Faith in God - Biblical Philosophy Essay Example

Philosophy is a Greek word taken from two words, PHILO which means love and SOPHIA which means wisdom. Philosophy is, therefore, the love of wisdom. Christian philosophy, therefore, loves God's wisdom and rejoices in it. It also causes a Christian to exult in the Lord and exalt His wisdom. No philosophy can be said to be genuinely Biblical unless it moves one to worship God. God knows all things and is the Truth, the Way, and the Life. All His ways are good and right.

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Biblical philosophy is a doxological philosophy. One true philosophy can be found in scripture which tells us to fear God and keep His commands. Obedience and fear of God is the wisest thing any man can do. The philosophy that will be focused on this paper is based on having faith in God. (Ecclesiastes 12:14 New Oxford Annotated Version)

Each person desires the benefits that come along with having faith, but they do not want to be grounded in their faith. Faith is essentially dependence upon Christ. This discussion is intended to create a link between the past and present. (Kallenberg, 2002, p.72) It will also be a gateway between the cultural and historical context of the Bible and our real life in this day and age as we experience it today. We can begin to understand how God interacted with man in the past how his interaction is with us today by putting ourselves as firmly into biblical situations as possible.

The Holy Bible gives a short description of faith which states that "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) Human beings hope for God's trustworthiness, His promises, and mercy. Every believer can be sure that his promises of salvation, eternal life, and a resurrected body will be ours someday based on who God is.

The definition also acknowledges the fact that God cannot be seen, He is invisible and neither can we see heaven. We also do not see eternal life, which begins with our salvation here on earth, but our faith in God makes us sure and steadfast of these things. (Kallenberg, 2002, p.60) It is not possible to count on scientific, tangible proof but we can only rely on the absolute reliability of God's character.

Believers can build a true philosophy only by fearing and believing God. That leads to faith in what He says the answers are. This, in turn, produces obedience to God's will. There's a lot to be learned concerning God's purposes by the various events that occur in Abraham's life. Abraham's life begins with him being unable to bear a child with his wife, Sarah. He also receives a promise from God that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. His story is very significant in Scripture.

Many women in the bible were faced with barrenness. These were; Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson's mother, Hannah, and, in the New Testament, Elizabeth. God truly demonstrated his love and his power by stepping into hopeless situations. It is evident that he does this again and again. It started with Abraham and his wife, Sarah. "But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe." (Galatians 3:22)

There are many hardships in life, and such difficulties are the platform on which God's promises are best displayed. (Paperback, 2010, p.15) We can see that the dominant theme of Abraham's life is faith. He was an example of how God chooses to deal with human beings. God establishes covenants and invites his people to them in such a way that they can only relate to him by faith.

Abraham became an eternal prototype of God's relationship with human beings. A believer must learn to trust God radically and exclusively to qualify as a patriarch in the kingdom of God; he must learn to trust God entirely and solely. It is not easy being chosen as is seen in Abraham's life and his experiences. (Paperback, 2010, p.16) Believers have found that to be true throughout history. But it's far better than the alternative.

The privilege of walking with God, even when the path may be too painful, is always worthwhile. God's people believe this to be true because of the abundant blessings in Abraham's life. John, in the scriptures, states, "Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." (1 John 5:5,13) It is further backed by the scripture which states, " I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

The book of James states that those who ask must believe and not doubt as those who disbelieve are like a wave of the ocean and are blown and tossed by the wind. Various characters in the bible went through troubles, but God led them and revealed himself to them (James 1:16).This is the same process we go through on a daily basis.

Biblical characters experienced God under challenging situations, and so do we. We understand how to apply the scripture to our own lives by portraying those cases realistically. An excellent way to do this is through extensive discussions with other believers.

Paul listed the different items that make the armor of God. He told believers to take the shield of faith. This protection would protect believers from the fiery darts of the evil one (2 Timothy 3:12, Ephesians 6:16).When Satan attacks with doubts, the shield of faith turns aside the blow. When temptations come, faith keeps us steadfast in following Jesus. We can withstand all the devil's fiery darts because we know whom we have believed.

Faith does not come from within us. It is a gift from God to us. God gives each believer a measure of confidence As we walk with Christ, our faith becomes a shield as it grows and develops. Faith in God protects us and allows us to live a victorious life in Christ. (Romans 12:3)

This was Paul's experience. He said, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" And at the end of that life of faith, he declared, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" The shield of faith can be used to turn aside everything Satan hurls at you. (Galatians 2:20, 2timothy 4:7)

Just like it is in the Bible, our faith is primarily based on stories, and its nurture is often compared to a journey. And though the pages of the Bible have closed, when Jesus left this earth he promised that through his spirit the work of God would go on in and through those who believed in Him. (Kallenberg, 2002, p.85) Sometimes these stories depict seeming miracles, sometimes only a realization that a loving God is in our midst, but they all have simple but profound lessons to teach concerning how we might, even in small ways, get closer to God ourselves.

References

Kallenberg, B. (2001). Faith in the Living God. A Dialogue By John Polkinghorne and Michael Welker,, 10-86.

Oxford, U. (2010). The Bible. The New Oxford Annotated Version.

Paperback. (2010). A Walk Through the Life of Abraham:. Faith in God's Promises Bible Discussion Guides, 9-16.