Christianity: Faith, or Ideology?

Ideology: ...a system of ideas...characterizing a party, class or culture.
-Webster's Dictionary

Faith: Now faith is the substance of things not seen, the evidence of things hoped for. -Hebrews 11:1, KJV

...Or, to put it in the New American Standard Bible's wording, faith is an assurance and conviction of unseen things. Both expressions are encompassed in the original language. Again, looking to Webbie's, to "carry conviction" is "to bear irresistibly the stamp of truth."

Hebrews Chapter 11 is devoted to a list of people and the way their actions were changed because of their conviction of something unseen. Likewise, the book of James states, "You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone." In other words, you can't see a person's inward heart-only their outward actions. James devotes considerable time to the idea that if we truly believe something, it will show up in our actions.

Suppose, for instance, that I give a nod to Christ as an important historical figure, a vital spiritual teacher. Nevertheless, the idea of Jesus as God seems-frankly, a little overboard. Therefore, I will take his teachings as having some divine stamp on them, but disregard the consistent linkage of his name with Godhood in New Testament and Old (where the specific name of Jesus is linked to the Messianic promises over 100 times). Matthew's Gospel account has the angel putting it to Mary and Joseph thus: "You shall call his name Jesus [Hebrew: Yeshua, Salvation], for he will save his people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21) Isaiah wrote, "God is my Yeshua, I will trust and not be afraid." (Isa. 12:2) Rather than take this literally, I will assign it an abstract meaning. I will spiritualize it, make it into a principle or a lesson rather than a tangible reality. What principle? What lesson? That depends on how it speaks to me, right?

After outlining an empirical process of Scripture verification, as if in a court of law, Peter wrote, "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation..." (1 Pet. 1:20) Psalm 12:6 says, "The words of the Lord are pure words..." How then should I take them? What effect should I allow them to have on me?

Is faith tangible? Is there anything concrete to it at all? James says yes. "Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead." (Jas. 2:26) It's natural to think of the spirit as being the faith, and the works the body. After all, the actions are the concrete part. But that's not what James said. He said the faith is the visible body. The actions are the living, breathing spirit. And without that living action, faith is dead.

Is my faith visible to those around me?

Commitment to the idea of Jesus Christ is not faith in the way the Bible uses the word. It is only ideology, a system of ideas that characterizes a certain culture. And that's one difference between a merely cultural Christian and a person who will see heaven. If we truly seek to build the faith of others, what we are actually seeking is to see change in their actions. Not just in their language. This is what makes belief in the Bible a dangerous faith, both for those who live it and those who despise it: It transforms.

I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. -Romans 12:1-2

Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief. -Mark 9:24