“A Reasonable Faith…” (February 2024 Update)
Christianity, unlike most religions, is a reasonable faith. This means that what Christians believe stands the test of reason. If it does not, then it must be questioned. However, we often misunderstand what is meant by reason and faith and, especially, how we should use reason in theology and in life. In fact, more often than not, Christians see a conflict between reason and faith. But a biblical faith should be a reasonable faith.
Any discussion of faith and reason has to begin with the question: “What is faith?” Answering that question requires reason. But is the use of reason in theology acceptable for biblical Christians? Well, let’s begin by going to the Bible for a definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1. There the writer of Hebrews tells us: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Let’s examine this passage and see why real biblical faith includes reason.
First of all, notice that faith is something “substantial,” not mystical. While there may be (and probably should be) something mystical and even emotional about faith, faith is not some fleeting vapor – it is based in something that gives us assurance. That’s why many translations translate “substance” as “assurance.” “Faith is the substance (assurance) of things hoped for.” The hope of Christian faith is not based on or in emotional or mystical experiences. Its substance (assurance) is found in the realities of what has really happened.
In Hebrews 11:2-3, the writer gives us two concrete examples before moving on to give us multiple examples of faith in the lives of biblical “heroes.” First, he says, “for by it, the elders obtained a good testimony.” How do elders obtain a good testimony? By having their lives observed and tested. Elders are not chosen simply because we like them, but because their lives have borne a consistently faithful testimony. Our faith in them comes because we have observed their doctrine and their lives and found them to be qualified to be elders (1 Timothy 3:1-13). In this passage, the writer is probably referring to Old Testament examples of faith. Why do we trust the testimonies of the Old Testament saints? Because we have observed their lives and seen the outcome of their faith. Faith is not based on feelings. It has evidence. It is observable. When we examine the way they responded in faith, we can see that their faith was reasonable.
Then also listen to the second example that he gives us: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Here, the writer is referring to the creation of the world. How do we know that the world was created by God and not by some evolutionary process? Faith believes, but not without evidence. When we look at creation, we ask reasonable, logical questions like, “How can we get something out of nothing?” And we ask ourselves if the biblical account of creation is not at least reasonable. And then we build on that.
Then the writer of Hebrews says that faith is “the evidence of things not seen.” How can something not seen be evidence? In science, we look at effects and results to inform us about things that we cannot see. For example, we cannot see the wind, but we see the evidence of it. Even black holes were discovered by the evidence of things not seen. Black holes were first just a theory based on the observation of the effects of gravitational pull on light in space. The theory was first set forth by Einstein in 1916. But it was not until 1971 that scientists were able to observe x-rays being absorbed by the gravitational pull of a black hole. The black hole was still not “seen;” but there was evidence that it existed. The same is true about many things in theology and faith. We may not be able to “see” everything, but we can see the evidence of the existence of God as well as seeing evidence for the reality of true faith.
R. C. Sproul gives an example of how this kind of faith works. “I am not an expert in medicine, so I must give a certain trust to the diagnoses offered to me by experts in the field. That trust may be provisional until I find that it is not based in substance or evidence. But in the meantime, to trust what we do not see is not necessarily a matter of being irrational.” To be irrational is to believe something that has no rational basis.
The writer of Hebrews is not asking us to be irrational. He says that faith is believing even what you cannot seen because it is reasonable based upon what you have clearly seen. Then, the rest of Hebrews 11 is filled with examples of faith. R. C. Sproul goes on to remind us: “Biblical faith does not call people to crucify their intellect or take irrational leaps of faith into the darkness with the hope that Christ will catch us. Rather we are called to leap out of the darkness and into the light.” So, faith is not without reason. In fact, reason can even strengthen our faith as we examine it carefully and honestly.
Teaching Ministry …
I finished grading from my fall classes and I’m getting ready to teach Theology 1 online next week at Kyiv Theological Seminary. Be praying for the students as they study this important class. The understanding of who God is will be foundational for all aspects of ministry. Also be praying for me as I am working to train a Ukrainian teacher so that he can teach the class in the future.
We are continuing to examine the ministry options that the Lord might have for us in the future. Right now, I am still scheduled to teach all my normal classes for 2024. I have 3 classes this spring and another 3 in the fall. It looks like I have someone to teach 2 of these classes and I am working to train teachers for 2 other classes. So, it might take another year or so before I can transfer all the teaching to Ukrainian teachers. We know for sure that I will continue teaching in Ukraine at least until the end of November 2024.
This past week, we attended the Sender’s Forum Conference of GlobalServe International (GSI) to learn more about GlobalServe. This is a missionary organization that was founded by New Tribes leaders to serve areas that New Tribes does not – but using the same principles as New Tribes. New Tribes (Ethnos 360) does only tribal work. GlobalServe was founded to send missionaries to unreached people groups that are not in tribal settings. They work only in restricted access countries (countries closed to missionaries). And they work with translating Scripture and establishing churches among unreached language groups. They also have missionaries in a few former Soviet republics so our language skills and experience in Ukraine might be helpful with those missionaries too. This organization has grown rapidly, and they need a lot of help with providing training, support and pastoral care for their missionaries. The leaders have asked Katya and I to come on their missionary care team to work with missionaries and also to work with church relations. Pray for us as we explore this possibility.
The conference was great as we meet with pastors and missions pastors from all over the US whose churches support GlobalServe missionaries. A special surprise was seeing a former professor and his wife who served with us at KTS in Ukraine! He is now serving as a mission pastor in Michigan. At the conference, we were able to hear what GSI is doing and were able to see where they could use our help. Their two greatest needs appear to be in Theological Education and in Missionary Care (counseling with missionaries on the field). We will be meeting with the TRI board at the end of the month to discuss possibly helping with this ministry. They are asking Katya and I to help with missionary care and counseling, and they are wanting me to help with theological training for missionaries. We would become a “partner agency” through Teaching Resources providing training and counseling for missionaries. This looks like a good fit, and it would also allow me to continue teaching in Ukraine during our transition.
We will need to continue to raise our support since all their staff and missionaries raise their own support. As a partner agency, we would continue to receive support through TRI so we would not need to make any changes in terms of donations. We will update you more after our board meeting this month.
Financial Needs …
We have been abundantly blessed by your support in the past two years since we have returned to the states. We certainly need your continued help as I continue teaching classes in Ukraine and prepare to help with other ministries. But we know that we will need additional support in the coming year. This is for a number of reasons. First, we have a few donors who are shifting their support to other needs in the coming year. We will be losing about $800/month from these faithful supporters. This is not uncommon as many prefer to support those living on the field as missionaries rather than those serving in the states. Second, now that we have moved back to the states, we are learning that everything here costs 2-10 times as much as in Ukraine. So, we will need additional support to manage while serving here in the states. If you are interested in being part of our support team, information about making donations can be found at the end of this update.
We plan to continue to do the two things that helped us to live on a small salary in Ukraine. First, we learned to live debt-free. While we are still mostly debt-free, we do have some bills from the house that we are trying to pay off as soon as possible. Second, in Ukraine, we depended on our garden (canning and dehydrating) for most of our food needs. This March, we are hoping to get started with our first garden here in the US. But it will be a year or so before we can get back to producing most of our vegetables and fruit. So, we realize that 2024 will still be a difficult year for us financially as we make the financial adjustment to living in the states.
Family …
This January, we celebrated Kristina’s 10th birthday! It is amazing how quickly she has grown up. She was able to have multiple birthday celebrations – one with just family, one with Joy’s family, and one with Meredith’s girls.
In January, we also got a really nice snow storm. The girls were able to sled ride and play in the snow for a couple of days before it melted. They really miss the snow from Ukraine.
The first week of February, we headed south to the GSI conference in Florida. On the way, we stopped in Huntsville, Alabama at the Rocket and Space Museum. While Star Wars is still the way they prefer to understand space, the trip to the museum gave them an opportunity to see how the US Space Program developed.
After the conference, we were given some free tickets to Busch Gardens. This was their first experience at a theme park. They loved the rides, but the highlight was the safari ride where they got to feed the giraffes.
The weather was unusually cold for Florida, so we didn’t get much time at the beach. But Saturday warmed up to about 80 degrees and we got to spend a few hours on the beach in the sun. The girls loved it! We are looking forward to coming back sometime when the weather is a bit warmer! We also got to visit some dear friends from my Cumberland College days and some others from my church planting days in Connecticut. And we got to spend some extended time with Joel and Ally and their family too. In all, our trip was great. It allowed us to learn more about GSI and also to have a few days of vacation.
Pray for Ukraine …
Please continue praying for Ukraine and for the people of Ukraine. They have made it through another winter and their air defenses are helping against the constant onslot of Russian missles. But the war is still claiming many soldiers and is tiring on the people and especially the children of Ukraine (imagine being awakened almost every night at 3 am with missle sirens!). But, in spite of all this, churches are still very active in sharing the gospel and in providing humanitarian needs. Pray for their strength, endurance, and peace in very difficult times.
Also, pray for the people of Russia. Their access to all media is controlled by the state and they have very limited information about Ukraine and about the war in general. They hear only what the Kremlin wants them to know. And most of what the Kremlin puts out is pure propaganda about Ukraine. Russia has elections next month and all the opposition candidates have been imprisoned or removed and are unable to run against Putin. But pray that there will be a popular uprising that will change the direction of the Russian government. If you listened to any of the Tucker Carlson interview (full of lies and half-truth), you can see that the war will not end any time soon as long as Putin remains in power.
Pray for our students in Ukraine. Many are serving in the army, some as soldiers and some as chaplains. Others are actively serving by helping with supplies and caring for refugees. I continue to be amazed that we have students at both seminaries who continue to take classes, some while even serving in the military. I have had students taking classes on their cell phones while doing guard duty and many times have had students learning in the dark because of blackouts. Pray for these students – for their safety and for their ministries.
We are so grateful for your support and prayers. We are looking forward to see how God will use us in ministry in the coming year. We are glad to be settled finally after nearly two years of living in temporary housing. But these two years have been a great testimony to God’s faithfulness to us. All of His blessings might never be known, but we can see the “evidence of things not seen” over and over again in His provisions for us. For us, faith is certainly “reasonable!” We hope it is for you too!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya, Kristina and Nadia
If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .
Also, some have asked about how to support us. You can send checks to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 1025, Cabot, AR 72023 or pay through PayPal on our website. Just put “#1000 Ehrhard” in the memo so our treasurer knows where to allocate the funds. If you want to help with our relocation fund or building efforts (we still have a lot of work to do), put Relocation in the memo.
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