| I certainly agree with what you are saying, and you are correct... taking a leap of faith does not mean forcing yourself to believe in something. It DOES mean however that you find things that demonstrate what you believe IS true. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 I believe this definition of faith is somewhat different from 'blind faith' which is what is implied from statements like 'taking a leap of faith' The 'leap' is a physical action which requires and follows a belief. It's not an action performed to substantiate a belief... That would be a test. Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, and called out to Him saying Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Jesus said "come". And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus... (Matthew 14:28-29) Here, we see faith and testing in action. Peter already beleived in Jesus as Lord. He apparently wanted to test his own faith in his desire to walk on the water as Jesus was doing. We test our faith in this way every day... in an effort to do that which we have not done before. The only difference is that Peter's test of faith was a reliance upon something beyond the rules of physical laws. The leap of faith I guess I was referring to was more like when Jesus called to Peter when they first met. Jesus said follow me, and i'll make you fishers of men. Peter and Andrew took their leap when they left their nets to follow Jesus. Were they technically saved at that point? I doubt it... but they saw something in Jesus which told them that following Him was worth further investigation, and more important than the time they would lose catching more fish. (Mathhew 4:18) What else can one do? I think you are already doing it... but the answer is SEEK! Find the truth... TEST the data... BUILD your faith by finding the evidence which demonstrates the truth of that which cannot be seen. What does God have to say about what you should do? Try taking a look at James 1:5-6: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." |