I’m currently taking a class for my Masters degree about philosophy in education. In this class, I’m learning about all sorts of different philosophies (which is somewhat interesting to me – I never took anything like this as an undergrad) from idealism to realism to pragmatism, and on. (I’ll try not to bore you too much with the details of philosophy.) As I’ve been reading about the history of different philosophies, I’ve been saddened by the negative effect that some ideas have had on true Christianity. One particular idea especially that struck me was the origination of the idea of “leap of faith.”
Søren Kierkegaard was a philosopher who lived from 1813-1855. He proclaimed Christianity (although I have no idea what type), but yet falsely believed that there is no proof God exists. Kierkegaard proclaimed that people must take a “leap of faith” because there was no evidence for God, and thus there was no logical or rational way to know God. This “leap of faith” would allow one to truly follow Christianity.
So many in the world today wrestle with the idea of a Biblical faith. The word “faith” is misused in more ways than I’m going to express now, but one of those misuses is described by the idea of “leap of faith” – that faith is something you have to jump into without any real evidence. Biblical faith isn’t unfounded – quite the opposite. Consider Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
If you struggle with seeing the evidence for God, I encourage you to turn to the Scriptures. The Bible is the inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1: 16-21) and provides great evidence for the existence of God. Additionally, sites by faithful Christian brethren, like Apologetics Press, provide great resources on topics ranging from the existence of God to the inspiration of the Bible (and much, much more!).
