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Believe without Seeing

Believe without Seeing


Usually when we think or speak of religious(Christian) faith, the first thing that comes to our mind is Hebrews 11: 1 which says, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". It invites us to believe without seeing.


Jesus, when appeared to St. Thomas the Apostle said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe"(John 20, 29). Here Jesus gives importance to believe without seeing.


Our ancestors have not seen God but they believed in Him. It is true that some of them have heard His voice, some others saw in spirit and still some others neither heard His voice nor saw Him; yet they had no problem in believing Him even though they had not seen or heard Him.


Abraham, the father of our faith got a rare chance of hearing God's voice. The Lord said to him: "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be"(Gen. 15: 5). And he believed the Lord: and "the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Rom. 4:3). He believed even though he had no children, and his wife Sarah was barren; so humanly thinking it was next to impossible to have children. Still he believed and that is his greatness.


When Abraham did receive a child and when he grew up God asked him to offer him as a burnt offering(Gen. 22, 2). What can we expect after a burnt offering, nothing other than a handful of ashes; nevertheless he believed.


During the time of Jesus' earthly sojourn He performed so many miracles; actually one third of the gospels narrate miracles. The people around Him witnessed the miracles; but we read in the Gospels that many did not believe. Even though they had seen Jesus, witnessed His miracles and heard His words they did not believe.


Mary the mother of Jesus is a good example. We read in Luke 1: 45: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord".(emphasis added). What she believed is what was spoken to her, not seen.


Coming back to our ancestors we have examples of people who did not hear the voice or see God; still they believed and laid down their lives for Him. That is what we read in second Maccabees chapters 6 & 7. It is interesting to note Eleazar a man advanced in age(ch. 6: 18-31), and the story of seven brothers & their mother (ch. 7) faced suffering and martyrdom for the sake of a God whom they have not heard or seen. They just believed what they had inherited from their ancestors. So is the case with so many others in the Bible.


Hence from these examples it is not necessary to hear or see God to believe in Him. Truly we are in a better position because we have models in the Bible, in history and in the Church: ancestors, saints and martyrs. Hence faith is not be weakened or to be lost but to be deepened by looking back to the good examples of these saintly people. May each experience and incident help us in this regard.










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