Blind Faith: A Poison In The Church

The Church has a serious problem, and it is only getting worse. Christians don’t know why they believe what they believe. So many are operating on blind faith in their Christian walk that the Church and its gospel witness are being severely damaged. We have taken the word faith which is the “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1) to mean we don’t need or want evidence for anything in our spiritual lives. Big mistake, guys.

What Is Blind Faith?

Some people understand blind faith as trusting in God without ever desiring more evidence. They often liken this to the account of “Doubting Thomas” from John 20:24-29. He would not believe Jesus was risen until he saw Him with his own eyes and touched His wounds. Later, Thomas did, in fact, see and touch the risen Lord. Then, Jesus said those who believe without seeing are blessed. However, Thomas had seen. Was he condemned?

Let’s remember a couple of things about this biblical event. First, Jesus did not condemn or shame Thomas. The Lord affirms that Thomas does believe. Second, Thomas wanted evidence. He longed for more than others’ claims to prove His Lord was truly alive. Jesus graciously gave the evidence Thomas requested. Christ could have easily waved off Thomas’s doubts and criticized his seemingly weakened faith, but instead, He offered what Thomas needed. Should we believe that Thomas is the only person on Earth to whom the Lord willingly gives evidence? 

Thomas was a believer, but he required more information and proof to alleviate the doubts he experienced. So, although I agree that we should have faith in things we have yet to see and cannot fully comprehend on this side of Heaven, that is not what I mean when discussing blind faith.

Blind Faith As Witnessed In The Church

When I discuss blind faith in this post, I’m referring to what I, and probably you, have seen permeating the pews. It is an unquestioning belief without a true understanding of that belief. Scoffers use this kind of faith to dismiss Christians and Jesus. Blind faith makes unbelievers think Christians are “brainwashed” because we can’t even explain what we believe or how we came to that conclusion. Statements such as, “My parents told me Jesus is real,” are not a solid foundation for a healthy Christian life. And it certainly isn’t an effective evangelistic tool.

Why Do So Many Christians Hold A Blind Faith?

Of course, like most things, there is no one answer. Life is far from that simple, and everyone’s experiences are a little different from one another. However, three factors appear to play a strong role in blind faith.

1. Emotional Response

Emotions are not inherently bad or sinful. Though, they are not reliable. Feelings change at the drop of a hat. I was having a very peaceful quiet time at home years ago when I answered my phone to receive the news of my mother’s passing. Imagine just how quickly my feelings changed from calm and peaceful to heartbreak and confusion! That’s an extreme example, but we’ve all experienced this in some form over our lifetimes. Probably this week. Maybe today.

We can’t rely on our emotional responses to the gospel or challenges preachers offer in a message. Revival meetings, Christian camps, Vacation Bible School…Emotionalism threatens to undermine them all. Some people, no matter how careful we are in our approach, will hear, respond emotionally, and bear little to no fruit throughout their lives. These are the men and women who don’t attend church, give, or study their Bibles. Yet, they will tell you that they believe. Why? They were told Jesus saves, and that’s enough for them. How does He save? Well, they don’t know, but they just believe.

That sounds nice, but it’s an empty faith.

2. Rules, Rules, Rules

Some churches have a lot of rules. Like, a lot of rules. You probably don’t even have to close your eyes to picture a legalistic church right now. They don’t treat the gospel as sufficient to save. (Spoiler: It is.) These sorts of churches spoon-feed members behaviors sold as essential elements of their beliefs.

If the Bible says a woman is supposed to be the keeper of the home (Titus 2:5), then this church teaches all women must create lives that revolve solely around the home.

If the Bible says to not be conformed to the world (Romans 12:2), then this church instructs its members to abstain from cards, dancing, any television (unless it was made in the 1950’s), and music from any source other than its own hymnal.

Churches built around man-made rules create a culture of pressure and judgment that indoctrinates unquestioning compliance. Most members will not be taught why they believe something. Rather, they are told that obedience to the Lord requires obedience to their rules.

Blind faith in these instances leads to works-based faith, and that work is meant to meet the church leadership’s expectations, not God’s.

3. An Unengaged Family

A lot of Christian families have, and still do, farm out discipleship. Parents see Sunday School and Junior Church as the primary places their children should be taught the Bible. Because the pastor is the shepherd, Christians are tempted to push all the responsibility of spiritual leadership on him and those he places in teaching positions. According to the Bible, however, parents are tasked with their children’s discipleship (Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

I used to wonder why parents gave their children over to church leaders for discipleship. After getting saved, I was excited about one day having children and teaching them about Jesus. The picture became clearer after I began homeschooling. Conversations with other parents revealed some disturbing, yet unsurprising, information about many of the parents I knew.

They felt inept. Moms would stare at me in wonder while I discussed what homeschooling looked like for my family. “Oh, I could never,” they would say. They had bought the lie that only professionals can teach their children. After sending their kids away during the day to learn academics, the idea of teaching the Bible was just as unthinkable. “I’m not qualified,” has been the theme I hear. My response to that is get into the Word so you feel qualified. More importantly, God’s only true qualification is that you be your child’s believing parent. Christian, you’re qualified. So, study up and dig into the Bible with your kids!

This lack of discipleship in the home creates blind faith in future generations. Our churches can only do so much, and our children need to meditate on the Lord day and night with us, their parents, leading the way.

Problems That Blind Faith Causes

1. An Absence Of Discipleship

I mentioned that many homes lack discipleship in the previous section. I’ve seen it play out in real life through various churches. Here’s one example:

I knew a pastor who was a faithful man of God. He loved Jesus and faithfully served his church. Additionally, his wife was at the church whenever the doors were open and served alongside her husband.

This couple had a few children, and they raised them in the church. Sadly, their focus was on the church and not often on their own kids. Today, those adult children speak of little to no discipleship in their youth. They were told what not to do, but they were not taught the love of God. They learned verses and attended church regularly, but they new little of the Savior. The children were told what to believe, but not shown why to believe in the Bible.

The Fruits Of Their Blind Faith

Ultimately, they all rebelled to some extent. The common thread through all the children, though, is that they did not disciple their own children, even after returning to their faith in adulthood. Their children, the third generation, had no faith, but they eventually returned to church because they felt like they should.

The fourth generation in this family is now completely spiritually disinterested. They are being brought to church and told they should go because it’s the right thing to do. What does this family believe? Why do they believe it? Because of a family history of no discipleship and a reliance on blind faith, they have a biblically illiterate family tree.

Members of this family continue to attend church and identify as Christians, but they bear no fruit. They have a blind faith (i.e., “My parents told me Jesus is the Way, so OK”) that has led to being unable to discern that which is biblical from that which is sin. They believe in Jesus because it looks good on paper.

All is not lost, though, because I have witnessed some members of this family grow to know the Lord. Nevertheless, the family members generally consider themselves Christians because they have been told they are, but they don’t truly know what they believe or why. This blind faith (in what they think is Christianity) makes discipleship impossible and is damning generations to eternal punishment, and it breaks my heart.

2. A Bad Witness

Like it or not, people are judging us. All that really means is that people make decisions about us based on how we present ourselves. Would you hire a young woman to babysit your children who seems short-fused with kids and constantly preoccupied with her phone? No, you would not because any responsible parent would make the judgment that she is not fit for the job. It’s OK.

As Christians, we have the added dimension of representing our faith when we are out in public and interacting with people. Those around us are judging us and our Lord.

Our goal is to show people Jesus through our actions and words. Let’s say, though, that you have blind faith, and a co-worker has asked you about Christianity. She might want to know why you believe in Jesus, but she will probably also have questions about suffering, evolution, homosexuality, and other common areas of confusion about the Christian faith.

What will you say? “Oh, I just believe in it. I know it’s true. My pastor says…”

I get it. I’m saved, so I’m all in now. God is in everything I see, and I know that He is Lord. Nonetheless, that’s not sufficient for most unbelievers. They think the world disproves the existence of God, but we can show them how all creation cries out His name (Romans 1:20; Psalm 19:1). Telling this co-worker what our pastor thinks isn’t going to cut it. We need to know how to articulate a defense of the faith, preferably using God’s Word.

If we can’t explain our faith and why we hold our beliefs, then others see us as unintelligent, brainwashed, and/or fake. No one is going to take us seriously when we tell them Jesus saves if that’s how they see us.

Blind faith makes us look like bad sources of information, and we seriously injure our witness this way.

3. Easily Deceived

A Christian who operates out of blind faith and does not understand her faith is much more susceptible to being swept into false doctrine (Ephesians 4:14). She must have a deep and growing understanding of biblical doctrine in order to recognize false doctrine when it crosses her path.

Christians who lack Bible knowledge end up pulled into churches that go against biblical teaching (e.g., Word of Faith, Roman Catholicism, etc.).

Blind faith weakens our defenses against false teachings and makes us more apt to accept anything that sounds “Christian.”

4. We Don’t Know What To Do With Doubts

Christians with blind faith have often been told not to question their faith. Some feel strongly discouraged while others are told experiencing doubt is sin. Of course, this is a completely incorrect, and it causes tremendous damage to the believers who have been manipulated into an uneducated, shallow faith.

Doubts are normal. The worst thing we can do when we experience doubt or feel a challenge to our faith is to stuff it down and ignore it. That doubt will fester and infect us until finally it can no longer be ignored. Conversely, we ought to trust God can and will provide the answers we seek.

When We Don’t Deal With Doubt

Some of us are really good at playing pretend, aren’t we? As the dutiful Christian women that we are, we can go through the motions while we are plagued with uncertainty and doubt. Rather than living the abundant life Jesus offers us (John 10:10), we live out our lives accepting what we are told. We are empty vessels with nothing but blind faith to feed us and carry us through.

Blind Faith As The Culprit Behind Deconstruction

Deconstruction is when someone disassembles her faith one piece at a time. On the surface, deconstruction does not sound like a bad idea. In fact, I would encourage any Christian to examine her beliefs and understand the Lord as well as she can through that examination and study. However, deconstruction is typically more about turning against your faith with a critical spirit while using personal experience and feelings as the standard by which to measure that faith.

Here’s the problem with deconstruction in the context of blind faith. Christians led by blind faith don’t have a solid foundation upon which that faith was first built. If I believe Jesus is Lord but the only reason for that is because my mom told me so, then what happens when a worldly criticism of that belief enters into the picture? It is a grenade that blows everything apart. The doubt could have been dealt with biblically, but I don’t have a biblical reason to support my faith in this example. I have nothing to cling to outside of “just believe.”

Suddenly, I wonder if my community has deceived me. I have people showing me scientific evidence against the flood, young Earth, miracles, and even intelligent design. Every day I read more about transgender rights and the oppressiveness demonstrated by Christians toward the LGBTQ+ community. The world makes me feel good, and I never had a strong connection to that dogmatic church life, anyway…

Ladies, investigating our faith and developing our understanding makes for a healthy Christian. On the other hand, pulling down our faith, brick by brick, by pitting it against the world with prejudice and a lack of biblical knowledge is disastrous.

Blind faith lays the groundwork for devastating results.

How To Take Tackle Your Doubts And Others’ Questions

All right. Let’s pretend you agree with me that blind faith is, in fact, a poison in the Church, and you want to do away with it. What do we do with doubts? How do we handle questions from unbelievers? Here are four things to keep in mind when you deal with doubts and questions.

1. Remember God Doesn’t Expect You To Blindly Worship Him

What are you worshiping when you don’t really understand the character of God or what Jesus has done for you…for us all? God wants to be known. He revealed Himself in creation and the Bible. And you can’t really worship Him, obey Him, give Him glory, and defend Him if you don’t know Him.

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

2 Peter 3:18

2. Meet Your Doubts Head-On

It’s OK not to know something. Don’t shy away from it. The answers are available to us, but we have to seek them out.

“but test everything; hold fast what is good.”

1 Thessalonians 5:21

3. You Can Learn About the Lord While You Tell Others About Him

People respect honesty. If you don’t have the answer, tell that person and then find it. Maybe you will have the opportunity to look up the answer together. That’s great. However, don’t neglect sharing what you learn next time you have an opportunity if you need time to find the correct answer.

It isn’t shameful to say, “I’m not sure about that. Let me look it up and bring what I find next time we get together.” No one knows everything, but eventually you’ll know enough to feel more confident in your answers. You’ll be able to replace blind faith with an understanding faith.

4. Strive To Have An Intelligent Faith

You can share the gospel and disciple others more effectively when you know what you believe and why. Be prepared to give an answer. Furthermore, your faith will grow and be rooted deeply in God’s Word. That allows for a truly abundant life and joy in the Savior.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”

1 Peter 3:15

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Jude 1:3

“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

Colossians 4:6

Final Thought

Blind faith is killing the Church. Yes, faith is a gift from God, and we can’t expect to create it for ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9). On the other hand, we can certainly deepen our understanding of God. As seen in the verses above, we are supposed to know Him and defend our faith. That is not a task we can successfully undertake with our eyes closed.

Replace any areas of blind faith in your life with the knowledge He calls us to seek. Know what you believe and why you believe it. Speak boldly, confidently, and in the knowledge of the One True God.

Have you seen blind faith negatively affect anyone you know? Tell me about it.

Image courtesy of Ryoji Iwata via Unsplash.