WHAT FAITH ISN’T AND IS

When people pursue faith in an unbiblical way, false converts are made, and the
world is misled about what it means to follow Jesus. Pastors, therefore, need to
keep an eye out for false faith, that they might separate the false from the true:
1. True faith is not deedless, but shows itself in deeds.
James asks what kind of faith is saving by asking about faith’s relationship to
deeds. “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe
that—and shudder” (James 2:19). According to this passage, knowing the truth is
not enough. It is possible to know about the truth, and be deceived. So mere
knowledge does not equate to a real saving faith. Rather, true faith shows itself in
deeds.
2. It is not faith in yourself, but in God.
Walk into any Christian bookstore and you’ll see bestselling Christian books with
self-help advice. Westerners today love talk of the God within. Yet we cannot save
ourselves: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he
loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5). Following ourselves and
believing in ourselves will not result in eternal life, but eternal death.
3. It is not faith in heritage, but in Christ.
Growing up in a Christian home is not what saves you. Having grandparents who
are saved is not what saves you. If anyone had reason to place their faith in
heritage it was Paul—“circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of
the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,” and on and on he goes (Phil.
3:4-11). But all this is rubbish, he concludes—our heritage does not save us. Christ
does.
4. It is not faith in faith, but in Christ’s completed work.
Much so-called Christian TV and radio programming today panders to what
peoples’ “itching ears” want to hear: the promise of earthly gain. Over and over
again we hear the testimonies of businessmen who “turned on to Jesus” and saw
their businesses double. “If you don’t have these things,” people are told, “it’s
because you are not believing hard enough. So believe harder!” Notice two
problems here: stuff (not Christ) is the end, and looking inward (instead of
outward at Christ) is the means. Sadly, people take their eyes off of Christ’s
finished work on the cross, and put them on themselves. But true faith does not
look to itself, it looks to Christ, his work on the cross, a sacrifice that we know
God accepted because he raised him from the dead.
5. It does not fail to repent, but changes direction.
Apart from repentance, faith is not real and it is not saving. There are many people
who say they believe in Jesus, but nothing has changed in their lives. They refuse
to renounce the old way of living. Repentance is not just feeling sorry for sin.
Anyone can feel bad about sin. True repentance begins with sorrow, seeks
forgiveness, and then culminates in a change of direction. A person turns around
and starts walking the other way.
Real saving faith is repentance and trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for
forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God.
It is full reliance on Christ. He is the object.
It is the way of surrender, and evidences itself as real by the authentic crop it
produces.
By Ross Sawyers

STAGES OF FAITH DEVELOPMENT

James W. Fowler (1940-2015) was an American theologian who was Professor of

Theology and Human Development at Emory University. He was director of both
the Center for Research on Faith and Moral Development and the Center for
Ethics until he retired in 2005. He was a minister in the United Methodist Church.
He is perhaps best known for his developmental model based on faith, which he
wrote about in his book Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development
and the Quest for Meaning.
According to Fowler, there are seven primary stages of faith (including Stage 0) in
the life of the individual. They are as follows:
Stage 0 – Primal Undifferentiated Faith (Ages Birth-2): This stage is very
much like Erik Erikson’s first stage of ”trust versus mistrust.” Here, the baby
acquires experiences from the outer environment that either instill in him a feeling
of trust and assurance (from being comforted, living in a secure and stable
environment, and a experiencing a sense of consistency and care from parents).
These personalized experiences, according to Fowler, essentially translate into
feelings of trust and assurance in the universe and harmony with the divine.
Conversely, experiences of parental or environmental neglect and/or abuse at this
stage of development, can result in the formation of feelings of mistrust and fear
with respect to the universe and the divine, sowing the seeds for later doubt and
existential angst. This stage also compares with Jean Piaget’s sensori-motor stage
of cognitive development, where thinking takes place in and through the body.
Stage 1 – “Intuitive-Projective” Faith (Ages 3-7). Children at this stage have
acquired language and the ability to work with symbols to express thoughts.
Children at this stage don’t develop formalized religious beliefs, but are instead
affected by the psyche’s exposure to the Unconscious, and by a relatively fluidity
of patterns of thought. Faith at this stage is experiential and develops through
encounters with stories, images, the influence of others, a deeper intuitive sense of
what is right and wrong, and innocent perceptions of how God causes the universe
to function. This stage aligns with Piaget’s stage of pre-operational thinking
(lacking consistent logical-mental structures).
Stage 2 – Mythic-Literal Faith (Ages 7-12). Children at this stage have a belief
in justice and fairness in religious matters, a sense of reciprocity in the workings of
the universe (e.g. doing good will result in a good result, doing bad will cause a
bad thing to happen) and an anthropomorphic image of God (e.g. a man with a
long white beard who lives in the clouds). Religious metaphors are often taken
literally thus leading to misunderstandings. Thus, passages in the Holy Bible that
say: ”If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving
the Lord your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul, I will grant the
rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your
new grain and wine and oil – I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle –
and thus you shall eat your fill.” If these promises don’t come to pass in the world,
then a person at this stage might feel cheated or disappointed in God. This stage
aligns with Piaget’s concrete operational stages of cognitive development, where
true logical thinking begins to develop in the child’s mind.
Stage 3 – “Synthetic-Conventional” Faith (Ages 12 to Adult). This stage is
characterized by the identification of the adolescent/adult with a religious
institution, belief system, or authority, and the growth of a personal religious or
spiritual identity. Conflicts that occur when one’s beliefs are challenged are often
ignored because they represent too much of a threat to one’s faith-based identity.
This stage (and all subsequent stages) correspond to Piaget’s stage of formal
operational thinking, thus making it possible for the adolescent or adult to perceive
the divine as an abstract or formless manifestation.
Stage 4 – ”Individuative-Reflective Faith” (Ages Mid-Twenties to Late
Thirties). This stage is often characterized by angst and struggle as the individual
takes personal responsibility for her beliefs or feelings. Religious or spiritual
beliefs can take on greater complexity and shades of nuance, and there is a greater
sense of open-mindedness, which can at the same time open up the individual to
potential conflicts as different beliefs or traditions collide.
Stage 5 – “Conjunctive” Faith (Mid-Life Crisis). A person at this stage
acknowledges paradoxes and the mysteries attendant on transcendent values. This
causes the person to move beyond the conventional religious traditions or beliefs
he may have inherited from previous stages of development. A resolution of the
conflicts of this stage occurs when the person is able to hold a multi-dimensional
perspective that acknowledges ”truth’ as something that cannot be articulated
through any particular statement of faith.
Stage 6 – ”Universalizing” Faith (or ”Enlightenment”). (Later Adulthood).
This stage is only rarely achieved by individuals. A person at this stage is not
hemmed in by differences in religious or spiritual beliefs among people in the
world, but regards all beings as worthy of compassion and deep understanding.
Here, individuals ”walk the talk” of the great religious traditions (e.g. ”the
kingdom of God is within you”). One good example of this stage in the life of an
individual is the life of Count Leo Tolstoy, who in his later years emphasized the
importance of equality among people, asceticism in one’s style of living, and the
practice of compassion for all (see, for example, his last novel, Resurrection,
which caused him to be excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church).
 THE APOSTLES' CREED
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV)

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
[a]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Exodus 20: 3-17

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth
beneath or in the waters below.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous
God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those
who hate me,
6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who
misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you,
nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner
residing in your towns.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he
rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is
giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or
female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Deuteronomy 6: 4-9
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners
take or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction
 Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with
oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the LORD forever.

Matthew 5:3-12
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil
against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Proverbs 3:5-8

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life.