Now faith is the substance of things of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11.1 KJV

For we walk by faith not by sight. II Corinthians 5.7 ESV

            Over the years I have written several pieces about starlings. I really dislike starlings.  They don’t belong here.  They were imported into Central Park, NYC, to eat insects back in the 1880’s and became as populous (more so), and as destructive as rats.  That’s what starlings are – ratbirds.  My real objection to starlings is that they are so ugly.  That is shallow I know, but still – is there an uglier bird in North America?  They look like they bathe regularly in Quaker State motor oil.  That’s how I see them.  Other birds, however, see them as having the most colorful plumage in North America.  It’s just that their reds and blues are on part of the color spectrum the human eye cannot see – and so they look to us like an oil-leak puddle.  Starlings are actually among the most colorful birds in the world.  Just because humans can’t see that starlings are colorful, doesn’t mean they aren’t.

            How many dimensions are there in our Universe?  We experience three – four if you include time, but physicists and cosmologists tell us that there must be many more – there is no other way to explain the universe.  Just because humans can only experience 3 dimensions doesn’t mean there aren’t more.  I am reminded of that great scene in E. A. Abbot’s Flatland, where a two-dimensional square realizes through his friendship with a sphere that there is a third dimension.  The way the square experiences this sphere passing through his world is as a dot that becomes an increasing large circle, then and increasingly smaller one until it is a dot again.  The square can’t really see the sphere, but can imagine it based upon the phenomenon he does see, and becomes convinced that there is, indeed a third dimension.

            My point is that our ability to perceive and understand is finite.  The limits of our perception do not alter reality.  We can’t see quarks, but they exist apart from our perception.  We, however, have at least two tools that help us transcend the limits of our perception: reason and imagination.  We can do the math, and we can dream beyond.  The answers we achieve from reason and imagination have to be believed to be accepted, because they cannot be perceived through our senses.  Our acceptance of them requires faith, because they are beyond experience.  The existence of 7, 8, or 10 dimensions is an example of this.  A Biblical example of this is the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22.  There is no way to justify this action based upon the revealed will of God, or the promises of God about Isaac.  Yet God said to do it, and Abraham used his reason and imagination to conclude that God could raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11.19).  Human resurrection was beyond the experience of Abraham, but he was able to calculate and consider this possible outcome.  Reason and imagination led to faith, and faith permitted obedience.

            Faith then accommodates our lack of perception and experience – not a lack of evidence, not a lack of truth.  We “walk by faith, not by sight” because our sight is limited, not because our way is imaginary.

            This, of course, is the point of Hebrews 11.1.  Faith is the “substance” of things hoped for (i.e. beyond our experience).  Faith is the “evidence” of things not seen (i.e. beyond our perception).  Faith makes up for what is lacking in us – not for a lack of evidence.

            But we often talk about faith like it is some sort of alternative to reason and evidence.  Or perhaps was compartmentalize faith and reason into different boxes like they need to be quarantined from each other lest there be cross-contamination.  This all manifests a lack of faith in Faith as a tool to transcend.  The whole panorama of Hebrews 11 proves the connection between faith and obedience.  If we don’t have faith in Faith, we will not obey.  Without faith in Faith we will never be pleasing to God (Hebrews 11.6).

            Let us have faith in Faith.  Let us have confidence in the ability of Faith to transcend the limits of our human eyes, our finite brains, and our few experiences so that we may know, so that we may obey.