testified, "I was blind, but now I see." This cannot be refuted and no one can deny the reality of his profession. We are exhorted to testify of what we do know and the reality of our faith, not another person. When we witness we declare the facts as we see them and can verify by experience--it's admissible in a court of law!

The problem with unbelievers who don't believe is that they don't want to believe, not that they cannot. "Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him" (John 12:37, NIV). John Stott adds that "we cannot pander to someone's intellectual pride, but must cater to their intellectual integrity." No one is required to commit intellectual suicide or believe without any answers. However, we all must take that leap of faith in obedience to the faith. The problem most have is moral rebellion, not intellectual problems or hindrances, and their questions or challenges are mere smokescreens to avoid the real issue of surrender to the lordship of Christ.

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart! Nonbelievers are described in Rom. 2:8 as those who reject the truth, and this truth is true objectively, regardless of whether one believes it or not or who told us. What they do is feign intellectual problems to try to stump the Christian and change the subject from making a decision for Christ in surrender. God is no man's debtor and will authenticate Himself to any seeker who desires to know Him, but Jesus said that also that only those willing will believe: "If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know..." (cf. John 7:17).

In exhorting decisions, one must realize that he doesn't need all the answers to believe, but he can believe anyway if he is willing and wants to believe--no amount of evidence will convince the person whose heart is hardened. Just like a jury making a verdict based on known evidence, not all evidence may be in, so we just go ahead and believe anyway, though we don't know all the answers. The important thing is to know the Answerer!

We must realize that Christianity is a reasonable proposition and we will never be disappointed in our decision. As volumes have been written about the so-called evidence that demands a verdict and God gave us a mind and expects us to use it and inquire of the Lord. The evidence can be presented cogently and there is hardly any question that hasn't been answered--Christianity is not going to come tumbling down by some brand new doubt that hasn't been resolved before!

When the plain facts are presented cogently one will realize that Christianity is based on a rational body of truth, in history, and its veracity was proven in the blood of the martyrs who died for their proclamation about Jesus rising from the dead. Even the historicity of the resurrection is vouched by multiple sources and is probably the most attested fact of antiquity--would any historian doubt the reality of Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great in contrast--Jesus was no myth and his historicity is vouched for by many pagan sources too.

All in all, we cannot deny the facts and one must be confronted with making a decision for or against Him--making no decision, is making a decision against Christ! It is not the believer who has to fear the scrutiny of the facts, but the skeptic who refuses to face the facts and acknowledge the truth! It has been said that Christianity goes beyond reason, but not against it! If the facts of the Bible were presented to any court of law, the jury would have to declare them true based on the evidence which would be admissible.


Most people who don't believe have never examined the evidence or even read the Bible. This is the whole crux of the matter--that we don't have to defend it or prove it, the seeker can do that himself by reading the testimony of the evangelists in Scripture himself. God, indeed, welcomes any honest inquiry and doubt, because He expects no one to believe something he isn't intellectually convinced of, or to commit intellectual suicide. Soli Deo Gloria!

Fideism Versus Faith

We choose to believe with our volition, it follows from our heart and where that is; if it's in the right place.  We don't believe despite the evidence or demand that all the evidence be presented before drawing a conclusion or taking a stand.  Just like in a jury trial we go with the flow, or in the direction of the preponderance of the evidence--which isn't always conclusive or even certain, and there may be unanswered questions or doubts.  Belief is not independent of the facts or evidence but concordant with it.

Evidence is not always conclusive, and may be subjective too (it can be circumstantial, indirect, or direct), but is only one argument to consider in making the final decision.  There may be evidence pro and con, arguments for and against, we must weigh all the facts pertinent before making the final decision.  We don't reach a conclusion irrespective of the evidence; however, some people cannot be convinced no matter the evidence because they don't want to believe.

(Faith is not believing something you know isn't true!  Everyone has faith in something, even Secularists have faith that science can answer the questions of man; it's not a matter of faith versus reason, because we all commence with some presupposition we cannot ultimately prove, whether divine revelation or science.  Fideism is the belief that we can attain to knowledge (of God) by faith alone, apart from our reason, while rationalism is the opposite, that truth is arrived only by reason--true biblical faith is based on the evidence and respects the mind, it doesn't insult your intelligence.

Fideism is basically the conviction that faith is mutually exclusive of and opposed to reason. Augustine said all knowledge begins in faith, or "I believe in order to understand." You are entitled to your own opinions and faith in them, but not your own fabricated facts.  Conclusions must be based on fact, fitting, and following them, the facts aren't made to fit and follow the preconceived conclusions or notions.)

We must not succumb to the notion that believing something makes it true or disbelieving something makes it untrue-- the evidence is either true or false regardless of acceptance or belief.  We cannot prove without a doubt that Christianity is true because God requires a step of faith and we can demonstrate that faith is much more reasonable than doubt and even that doubt can be an element of faith itself (cf. Mark 9:24:  "I believe, help thou mine unbelief").  We must make our decision in a rational manner and decide which one fits the facts more fully and completely.  Christianity is not rationalism, though, and can be defended on the open marketplace of ideas, but is rational--Christians aren't asked to kiss their brains goodbye.

However, we are exhorted to defend our faith and to have a reason or rationale why we believe in 1 Pet. 3:15 (cf. "have a reason for the hope that is within you")--if we don't, we only confirm infidels in their unbelief!  If we just go by feelings we may fall by the wayside and not endure testing and challenges to our faith, as people of other faiths may have duplicate feelings about their God or religion.  The unique aspect of our experience in Christ is that it's backed up by and the only religion supported by the objective, external, historical evidence of the resurrection of Christ, as well as personal, internal, subjective experience in the life and heart of the believer--Christianity is based on evidence and facts of history, not fable or sayings of wise men such as Confucius or Buddha--which are really philosophies with religiosity.  Christianity is a historical faith or it is nothing, and disproving its historical credibility would discredit the faith itself.

Many have tried to disprove historical references or its historicity, but have failed in the process and have even gotten converted to Christianity in the process against their wills.  No amount of argument will convince the unwilling, you cannot argue someone into the kingdom of God or persuade him by rationalism; Christianity is rational, but it isn't rationalism. No one will come to faith in Christ apart from the work of the Spirit within his heart, but he must not base his faith on the fact that he feels Christ lives in his heart--going by feelings--a duplicate experience can be had by other faiths, but he must learn to see the power of the Word in changing and sanctifying him.

God asks no one to have blind faith, which is demeaning to believers and an outrage to God, but only to take a reasonable step of faith into the light--faith is the antidote to blindness, not its cause!  In the end we all have a rationale for our faith and should be able to defend ourselves with our personal testimony--like the blind man who testified, "I was blind, but now I see."  This cannot be refuted and no one can deny the reality of his profession.  We are exhorted to testify of what we do know and the reality of our faith, not another person's.  When we witness we declare the facts as we see them and can verify by experience--it's admissible in a court of law!

The problem with unbelievers who don't believe is that they don't want to believe, not that they cannot.  "Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him"  (John 12:37, NIV). John Stott adds that "we cannot pander to someone's intellectual pride, but must cater to their intellectual integrity."  No one is required to commit intellectual suicide or believe without any answers.  However, we all must take that leap of faith in obedience to the faith.  The problem most have is moral rebellion, not intellectual problems or hindrances, and their questions or challenges are mere smokescreens to avoid the real issue of surrender to the lordship of Christ.

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart!  Nonbelievers are described in Rom. 2:8 as those who reject the truth, and this truth is true objectively, regardless of whether one believes it or not or who told us.   What they do is feign intellectual problems to try to stump the Christian and change the subject from making a decision for Christ in surrender.  God is no man's debtor and will authenticate Himself to any seeker who desires to know Him, but Jesus said that also that only those willing will believe:  "If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know..." (cf. John 7:17).

In exhorting decisions, one must realize that he doesn't need all the answers to believe, but he can believe anyway if he is willing and wants to believe--no amount of evidence will convince the person whose heart is hardened.  Just like a jury making a verdict based on known evidence, not all evidence may be in, so we just go ahead and believe anyway, though we don't know all the answers.  The important thing is to know the Answerer!

We must realize that Christianity is a reasonable proposition and we will never be disappointed in our decision.   As volumes have been written about the so-called evidence that demands a verdict and God gave us a mind and expects us to use it and inquire of the Lord.  The evidence can be presented cogently and there is hardly any question that hasn't been answered--Christianity is not going to come tumbling down by some brand new doubt that hasn't been resolved before!

When the plain facts are presented cogently one will realize that Christianity is based on a rational body of truth, based in history, and it's veracity was proven in the blood of the martyrs who died for their proclamation about Jesus as having risen from the dead.  Even the historicity of the resurrection is vouched by multiple sources and is probably the most attested fact of antiquity--would any historian doubt the reality of Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great in contrast--Jesus was no myth and his historicity is vouched for by many pagan sources too.

All in all, we cannot deny the facts and one must be confronted with making a decision for or against Him--making no decision, is making a decision against Christ!  It is not the believer who has to fear the scrutiny of the facts, but the skeptic who refuses to face the facts and acknowledge the truth! It has been said that Christianity goes beyond reason, but not against it!  If the facts of the Bible were presented to any court of law, the jury would have to declare them true based on the evidence which would be admissible. 

What is interesting is that most people who don't believe have never examined the evidence or even read the Bible.  This is the whole crux of the matter--that we don't have to defend it or prove it, the seeker can do that himself by reading the testimony of the evangelists in Scripture himself. God, indeed,  welcomes any honest inquiry and doubt, because He expects no one to believe something he isn't intellectually convinced of, or to commit intellectual suicide.     Soli Deo Gloria! 

Faith In Faith

"I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge" (Rom. 10:2,     ESV).  
"Desire without knowledge is not good..." (Prov. 19:2, ESV).


You can have a lot of faith and have misdirected zeal ("They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge" was Paul's wording in Romans 10), or you can have faith the grain of a mustard seed and be saved and serving God. Who has faith? One boldly steps on the thin ice and another timorous step on the thick ice.  God doesn't countenance halfhearted, lackadaisical, or lukewarm discipleship, but only when one serves God with gusto.  You don't have to have perfect faith, but sincere faith!  Don't be "out on a limb" but have substantive faith that is based on sound doctrine and applied to your life.

But it isn't the faith that saves, it is only the instrumental means of salvation given as a gift of God to exercise and take the leap of faith.  It is the object of the faith that saves, not the faith.  Likewise, you must be sincere, but sincerity alone doesn't qualify for salvation, because you can be sincerely wrong and misguided as a fanatic who doesn't know what he is doing.  As an example, Catholics have a lot of faith in their priest, nuns, Church, and Pope but it is misdirected.

Parenthetically, I must mention the kind of faith that saves:  It is manifest in obedience only just like Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who is obedient believes, and only he who believes is obedient." We are indeed saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone (or dead faith without works). Without fruit our faith is suspect, but works are no substitute for faith, but only its fruit--we are fruit inspectors!  Viva la difference between professing faith and exercising faith!

It is only faith "in Christ alone" that saves (soli Christo in Latin). You can have a lot of faith in your pastor but if it doesn't get personal to a relationship with Christ Himself, you are lost.  Faith isn't the reason we are saved, though people say we should be defenders of the faith, or worse yet, defenders of faith per se.  We should be apologists where necessarily and gifted, but God is looking for the simple, not simplistic, and childlike, not childish faith to be saved.

We don't achieve faith, we receive it (2 Peter 1:1 says that they have received a faith).  Faith is "granted" according to Philippians 1:29 and we "believe through grace" per Acts 18:27.  We don't just believe, we believe in someone and put it into action and practice our belief--turning or converting creeds into deeds!   We don't just have a faith, but a growing and living faith that is not static, but founded in the truth (truth does matter--you can't be a heretic, no matter how sincere, and the vital doctrine is the person and work of Christ on our behalf and methodology of salvation to appropriate it.

The righteousness we have is not our gift to God, but His gift to us. Faith is God's work in us, but we make use of it and exercise it in a leap of faith.  He kindles or quickens faith within us and makes believers out of the most stubborn and unbelieving.  It is not the condition of salvation, but the means of it, because regeneration precedes faith ("through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth [in that order, the order of salvation, or ordo salutis in Latin]" according to 2 Thess. 2:13, ESV).  If we have to do something for our salvation we are bound to fail!  If left to ourselves, none of us would believe ("Apart from Me you can do nothing" according to John 15:5).   We don't have a righteousness of our own, but our righteousness is as filthy rags per Isaiah 64:6 in the well-known verse.

We don't just have faith in a crucified Christ, but a living Christ.  We believe not only that He died for our sins but rose again to proclaim His victory and our assured glorification and resurrection. There is no saving faith without genuine repentance, known as believing repentance or penitent faith (they are the flip side of each other).  Having faith is being fully assured and certain, not just making a guess or a bet that you might be right--you are willing to bet your life and risk or bet your life that He is alive and victorious.  "Measure yourself by the amount of faith God has given you" (Rom. 12:3).  Note that faith, not feelings or experiences please God and we must earnestly seek Him to find Him.  He will authenticate Himself to you because God is no man's debtor!

In conclusion, faith is a gift of God, however, we make a choice of the will--we decide to have faith. The Jews saw many miracles yet they "would no believe [not could not]"  (John 12:37).  We don't just have faith for its own sake, it must have an object or we'd be saved by sincerity.  The only valid object is the person and work of Christ on our behalf.  Faith also has legs, it must be put into action because dead faith doesn't save.  Faith without works is suspect and we show our faith by our works or deeds. We are not saved by our works but unto works.  If we had the complete revelation about God we wouldn't call it faith, but knowledge and it is faith that pleases God, not knowledge.  We must all take that leap of faith with incomplete knowledge or evidence. Some of us may indeed say:  "... I believe, help thou mine unbelief"  (cf. Mark 9:24).   Soli Deo Gloria!