Hebrews 11:1-3
Faith is More Than Seeing
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Romans 1:20
There Are Invisible Qualities of God
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
John 20:29
Blessed are Believers
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
2 Corinthians 5:7
Living by Faith, Not By Sight
7 For we live by faith, not by sight.
Galatians 1:18-20
Paul Visits Jesus Brother James
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days.19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.
Many people put an importance on using their eyes to see things that they believe in...Thomas believed very much with his eyes and what he could see...He did not believe that God had raised Jesus from His death, even though the other Disciples, who he knew well told Him, He had resurrected...After Thomas doubted that Jesus came back from the dead, Jesus told him and His Disciples that “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”...We believe almost all of those things we can see...But there are things that exist and things that we cannot see...St. Paul says that there are these "invisible" qualities of God...Things that exist that we cannot see...Faith is one of those invisible things we cannot see, yet we know that faith exists...The author of Hebrews, in writing about things we cannot see, says that faith is having a confidence in those things we hope for and yet we cannot see them...
This, not being able to see faith, makes a lot of sense, when we stop and think about it...Imagine, if you had complete understanding...If you could see every single thing that has ever existed in this world, you probably would not need faith...If you were old enough to have been around since the creation of the earth, and would have gotten to seen every single thing that has ever existed in this world, you also would probably not need faith...Why, because you would have seen everything...You would know all things, since you would be able to answer any and all questions that would come up, about anything, because you would have this complete understanding about everything...But since we have only been around for a limited number of years, and cannot see all things, one must not only use their eyes to see, but read what others have written about both current and in the past, listen to others that are wise, experience things, and then come to your own conclusions, to your own beliefs, and to your own faith...
Because we live in the current world and cannot go back in the past, we have to read what others have written about the history since time began...For us to know about Presidents Lincoln and Washington, as well as others, we must rely on history books...We also have to read about Caesar, Nero, Moses, and Jesus to know about them from history books...And because they are a part of history, after we read about Lincoln, Washington, Caesar, Nero, Moses, and Jesus -it is then up to our own personal belief system, whether we believe them...For why should I believe that Washington or Caesar or Jesus existed, just because they are written about in a book...Just because someone has labeled their book a history book, does not necessarily make that book true...And if we believe in all history books, Josephus wrote his history book called the "Antiquities of the Jews" around 93-94 a.d., which is a history of the Jews...Josephus' book includes Jesus, Jesus' brother James, and Jesus' Baptizer, John the Baptist...This was a history book about the Jews that Josephus wrote many years ago and is a history of the Jewish People...If everyone one believed what Josephus wrote, they would believe that Jesus was the Christ...We all would also believe that Jesus had a brother...Josephus wrote, "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James."...But everyone does not believe in history books and what is written in them or we would all believe that Jesus was the Christ, and James was His brother, and was the early leader of the Christian Church -after Jesus ascended to heaven...So we need more than our eyes to believe many other things that have happened...There are many things we cannot see and have not seen...There are so many things in the past that have happened when no one was around, so we must take the word of others to believe in what did happen, or formulate our own belief or theory of what is and what was...Because there are many things that have happened when no man was around, like the creation, we have to take other people's theory about what happened or Moses word in the Book of Genesis to believe what happened in the very beginning of the universe...One sort of funny thing, is that many people do believe in books that are labeled history books, and think what they read is fact...But when they read the Bible, they do not think of it as fact, but more of a "Faith Book."...
How one views and believes how the universe was created affects one's faith...Even though no one except God and Jesus and His heavenly hosts were there in the beginning, man has to guess and theorize...Almost everyone believes the world had a beginning, and that before the beginning, there was nothing...Someone or Something created our universe...Almost everyone can believe that...Some believe a chemical reaction caused a Big Bang...Those who live by faith believe the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen in the universe was not made out of things that were visible to see...God created the world by His word, and His eternal power and divine nature are understood for those who believe...This is true because the universe was made out of nothing...So we need more than our eyes to believe in things...We need others to believe in things...We also need faith to believe in some things...