Hebrews 11:1-40
What Faith Is
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 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.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword;whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Romans 1:20
God Has Made Both Visible Qualities and Invisible Ones
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.
St. Paul said that creation is great evidence for God...In His creation there are things we can see, and things we cannot see...Creation can be clearly seen..As one looks around we see that there is intelligence to our universe...This intelligence of our universe, points to an Intelligent Designer...We can see much in the universe with our eyes...But other things are so small that God created...We have visible qualities of the universe and we have invisible qualities in the universe...These things unseen might take us time to see (them) and maybe time to believe in...Some things we may never see...St. Paul is asking us to believe in those things we can see and also to believe in some things we cannot see...These are the invisible qualities in life...The things we cannot see...And the ancient believers were commended for believing in things they could not see...
Can one believe in something they cannot see?...Can one have faith in something you cannot ever see?...Can something really exist, if you haven't seen it?...God created all things and even though some things He created can be seen and some things cannot be seen...But seen or unseen things are here and we can believe in them...God made creation and nature to work and interact together, which makes the universe what it is...
Many of great faith were known for believing in what they could not see...The ancient ones had faith in what they hoped for and had assurance in things that they could not see...And the ancient ones of faith were commended for this...They believed in God and tried there best to interact with Him and trusted that He was there...These ancient ones all believed in Something they had not seen...
In 1964 Peter Higgs theorized and believed in a tiny particle and other particles in the universe...One particle he believed in he called it a boson...A boson was so very small it could not be seen...Quarks are related to bosons, as are leptons and fermions...A quark is defined as a subatomic particle carrying a fractional electric charge, postulated as building blocks of the hadrons...Quarks, bosons, fermions, and other particles have not been directly observed or seen, but theoretical predictions are based on their existence and have been confirmed experimentally...These different particles were so small they could not be seen, yet Higgs said they had been around for many, many years -maybe since the beginning of time...Higgs years ago was asking us to believe in something we could not see...
All these minute and currently invisible particles are things theorized by particle physicists...Bosons have yet to be seen by physicists or scientists, but somehow they know they are there...But if the Peter Higgs boson can’t be seen, how can one really believe in it?...What makes them believe it is out there?...(Why does one believe in anything?)...Peter Higgs must have somehow known in his thinking and thoughts and his past work that they were just there, without having to actually see these particles...Other scientists also believed in the bosons and quarks by how they interacted with other particles and and how they work together with other particles to make the universe what it is...And in working together, they supposedly would give off some sort of decay...But the decaying material is not the boson or quark (assuming I got this all right)...But these particles do exist...And for over fifty years scientists believed in these things they could not see...And still do...
Some have labeled the Peter Higgs boson particle, the God particle...Scientists now say these particles have been colliding since the beginning of time...With a $4.4 billion dollar building and ten thousand scientists and a Hadron Collider, scientists have seen some decaying objects -so these unseen particles must exist...So although we at this time cannot see bosons and quarks and other tiny particles their existence is assumed...These small particles are believed in now...One can have faith in these quarks and that they exist and have faith in things we cannot see...