We humans are incomplete in ourselves. We are not self-sufficient and self-sustaining. We need someone or something greater than ourselves upon which to lean for meaning, purpose, and support. Babies need mothers; children need parents; adults need a higher power to guide and sustain us through life. In whoever or whatever we choose to trust will either meet our needs or fail us when we call for help.
Faith and its opposite, unbelief based on a delusion, has both a broad and a narrow base. What do I mean?
Let’s first examine the concept of faith. What is faith? Faith is confidence in the reality and reliability of a person or object, i.e., anyone or anything that can do what it says it can do and what we expect it to do.
The object of our faith must be real. It must exist even if it is unseen. If what we believe in and trust does not exist, faith is not faith. If we choose to repudiate what is real in favour of what cannot be proven to be real, we are deluded. If faith has no legitimate object in which to trust, it cannot be real faith. It is a delusion.
Legitimate faith, then, is the broad base upon which we function, our confidence in a person or thing that is able to sustain us in the context of everyday life. This faith forms the basis of our spiritual experience. The object of our faith must have both the authority and power to perform as expected. This object, then, in whom we trust, is a god to us, one who has real authority and power.
The narrow base of faith is the trust we exercise in the one with whom we can communicate when we need help. We call on His name and He responds with intervention and action. We speak to Him and He speaks to us. This communication is not a figment of our imagination. What He says and does can transform our thinking and behaviour.
Hebrews 11:6 NLT
[6] “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
Those who want to interact with God (or a god) must be convinced that He is real and that He responds to those who communicate with Him.
Delusion, on the other hand, is based on someone or something that only exists in human imagination. People have, since the fall of the first man from faith to delusion, created gods in their own image to evade the true God and their accountability to Him.
David concluded…
Psalms 14:1 NLT
[1] “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!”
The reason for and purpose of their delusion is to make their own rules to accommodate their sinful desires and to escape accountability to the God who (they know) created and owns everyone.
Psalms 24:1 NLT
[1]”The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”
Despite man’s every attempt to escape from God, in the end, He really does exist, and He will call all people to account for their thoughts and actions.
How do we know that God is real and, therefore, our faith is faith, not a delusion? Since God’s existence cannot be proven scientifically, those who believe in Him base their argument from signs that are real.
The Bible gives us several signs that point to the existence of God. These are not scientific “proofs”, only clues that point us to His existence and, consequently, our faith in a legitimate object. Only when we are convinced that what the Bible says about Him is true can we bridge the gap between Himself and us by the gossamer thread of faith.
At least four clues have no explanation outside of a real God.
1. The natural world.
There is evidence of both design and unity in diversity in the natural world. Ecosystems everywhere point to the actions of a designer with their evidence of interaction and delicate balance that sustains their continuity. When humans interfere, this balance and continuity break down.
The Bible recognises that the human body is a miracle of intricate design…
Psalms 139:13-14 NLT
[13] “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. [14] Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”
Despite the theory of evolution, if we remove or try to change a single function in the intricacy of a human body, that part will be dysfunctional. How, then, can every detail of the body function efficiently when it is, supposedly, evolving and in the process of change?
The universe and the natural world are a cosmos of splendour and beauty which suggest the work of a supreme artist…
Psalms 19:1-4 NLT
[1]”The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. [2] Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. [3] They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. [4] Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.”
So powerful and so glorious is this created universe that Paul declared…
Romans 1:20 NLT
[20]”For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
2. Miracles point to the intervention of a Divine Being.
Miracles are events that either speed up or cut across natural functions. Outside of the Biblical narrative, humans have experienced miracles that have no natural explanation. There can be no other conclusion than that a Being greater than man has intervened.
3. The evidence of prophecy.
People try to predict the future but mostly in such vague terms that fulfilment is difficult to recognise. Only God Himself claimed to be able to foretell the future in such detail that no one could doubt its origin.
“The Bible is the only known religious document with historically verifiable prophecies that have consistently been fulfilled…
…That the Bible has dozens of prophecies that can be verified by historians as having been accurately fulfilled is very strong proof that God is its Author…
…The Old Testament prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah in great detail. According to the Old Testament, the Messiah would:
be a descendant of Abraham (Gen. 12:3; Gen. 22:18)
be from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10)
be a descendant of David (2 Sam. 7:12 and 13)… (and many more)…
…Jesus Christ fulfilled all these prophecies and even more. With such amazing accuracy about the first coming of the Lord, why would any reasonable person doubt the prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled? And why would any reasonable person doubt that Jesus Christ was the man the Old Testament prophecies referred to? The fact that the Bible has been accurate in its prophecy time after time should make it easy to believe God is its Author, and that its prophecies concerning the return of Jesus Christ, the battle of Armageddon, the coming Judgment of all people, and saved people’s living forever, are all true.”
(Source : https://stfi.org)
4. Personal experience
The Apostle Paul experienced a personal transformation so radical that there can be no other explanation than that a divine encounter stopped him in his tracks and turned him around. He told his own story…
Acts of the Apostles 26:9-10, 12-18 NLT
[9] “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene. [10] Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death…
[12] “One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. [13] About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. [14] We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will.’ [15] “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. [16] Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future. [17] And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles [18] to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’ “
Could anyone invent a story like this and spend the rest of his life following through on his invention, including the hardships he endured, on a delusion? Millions of people throughout the generations can testify to transformation when they believed in Jesus.
Faith in this God and the experiences of His love and care that faith makes possible, has provided enough evidence that this God, the God of the Bible, is real. He exists, and faith in Him is not a delusion.
What of the many gods people have invented to replace the one true God in their experience? Characteristically, all other gods resemble humans and glorify the worst of human nature. They are mostly evil, unpredictable, vengeful, and malevolent in their attitude toward their devotees. They demand to be appeased and call forth fear in the hearts of their “worshippers”.
Who are these gods that demand obeisance? The Apostle Paul identifies them as demons masquerading as gods.
1 Corinthians 10:19-21 NLT
[19] “What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? [20] No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons. [21] You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.”
Sacrifices and rituals offered to false gods are really offered to demons. Thus, “faith” in these gods is not faith but a delusion since they do not exist. Any religion based on gods created in the image of humans is a delusion.
People who are lured away from the worship of the one true God presented to us in the Bible by false teachings, also follow the doctrines of demons.
1 Timothy 4:1 NLT
[1]”Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.”
Satan will do whatever it takes to deceive people into worshipping him, even when he is disduisedcas a god. When humans refuse to acknowledge and worship the only true God, they will fall for any delusion that lures them towards eternal death.
Isaiah 45:18 NLT
[18]” For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the Lord,” he says, “and there is no other.”
1 Timothy 2:5 NLT
[5]”There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.”
Thus we must conclude that God is real, that faith in Him is real, and that all other “faiths” are false. Every follower of a false god or gods is deceived and destined for eternal judgment. This truth cannot be classified as “hate speech” since it points to reality and offers hope to those who embrace this God as real. This is the only “love speech” that calls people away from delusion to the truth that offers them eternal life.
John 3:18-19 NLT
[18] “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. [19] And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.”