Is Our Faith Feelings or Fact?

Understanding the nature of faith can be a difficult and abstract undertaking. It is an intellectual ascent to truth, and there is just enough tangible evidence to affirm the veracity of claims; ultimately, just enough of Christianity is invisible to the naked eye to require a step into the unprovable.

Some believers find comfort in the plain truths and lean into the realm of apologetics to affirm the reality of their relationship with God. They point to scientific, historical, and archaeological evidence that supports Biblical text. Other people never look deeply into these evidences, and rely on the feelings brought about by their relationship with God. They look to the power of their emotions, to signs from the Holy Spirit, and to the intangible.

Is one of these groups more right than the other? The heart is wicked and deceitful above all things, but Judas still betrayed Jesus despite all the facts and the reality of what he saw with his own eyes. The reality of the Christian life is more complicated than either perspective. The faith of a Christian is built on facts and truth, but without an emotional, personal walk with God, it is an empty belief.

Faith is seeing the facts, taking the next step to believe in the miraculous, and learning how to love God in a personal and emotional way.

There Is Proof of the Claims Made in the Bible

The Bible is one large text created by compiling other texts together. These books cover an expanse of genres including poetry, parable, and prophecy. Many of them are rooted in telling the history that points toward the coming of the Savior of the world, the one who can fix the great break between God the Creator, and His creation, humanity. If the events in the Bible are to be taken as true, there must be some evidence in the physical world to support these claims. Faith is more than just believing in something invisible; people can believe things that are not true.

So, is there evidence of the historical claims of the Bible, or is Christianity blind faith?

There is a collection of scientific and archaeological evidence that supports the claims of the Bible. These evidences include:

1. Science now supports the claim that the universe had a decisive beginning. 

2. Genetics now confirms that all humans come from the same race and origins, rather than the 19th century belief that different ethnicities descended from different proto hominids.

3. Fossil records strongly support the flood account of Genesis.

4. Geological records now support the assertion of how the continents began to separate in Genesis.

5. Stars follow patterns set out by the Bible, including that there are infinite numbers of them, they move in patterns, and that different stars shine differently.

6. The Tel Dan Stele supports the claim of a united kingdom of Israel under King David. In fact, archaeology in Israel is finding more and more evidence of David and his reign.

7. Multiple ancient records from Egypt, Moab, and other named enemies of Israel mention the nation of Israel, specific rulers, and even their God - YWH.

8. New evidence supports the Babylonian history presented in the Book of Daniel, including the rule of Belshazzar and his co-regent.

9. Written and physical evidence of key individuals in the New Testament includes Pilate, Caiaphas, and Jesus. This evidence includes writings by and about Pilate, the ossuary (box for bones) of Caiaphas, and non-Christian writings about the death of Jesus.

10. The more archaeology is being done, the more older and older copies of Biblical texts are being found, proving the timeline of authorship.

This is only a small, preliminary list of evidence that scientists and archaeologists have found supporting the historical claims of the Bible.

When seeking to understand if Jesus was a real man, if the prophecies about him were not retroactively created by His followers, and if the narrative that pointed toward His coming are genuine, the facts of reality can strengthen a budding faith, bolster someone who is going through a period of difficulty or doubt, and help witness to someone who doesn’t yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

But Do You Love God?

Relationships are not just built on facts. Someone can know lots of facts about another person, but have no relationship. A perfect real-world demonstration of this reality is the intense knowledge people have about celebrities whom they have never met and probably never will.

The Bible does say, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). If the whims of the heart are the basis of faith, and the believer needs to pursue emotional highs to feel connected to God, there is a problem. However, people can know a lot about God and Jesus, but have no real relationship with Him. With a relationship comes emotions.

It isn’t possible to know things about the Lord, and not have an emotional response to Him. Jesus addressed a church that had intellectual understanding of Him, but the personal relationship had grown lifeless. When He was giving the Apostle John a final prophetic word, He said, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).

If someone has a real relationship with Jesus, they should feel positively toward Him. The basis of the Jewish Law, the shemah, which Jesus reiterated during His ministry is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37b). If there is no love in someone’s heart – only facts – they should step back and evaluate where they are in their relationship.

The Bible also associates faith with other feelings including peace, love for other Christians, assurance, and joy. These feelings should grow as a relationship with God grows.

I Want to Believe

For people who have not yet put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, it is important to recognize that one of these elements – facts or feelings – may come before the other. It may be that you have to take in all the facts, and a deep love for the Lord will develop as you walk with Him. For others, they may have a powerful conviction and connect with Him emotionally, and then learn about the facts that support their faith over time.

To become a Christian and have a saving faith in Jesus is much simpler than balancing fact and faith. It is a question of believing key truths.

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the first step. When we want to start having a relationship with God, we build our foundation on believing that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross cleanses us of our sins, and that His resurrection secures our future resurrection.

Verses about Christian Faith

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).

Part of the wonder and mystery of a relationship with the living God is that it is built on an understanding of things that cannot be seen with the naked eye, but of which there is much evidence. The Bible asserts that Creation itself testifies to the truth of who made it. Faith does not need to be built purely on an understanding of all the scientific evidence, or even all the historical evidence pointing to the veracity of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Nor is it purely an emotional relationship. It is grounded in reality, upheld by the hand of God.

Pursue God in all things, and facts and feelings will not contradict each other.

Sources

Borgman, Brian. Feelings and Faith Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2009.

Geisler, Norman. The Big Book of Christian Apologetics An A to Z Guide. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2012.

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/metamorworks

Bethany Verrett is a freelance writer who uses her passion for God, reading, and writing to glorify God. She and her husband have lived all over the country serving their Lord and Savior in ministry. She has a blog on graceandgrowing.com.