simplicity

as a small child i can remember how other adults caused me to wonder (to think or speculate curiously) about the amazing things they were capable of doing with their minds. for example my father, an electrical engineer, would often come home from work and talk about an exciting new project. whether it was a cool gas analyzer that could simply intake the air from any ambient and precisely tell you what kind of chemicals were in the air or a car that could literally drive itself, i was constantly amazed at what we are capable of doing. i can also remember thinking how wise and all-knowing these people must be in order to accomplish such great things. well, now i am old-er and i ask myself what has come of that childhood wonder?

here's the answer to that question...

everything in this life can be broken down into bite sized bits and pieces to make those seemingly impossible tasks into something plausible and pragmatic. there isn't anything in this life that is too complex or too impossible if we simply start out with the basics and build upon them.

that brings me to the main topic for this post: faith. the other night i asked my friend to define faith for me. he, like many of us would, struggled giving me a clear and concise answer. in the past i have studied the scriptures and other church materials such as "lectures on faith", "articles of faith" etc. but i'm not sure i truly understood it either. i wondered, "how does faith differ from belief? can i have faith by sitting in the corner of my room wishing something will happen? how can so many different religions have faith in God, yet be so different? what exactly is the relationship between works and faith (joseph smith said the greatest works of faith are done by words)? could faith just be some abstract notion too hard to understand? the list of questions goes on and on and on.

well, i recently came across some things that shed some light on the basic building blocks of faith (in my opinion).

first off, faith was not a religious word at its conception. i'll say that again in different words, originally faith had nothing to do with religion. you might ask... "if it wasn't a religious word, then what was it used for?" well, i'm glad you asked. faith was a word used for contractual agreements. to say you had "faith in somebody" meant that you had a contractual agreement with that person.

this contractual agreement essentially had five components to it. they are: specific terms (to the agreement), object (what is being exchanged in the agreement), ratification, assurance and finally, the ultimate fulfillment of the contract.

i think that understanding this sets the foundation for understanding faith, what it is and why the early apostles talked about it in the way that they did.

this is going to be cut short because i'm not sure a blog is an appropriate place to talk about this. i will say though, thinking about faith this way has led to a lot changes in how i understand faith.