Welcome to another Edition of 
the Chaplain’s Corner

It is important to know what you believe and why. Today we will look at Faith, and things not seen as mentioned in Hebrews 11:7

But let’s start with Prayer

In your name we pray, Amen

Things Not Seen

"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

(Hebrews 11:7)

The little phrase "things not seen" is used three times in the New Testament, and interestingly enough, these refer to the past, present, and future works of God with respect to the 
things that are seen.

were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:1, 3). That is, the material things of this present world were not made of pre-existing materials; they were supernaturally created by the word of the Creator!

These things which are now seen provide evidence (or better, the "conviction") of the things not seen--that is, of God's creative work completed in the past.

present seasonal changes, and many other key phenomena of the present order--all were instituted in the days of Noah when "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished" (2 Peter 3:6).

Finally, "we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for . . . the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). Just as surely as the materials and processes of the present world once were unseen, but now are easily seen, so the future eternal

world will soon be clearly seen when Christ returns. HMM

We see the evidence of God all around us, in the Universe, in Nature, and we know that there is a God because scriptures tells us.

Colossians 1:16

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Deuteronomy 4:19

...the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven...which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Nehemiah 9:6

You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them and the heavenly host bows down before You.

Psalm 50:6

The heavens declare His righteousness...

It was Sam Harris that said: “The entirety of atheism is 

contained in this response. Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious.”

Oh really? In our everyday experience, just about everything seems to have a beginning. In fact, the laws of science show that even things which look the same through our lifetime, like 
the sun and other stars, are running down. The sun is using up its fuel at millions of tons each second. Since, therefore, it cannot last forever, it had to have a beginning. The same can be shown to be true for the entire universe.

So when Christians claim that the God of the Bible created the entire universe, some will ask what seems a logical question, 
namely “Where did God come from?”

The Bible makes it clear in many places that God is outside of time. He is eternal, with no beginning or end—He is infinite! He 
also knows all things, being infinitely intelligent.

Is this logical? Can modern science allow for such a notion? And how could you recognize the evidence for an intelligent 
Creator?

Scientists get excited about finding stone tools in a cave because these speak of intelligence—a tool maker. They could not have designed themselves. Neither would anyone believe that the carved Presidents’ heads on Mt. Rushmore were the product of millions of years of chance erosion. We can recognize design—the evidence of the out workings of intelligence—in the man-made objects all around us.

By Faith Noah believed God and built the Ark according to the plans God gave him and thus Him and his whole family was saved

The Christian life is more than a life of blind trust. It is a life of rational examination that challenges each of us to evaluate the evidence, form a conclusion and then share that conclusion with the world around us. Let’s examine the Biblical model of evidential faith:

Christians Are Called to Use Their Minds

God tells us that we are to love Him with more than our heart. We are to have a relationship that is emotional and intellectual:

Matthew 22:37-38

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.”

When we examine our world and the evidence for the existence of God, we are worshipping God with our mind and this kind of worship pleases God.

Christians Are Called to Understand the Value of Evidence

God has given us a number of good evidential reasons to believe that He exists and that Jesus is who He says He is. We are not called to have blind faith, but to have a well reasoned, evidential faith:

Acts 1:2-3

…until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period
of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Acts 17:2-3

And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 
explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead

Acts 17:30-31

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, 
because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

The Greek word used for “proof” in Acts 17:31 is “pistis”. The word is derived from “peitho” which is a Greek verb that means “to convince by argument” that something is either true or false. The word is also used as a verb to describe one’s “assent” to a point in light of the evidence, or to describe the inner “certainty” that one can have as a result of trusting the evidence. But interestingly, this word that Paul uses for “proof” here, although it is used in 244 other places in the New Testament, is never translated elsewhere as “proof” or 
“evidence”. In every other appearance in the scripture, this word is translated as “faith”. The Biblical notion of “faith” is to place one’s confidence and trust in something that can be demonstrated with “proof”, “evidence” or a “convincing argument”. Biblical faith is not blind; it is rooted in evidence.

Christians Are Called to Examine Their Beliefs

God wants us to know what we believe and why we believe it. We’re not called to numbly trust everything that might be taught in our world today, even if some Christian teacher is the source! We’re expected to be critical, skeptical and 
thoughtful:

Acts 17:10-11

And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went 
into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which
is good…

1 John 4:1

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Skepticism is important to the Christian faith; skepticism causes us to examine what we believe and search for the evidence that confirms our beliefs. God honors this kind of skepticism because He knows that it leads to a deeper faith in Him. There is a place for skepticism in the life of the Christian because it causes us to “examine the Scriptures daily”.

Christians Are Called to be Convinced of What They Believe

God wants us to be certain and base our certainty on evidence that can be articulated to others who may have doubts:

Romans 14:5

Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.

2 Timothy 1:8-12

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light 
through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

2 Timothy 3:14

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them…

Conviction is the result of certainty, and certainty is the result of evidential confidence.

We are called to be convinced by mastering the evidence that supports what we believe.

The Christians life is not one of “wishful thinking” or “hope in the unreasonable”.

It is a life of certainty, grounded in the evidence.

Besides the endless photos, We have the evidence in Scripture, The Miracles of Jesus, Prophecy, History, 
acknowledged through Archaeology so it’s not a blind faith believers in Jesus Christ have.

I know Jesus lives, because He lives in my heart and I have his Salvation as well all who call upon the name of the Lord