What I Have Come to Realize About Faith

There are times when reading the Bible is like staring into a mirror. It doesn't necessary tell you anything new but shows you the Truth about yourself, a truth that you have somehow always known although you have never really acknowledged it before. A few weeks ago, it seems, I fully acknowledged a truth about Christianity (which incidently has everything to do with the Truth about me) for the very first time. And here it is, beautifully voiced by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31:

 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside." Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord."

I finally understood why I had struggled with the cross for so long. From a secular perspective, the cross is a symbol of death, defeat, and humiliation. Without any knowledge of God, it is impossible to understand the cross, to understand that the cross is not a symbol of death but a symbol of life - a symbol not of defeat but of victory. Now as a Christian, there is something else that I have learned, namely that knowledge does not create faith. This is a strange realization for me since I love reading books on theology. And although these books can certainly be beneficial, they do not create faith. Reason alone can never lead you to faith because reason's limits is this world and faith has to do with the "other" world, what is beyond human knowledge. The most knowledgeable people are not necessarily the ones who have faith while on the contrary the least educated are not the ones most lacking in faith. Often, the opposite is true. Maybe this is the case becuase faith is required before anything we read on God makes any sense. Everything precedes from faith. Maybe having faith is not as difficult to acquire as we may think. Sometimes I find that reading theology, instead of helping my faith, actually makes Christianity merely into an interesting philosophy. We all want proof, but religion is not science. We cannot prove the existence of God. We know that Jesus is God because He said so. This is what Jesus meant in his parable of Lazarus and the rich man when Abraham said, "If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead" (Luke 16: 31). Miracles are only miracles when seen through the eyes of faith. For Christians, Jesus has risen from the dead. For everyone else, Jesus is still dead. So, I love theology. I love the challenge of reading books written by well-known theologians, but I am starting to realize that the best way to learn about God is to personally ask Him. There is no better way.

A Rabbi's Reflection on the Reasoning Behind Balaam's Murder

Some months ago, I posted a reflection on the story of Balaam in the book of Numbers, and focused on the similarities between this story and Saul's conversion.
(To see my post click here: http://carnival3christianity.blogspot.com/2010/02/oft-forgotten-story.html).
However, at that time I had not read far enough in the book of Numbers to know that Balaam was eventually killed by the Israelites. Suddenly the question arises as to why this is. After Saul's conversion, Paul was given a new life. His past, it seems, was fully forgiven and forgotten, and yet Balaam did not receive this grace. Below is a reflection written by a Jewish Rabbi on Numbers 22:2-25:9. I think it is very intersting.

This portion, Balak, is named for the Moabite King who feared the Israelites as they journeyed toward the Promised Land. The Israelites are encamped on the steppes of Moab opposite Eretz Yisrael and have defeated in battle two different kingdoms already, Sichon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. The Israelites have gained strength since they left Egypt almost four years previously and united as a community and as an army.



Balak wants an edge over the Israelites without engaging them in battle directly and sends for a prophetic specialist, Baalam to curse the Israelites. Baalam is a non-Hebrew prophet. He lives by the Euphrates and Balak’s messengers, elders who are themselves experts in the arts of divination went to find him and bring the king’s plea for help.


Baalam however is reluctant to help. Baalam is indeed a prophet and the Torah records that God speaks with Baalam. How interesting that God has direct communication with a prophet who is dedicated to another religion! Like Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law and himself a high priest of the Midianites, God can be present for them.


God speaks to Baalam and tells him that he may not go with the king’s messengers. This Baalam conveys. But the king sends more dignitaries and offers of riches to provide curses against the Israelites. God gives permission to Baalam to go with the king’s dignitaries but will only be able to speak the words that God gives to him.


Baalam disappoints king Balak because even though the king wants the Israelites cursed—blessings flow from Baalam. These blessings are directly from God who becomes manifest to Baalam. Three times, Baalam and the king, Balak, offer seven sacrifices at special high altars overlooking the encamped Israelites. And three times, Balaam’s prophecies with blessings are stated. Balak the king says, “I called you to damn my enemies and instead you have blessed them these three times! (24:10).”


God protects the Israelites and provides great blessings for them even through the mouth of a non-Jewish prophet.


And yet Baalam—though subject to God’s words –is not looked at with favor in Jewish tradition. He represents pagan religion and in the closing words of the Torah portion—the Children of Israel are led astray by the intermingling and marriage of Israelite men with Moabite women who bring them to worship the pagan god—Baal-peor. Later in the book of Numbers, chapter 31 in the war against the Midianites—Baalam is killed for his role in advising the Midianites and Moabites on the weaknesses of the Israelites. He could not curse them—because God’s blessing was stated, but traditionally it is understood that Baalam advised the Moabites and Midianites that the Israelites could be infiltrated and converted thus helping to weaken them!


In 1967, in Jordan in Deir Allah, an archaeological dig discovered a plaster wall remnants with inked inscription in a local dialect with Aramaic and South Canaanite characteristics. These inscriptions were a previously undiscovered prophecy attributed to Baalam! This was written about by Professor Jo Ann Hackett of Harvard University in Balaam Text from Tell Deir Alla.

This article was taken from: http://www.kol-ami.org/rabbi/archive/2007/06/index.html.

An Oft-Forgotten Story

I wonder how many of you have ever read the story in the book of Numbers about Balak and Balaam. I know that I had never heard of it till last night. It is interesting what you can find when you read the Bible all the way through. Here is a summary of the story:

The Israelites were about to fight the Moabites. The King of Moab, Balak, was afraid that the Israelites would be hard to defeat, so he called on his seer Balaam to curse the Israelites. However, he could not because God prevented him; Balaam replied to Balak by way of Moabite princes that he could not do anything other than what God wanted him to do. "Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God" (Numbers 22:18).

The next morning, however, Balaam changed his mind and decided to return to Balak with the Moabite princes. God placed obstacles in Balaam's way so that his donkey refused to stay on path. No matter how many times Balaam whipped his donkey, it refused to listen to him. Finally, the donkey spoke and said, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" (Numbers 22:30). Balaam realized that it was God who was trying to get his attention. When the angel of the Lord finally spoke, Balaam fell to the floor and prostrated himself to the Lord. The angel of the Lord rebuked him for not interpreting his donkey's reactions as a sign from the Lord.

"Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, 'I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.' The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, 'Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.' So Balaam went with the princes of Balak" (Numbers 22:32-35). When Balaam returned to Balak he prophesied that the Israelites would crush the Moabites.

Does the story sound familiar? Compare Balaam's conversion to Paul's conversion:

"As [Paul] neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'
'Who are you Lord?' Saul asked.
'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. 'Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.' " (Acts 9:3-6).

Early Valentine's Day Message

Last Sunday's epistle reading was from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. I could not help but think of Valentine's Day because Paul's message was love.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophesies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

There is nothing more to be said. This, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful passages in all of the Bible. God Bless you all!!! And let us show His blessing and love to the world.