‘The Evidence of Things Not Seen’

by Lee Duigon

May 18, 2023

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

My judo teacher told me that I could take a headlong fall without getting hurt, provided my palms and forearms hit the mat first—at the same time!—and I turned my head away. Because I believed him, and followed his instructions, I took the fall and it was just fine. I didn’t get hurt.

Other students couldn’t quite believe the teacher, so they had to fall from a kneeling position, not standing up. A few couldn’t believe at all; and rather than risk the fall, they just gave up on judo.

It was a matter of faith. I had faith in the teacher, so I took the fall. I didn’t let a little bit of fear stop me.

Hebrews 11, “the faith chapter,” recites great deeds done by heroic men and heroic women throughout history. They were able to do them because they were motivated and sustained by faith. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab—the things they did were dangerous and risky. Most people wouldn’t have dared to do them. These heroes did them because they believed God’s word; somehow God would get them through their trials. Esther, daring to speak up for her people to the all-powerful (and not entirely stable) king of Persia, said, “And if I die, I die.” It came right down to that. She would accept death, if that was the cost of saving God’s people from genocide.

And many of the saints did die—for doing what was right. Hebrews 11 doesn’t back away from that.

But faith can be misplaced… and often is.

Why do leftists believe in socialism, communism, public education, Climate Change, gender reassignment, college, etc.? By misplaced faith they believe such things. They may insist they don’t need faith, they’ve worked it all out by Reason—but that only means their faith is in Reason, which is only a disguise: what they really believe in is themselves—their own judgment of their intelligence, their own perception of what they accept as fact… or simply what they’ve been taught and what they’ve believed in all their lives and aren’t about to change.

It doesn’t matter where you put it; it’s still faith.

This being so, what we have is not a debate but a clash of faith. There won’t be any adding-up of points to find the winner. Either God and His enscriptured word are the ultimate authority, or He is not and something else is. “Science.” The majority. The enlightened minority. The Party. Or some guy with a gun.

Neither side can surrender.

Our faith demands that we believe God and take the fall, trusting in Him—all-righteous, all-wise—to see it through. It may not turn out as we would most passionately hope; but it will turn out as He intends. If God is God, then no false faith can prevail against Him.

If we can’t believe that, we might as well quit the judo school because we’re never going to get beyond those first hard falls.

There have always been false faiths. One after another, they come and go. Communism is considered a timeless faith, and it’s barely two hundred years old. The others are much younger, and already creaking and groaning with age.

There will come a time when those particular errors don’t exist anymore. We may even live to see it.

I have discussed these and other topics throughout the week at my blog, http://leeduigon.com/ . Click the link and stop in for a visit… before we’re all censored out of the picture. My articles can also be found at www.chalcedon.edu/ .

E-Mail Lee Duigon: leeduigon@verizon.net