Rabbi Shammai, in the third century of the present era, noted that Moses gave us 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commands in the law. David in Psalm 15 reduced them to eleven; Isaiah 33:14–15 made them six; Micah 6:8 binds them into three; and Habakkuk 2:4 reduces them all to one, namely, “The just shall … Continue reading “FAITH, LAW AND”
FAITH, LACK OF
A man was walking along a narrow path, not paying much attention to where he was going. Suddenly he slipped over the edge of a cliff. As he fell, he grabbed a branch growing from the side of the cliff. Realizing that he couldn’t hang on for long, he called for help. Man: Is anybody … Continue reading “FAITH, LACK OF”
FAITH, EXERCISE OF
Many years ago it was decided to put a suspension bridge across a wide gorge. How could they build a bridge across such a wide space? In fact, how could they even start? They shot an arrow from one side to the other. The arrow carried across the gulf a tiny thread, and thus the … Continue reading “FAITH, EXERCISE OF”
FAITH, EXAMPLE OF
Faith is central to all of life. For example, you go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce and whose degrees you have never verified. He gives you a prescription you cannot read. You take it to a pharmacist you have never seen before. He gives you a chemical compound you do not understand. … Continue reading “FAITH, EXAMPLE OF”
FAITH, DEVELOPMENT OF
The desert is seemingly void of all life, but given a little rainfall, life springs into existence and beauty. Life is there, but it is dormant. Unbelief is like that. It is the desert of one’s being. But the potential for life is there and needs only to be watered by faith to spring into … Continue reading “FAITH, DEVELOPMENT OF”
FAITH, DEFINITION OF
Suppose there is a fire in the upper section of a house. As the people gather in the street below, a child is seen at the window of a room next to the fire. The fire trucks are at least five minutes away and so will be too late to help. How is the child … Continue reading “FAITH, DEFINITION OF”
FAITH, CONTENT OF
It was the great Augustine who said, “If you believe what you like in the gospel and reject what you don’t like; it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.”449 Many ethnic groups decorate eggs for special events, especially Easter. In some cases the decoration is so much work that to preserve it the … Continue reading “FAITH, CONTENT OF”
FAITH, CHILDLIKE
When a father picks up his little daughter and tosses her all around in the air, she laughs and enjoys it, for she trusts—has faith in—her father. Even though she finds herself in unusual situations, like being upside down four feet above the floor with nothing supporting her (normally an uncomfortable circumstance), she does not … Continue reading “FAITH, CHILDLIKE”
EXAMPLE, TEACHING BY
The story is told of a T.V. repairman who didn’t like to think about his job when he came home. As a result, he never bothered to properly install the T.V. antenna on the top of his house or fix it when one arm broke in a windstorm. One day a new family moved in … Continue reading “EXAMPLE, TEACHING BY”
EVOLUTIONISM, IMPACT OF
In commenting on the medical challenges faced during the rapid urbanization of U.S. cities in the late 1800s, Columbia University historian John Garraty said the following about the negative influence of Darwinism upon medical science: “Efforts to do something about high infant mortality rates in poor districts ran into resistance from Darwinian evolutionists who argued … Continue reading “EVOLUTIONISM, IMPACT OF”