Some Food (and Dessert) for Thought

*Original blog was written on Thursday June 23, 2011*

"Christianity not only leads its members to believe people of other faiths have goodness and wisdom to offer, it also leads them to expect that many will live lives morally superior to their own. Most people in our culture believe that, if there is a God, we can relate to him and go to heaven through leading a good life. Let’s call this the “moral improvement” view. Christianity teaches the very opposite. In the Christian understanding, Jesus does not tell us how to live so we can merit salvation. Rather, he comes to forgive and save us through his life and death in our place [on the cross, taking our sin and giving us his righteousness, for those who have faith in him!]. God’s grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior." - Tim Keller, The Reason for God (I read this while reading up on a discussion going on over at Andy Mineo's Facebook page, where Andy had brought this into this discussion).

I was just thinking that I almost always need a daily reminder of why God and I are doing this, why we are in this thing we're in together and honestly, what Tim Keller said ... That is such a way to express in words what I have always felt inept at expressing verbally ... Man! It brought that much more clarity to me, a greater reinforcement, a greater sense of empowerment to keep going ...

In the same discussion that had taken place on Andy's page, someone shared: "I don't believe in blind trust -- in books, in yourself, in God, or in other people."

After I read this, I thought, 'then what is faith? And also, just because it is something that another person can't or won't see, does not mean the other person's trust is blind. I think we all make that choice or decision to try and be logical about what, who we trust - that's all a process. And on the flip side, I also think that many people make the choice or decision to barely, if at all try to be logical about who or what they trust.'