Christians: Persons of Faith or Knowledge?

We expect people in positions of authority to have training and experience in their respective fields. For example, I want my pilot to have knowledge of the helicopter in which I am a passenger, just as I want my surgeon to be proficient, and to know what he/she is doing before I go “under the knife!” Guessing, flipping a coin, or relying on luck just doesn’t cut it. We expect people to have knowledge. This seems to be the expectation of all who are labeled as experts or leaders in our society today, save one. . . the church! Why, when it comes to Christianity, are many satisfied to merely rely on our emotions or what we arbitrarily think? Is the Christian faith something more than this? Is it something we can actually know is true, rather than simply following an emotion or a "greatest desire?" Sadly, knowledge of God is not just something unbelievers assume impossible, but many Christians have bought into this lie and are now living that misguided stereotype. Most people in our society think religion isn’t something we can know. That is why people adhering to religion are typically labeled “persons of faith” as opposed to a “person of knowledge.” Should this be the case? Dallas Willard provides a working definition of knowledge:

“We have knowledge of something when we are representing it as it actually is, on an appropriate basis of thought and experience.”<1>

Basically, Willard is saying that we have knowledge of something when we have proper justification or warrant for our beliefs and that our beliefs regarding it conform to reality. A statement is true when it corresponds to reality, and reality is the way things are. Therefore, knowledge must be aligned with truth (based on evidence or insight). Willard notes that rational people are those who base their lives upon knowledge. This is important when considering the 

faith

 of a Christian. When one has knowledge of God and the truth of His word, he can easily step out in faith. Acting in faith is not a “blind leap” as society believes. Rather it’s committing to an action for which you may not know the outcome, basing your decisions on 

evidence

 and a justified 

trust

 in God through knowledge. Can we have real knowledge of God? A cumulative case of evidence appealing to logic, science, and history pointing toward God’s existence and the truth of Christianity says we can. Moreover, we can also have knowledge of God through a personal relationship with Him, supported by the evidence just mentioned. With a cumulative case of logical arguments in mind, a Christian should be a person of faith. . . because he or she is primarily a person of knowledge. Christians put their 

trust

 in what they 

know

 is probably true. This is what William Lane Craig refers to as "reasonable faith." I am not proposing that we can 

know

 Christian theism is true with 100 percent certainty. However, we can gain knowledge of God with extremely 

high degrees of certainty

. This includes not only knowledge of a powerful and personal Creator of the universe, but also in the particular truth of Christianity through 

evidential

 and 

spiritual 

means. In conclusion, Christians aren’t merely people of faith, but people of a faith that is 

justified 

by logic, data, and evidence. This is in stark contrast to the blind faith of many atheists based on mere presuppositions and baseless personal opinions. When Christians attain this knowledge of God and Scripture, their faith will grow extremely strong which will be evident in their prayer lives, their Christian walk, and their commitment to fulfilling the Great Commission. Evangelism will quickly transform from something that Christians are scared of into something they eagerly anticipate. This is because when one possesses knowledge, one has things they 

know

 to share with others. When Christians share their faith, rooted in knowledge of reality, these evangelical encounters will quickly multiply with awesome results. Stay reasonable (Isaiah 1:18), Tim Stratton

Notes:

<1> Dallas Willard, 

Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge

, Harper Collins, New York, NY, 2009. This article was inspired by this book.