What do you believe?
February 18, 2010 (Thursday)
Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, and counts eight U.S. presidents among its alumni. It was established in 1636 by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for the purpose of providing an education for ministers. It was sponsored by no particular church, but the colony itself was Puritan. Today Harvard University has 40 chaplains, representing 25 religions or churches, including Humanism. The Humanist chaplain, Greg Epstein, has written a book entitled, “Good without God.” He is “dedicated to building, educating, and nurturing a diverse community of Humanists, agnostics, atheists, and the non-religious at Harvard and beyond.”
We need to be aware of the many subtle ways in which each new generation is being tempted to view faith in God in an unfavorable light. Faith has always been a choice. For billions of people today, it makes good sense.
A description of faith is given to us in Hebrews 11:1. A popular paraphrase, known as “The Message,” translates it like this: “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.”
How important is faith? Listen to the words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, great British preacher from the past: “Nothing but faith can save old England; nothing but faith can save the present unbelieving Church: nothing but firm faith in the grand old doctrines of grace, and in the ever-living and unchanging God can bring back to the Church again a full tide of prosperity, and make her to be the deliverer of the nations for Christ: nothing but faith in the Lord Jesus can save you or me.”