From Background Notes [BN] for May 9th &
10th written by Pastor Bob Brown:
However, at times, we are not able to
have that direct form of awareness, and are led to a different form of understanding,
one which we refer to as “faith” or “belief.” In those cases...
...the primary object of our understanding
is not a fact or a proposition, but a person whose role is that of witness to
what she has experienced and known, though we have not. We place our
faith, trust, belief in her, and give assent to what she says even when
we have no access to what she herself has witnessed.
By illustration, imagine a veteran of
the Iraq war coming home after his release as a POW. Upon his arrival, he informs
me that he saw my brother, presumed dead from an IED explosion, in a certain
camp of the enemy. Shocked by the news of someone I long accepted as lost, my
mind fills with conflicting sensations of wonder, puzzlement, joy, relief, and
doubt. The vet reports good news, but I have no personal direct access to my brother’s
survival, whereabouts, or condition, only that this witness has seen him alive.
What shapes my present understanding of my brother’s fate is the testimony of
this man, and nothing more. Yet, I would be a fool to reject out of hand his
reportage simply because I do not, or cannot, have direct knowledge of my
brother’s
situation. [BN,8]
Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:
* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am, 10am (FX) and 11:15am
Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:
* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am, 10am (FX) and 11:15am
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