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Prove It! | Part I: Faith

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It says in Scripture that without faith, it’s impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).

Why? Why is it so important to accept something to be true based solely on faith as opposed to being able to prove that it’s credible?

Critics often sneer at Christianity. Christopher Hitchens, a very vocal opponent of Christianity, once said that Christianity, “…can’t be believed by a thinking person.1” Richard Dawkins, the author of  “The God Delusion” said, “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is the belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.”2

On the surface, faith seems to be something that exists only in the context of a willingness to believe in the supernatural – something that can’t be proven in the context of something you can touch, understand, and anticipate.

But that’s not the case.

Evolution: A Theory in Crisis
The universal experience of paleontology,,,[is that] while the rocks have continually yielded new and exciting and even bizarre forms of life…what they have never yielded is any of Darwin’s myriads of transitional forms. Despite the tremendous increase in geological activity in every corner of the globe and despite the discovery of many strange and hitherto unknown forms, the infinitude of connecting links has still not been discovered and the fossil record is about as discontinuous as it was when Darwin was writing the Origin. the intermediaries have remained as elusive as ever and their absence remains, a century later, one of the most striking characteristics of the fossil record.3

You cannot function as a human being without deploying a measure of faith in some way, shape, or form.

Think about it.

When you drive down the expressway, you can’t “prove” that the driver coming at you from the other direction is going to stay in their lane. You’ve got to trust that when you take public transportation, the driver isn’t going to steer you into the ditch. Whenever you board a commercial flight, you’ve got to have faith in both the aircraft and the pilot.

Anytime they put you under to do some surgery on you, you’ve got to have faith in the anesthesiologist and the surgeon.

Evolution requires an outrageous amount of faith in that you have no fossil evidence or logic to substantiate the idea that something can come from nothing, or that a fish can grow wings and become a bird (see sidebar).

At the end of the day, those who sneer at faith, not only ignore the extent to which they embrace faith as part of their everyday activities, they use their sarcasm to conceal the fact that their criticisms aren’t rooted so much in the absence of “proof,” as much as it’s about the lack of  “control.”

Even Darwin had faith. When he first published his Origin of Species, while he was very aware of the logical inconsistencies that existed between his theory and the geological record that existed at the time, he had “faith” that, in time, the record would validate the credibility of his theory.

Faith isn’t the problem. You see that dynamic documented in Lee Strobel’s book, “The Case for Christ” when he admitted that part of his skepticism as an atheist was partly inspired by not wanting to answer to a standard other than himself.5

The challenge isn’t the need to have faith, as much as it’s the need to relinquish control.

Perhaps this is part of the reason why non-believers refuse to consider the evidence that validates the Christian faith, but it’s also something for believers to ponder when they feel as though they’re “struggling” to have faith.

When you perceive the difficulties of having faith as a subliminal resistance to a lack of control, the dialogue changes. It’s not so much about the object of your faith and the evidence that validates your confidence in what you believe to be true, as much as it’s about not wanting to surrender control of your situation.

Maybe that’s why God says it’s impossible to please Him without faith. Until you’re willing to, not only give up your control, but to admit that you were never in control to begin with, you keep God and what He can accomplish at a distance (Phil 2:13).

It’s important to be able to explain what you believe and why you believe it (1 Pet 3:15). Saying that, “…you just believe” doesn’t resonate as something that indicates you’ve actually thought things through. So, from that standpoint, being familiar with the discipline of Apologetics is a healthy exercise.

But in the end, the issue is control on a profoundly spiritual level (Jn 6:65). Your witness to the unbeliever, as well as the mindset you deploy when dealing with both triumphs and trials needs to factor in the bottom line of control and Who’s ultimately in charge. That is the beginning of the faith Scripture refers to and that is the faith that changes lives.

1. “Goodreads”, “Christopher Hitchens > Quotes > Quotable Quote”, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/919133-let-s-say-that-the-consensus-is-that-our-species-being”, accessed April 7, 2026
2. “Goodreads”, “Richard Dawkins > Quotes”, https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1194.Richard_Dawkins, accessed April 7, 2026
3. Michael Denton, Evolution a Theory in Crisis (Chevy Chase, Md.: Adler and Adler, 1986, 162
4. In his book, Origin of Species, Darwin says: “Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record.” (“Darwin Online”, http://darwin-online.org.uk/Variorum/1859/1859-484-c-1860.html, accessed April 8, 2026)
5. Lee Strobel explained his inclination to dismiss Christianity in part because of the way it would compel him to surrender his right to himself. “Sure, I could see some gaps and inconsistencies, but I had a strong motivation to ignore them: a self-serving and immoral lifestyle that I would be compelled to abandon if I were ever to change my views and become a follower of Jesus.” (“The Case for Christ”, Lee Strobel, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1998 Kindle, LOC 233)

Faith

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Moses

Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. (Acts 7:22)

Before the burning bush, Moses was already one amazing individual.

When the book of Acts describes him as someone who was “educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” that means he was taught in the context of the same sort of intellect that built the pyramids (see sidebar).

He most likely would’ve received training in history, chemistry, and military tactics. In short, he would’ve been more than prepared to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

And yet…

Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. (Num 12:3)

A King’s Education

Moses was adopted and raised in the house of the daughter of Pharaoh, which meant he lived in the royal household. Acts 7:22 states, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.” From this verse we see that Moses had all the education of the known world available while in the royal house of Pharaoh. Any university or tutoring scholar, as it were, would have deemed it a privilege to tutor the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

Egypt was, at that time, one of the most productive and progressive countries of the known world, with educational achievements far above any other land. Their economic and social life, too, was highly developed. Even today, Egypt’s colossal pyramids, with their mathematical precision, confound the understanding of the most educated builders in the world. This was the environment in which Moses was raised from his youth. (Portand Bible College | The Call of Moses)

That’s significant because, according to Scripture, Moses spoke to God face to face…

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (Ex 33:11)

That just makes Moses all the more admirable.

He was an accomplished military tactician, he was educated, and he was a prince. He would be the one who lead the Israelites through the Red Sea, he would write the first five books of the Old Testament and he would be revered throughout the ages as the great Law Giver (The Ten Commandments).

And in the midst of this, he was authentically humble.

Faithful

Yet, it wasn’t his humility that God appreciated, it was his faithfulness:

“When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. 7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Num 12:6-8)

It’s not surprising that God would underscore Moses’ faith as being Moses’ most admirable characteristic given the way faith is described in Hebrews:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Heb 11:6)

When you’re faithful, you’re not just obedient, you’re consistently obedient. And the reason you’re obedient is not just because you want to stay out of trouble, it’s because you want to honor the One Who’s showing you what to do.

It Comes From Him

But you can’t truly honor something that you doubt. Inevitably, compromise seemingly becomes necessary in order to accommodate the possibility that the object of your faith isn’t entirely trustworthy.

You see that in James 1:5-8

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. (Jas 1:5-8)

The good news is that the faith that we want and need is not something that we have to manufacture within ourselves. God gives you the faith that you need. Both the faith that you used to accept the gospel as your bottom line (Eph 2:8), and the faith that you use to navigate your everyday activities is a something that comes from Him.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. (Rom 12:3)

You’ve Got to Ask

But while the faith you need is always available, it’s not automatic. Just like you have to plug in your phone to keep it charged, you have to keep your brain connected to your King in order to access the Resources you need to keep both your perspective and your performance in line (2 Pet 1:3). You do that by spending time with Him – talking to Him in prayer and letting Him speak to you through His Word (Lk 11:9-12; 2 Tim 3:16-17). When you do that, you’re keeping both your powers of observation (Rom 8:6; 12:2) as well as your imagination (Is 26:3) founded on what amounts to Perfect Peace and Power.

Today and Tomorrow

Faith isn’t the ability to know the future as much as it’s a confidence in the One Who does (Matt 6:25-34). Ask for the faith that you need (Lk 17:5; Mk 9:24) and let yourself be energized by the Perspective that transforms both the moment in front of you and the road ahead.

For further reading: Why You Want to be Spiritually Ripped