Faith vs Intellectualism

Anneta Pinto-Young 2 Minutes
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Paul spoke on the subject of faith in his letter to the Hebrew brethren. He described faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). In simple language, faith is believing without seeing the physical manifestation. Faith to the person living in the flesh, can seem like foolishness. Human logic cannot reason out or understand faith and it takes trust to believe in things that we cannot wrap our minds around. We have to guard against spiritual blindness, as the god of this world loves, to pull a wool over the eyes of people.

Our education system teaches us to use deductive reasoning and science looks for facts and empirical evidence. God wants us to develop knowledge and the bible does say that Knowledge would increase (Daniel 12:4). What God wants us to do is to ask him for wisdom and revelation knowledge to understand the deep and hidden things. We have to remember that the bible says, “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness”” (1 Corinthians 3:19).

Intellectualism focuses on the use of the intellect and uses reasoning and rationale. This can sometimes come into conflict with what the bible says. The devil will find a reason and enough human logic to stifle our faith. He managed to lure Eve in the garden when he engaged her in the exercise of reason. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’”” (Genesis 3:1)?

This is why it is sometimes futile to get into an intellectual argument or debate about matters of faith. When it comes to faith, you choose either to believe that God is who he says he is or you don’t. The exercise of faith produces supernatural results which helps our faith to grow. Faith has to be put the test and exercised in order to grow and develop. Faith requires the innocence of a child to believe what God says to be truth. Too many Christians attend church and read the word, yet their faith is not fully developed. We have to grow and mature into spiritual adults who can master and exercise the things of faith.

A.P.-Y.

Published by Anneta Pinto-Young

I am a trained Social Worker who currently provides professional leadership on a programme to support Social Work students and Newly Qualified Social Workers entering the Social Work Profession. Born and raised in Jamaica in a Christian family where my father is an ordained Pastor and Deacon who has served for over 50 years in the ministry. My father is also a trained musician and our family can be described as a musical family. I grew up in a small farming community in St. Peter’s, St. Andrew and my parents also have a small farm. I credit my gift of writing to my father who I watched and listened to over the years as he wrote sermons, poems and other recitals in his capacity in ministry. English has always been an easy subject for me and over the years I have developed an increased interest in writing. I am a Trainer, I sing and have a passion for worship, the spoken word and the free flow of the prophetic anointing. I am married to my best friend Andrew Christopher Young who is an advanced Musician and whose music you can find on YouTube and Facebook. I am a trained Coach and Mentor and I love experimenting with food so I love cooking. I enjoy trying cultural dishes from across the world and I view food as an entry into cultures and languages.

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