Now let us look at what the phrase "belief in Jesus"
generally involves when used in the Scriptures, or in the speech of a
Christian. By way of illustration, we
can take a look at what it means when one person asks another, "Do you
believe in 'free speech'?" The
first person is obviously not asking
if the second person believes that there is something called 'free speech' that
exists within the world, whether its actual definition is clear or not. That
fact is a taken, to deny it would be to fly in the face of reality. What the
question actually seeks to find out is if the second person believes in the
principles behind the idea of
"Free Speech". Does the person believe that all people, everywhere,
should have the right to voice their opinion, without fear of undue retribution?
If you think that this is a no-brainer, and that this idea does live everywhere
already, I refer you to the recently-sentenced members of "Pussy
Riot" that we have been hearing of lately, in Russia.
Two years in a Russian prison for their attempt to challenge Putin's ties to
the State Church
would seem to suggest that Free Speech is not believed in by the Russian
government , nor the Orthodox Church of Russia, who were actually demanding a
much stronger sentence. Again, that doesn't mean that they disbelieve reports
of such a thing as "free will" existing, they just don't believe in
the principle of the thing. The very same idea holds true regarding
"belief in Jesus".To believe in our Lord, in a Biblical sense, one has to believe
in the principles that He stood for, and also what God has testified to,
regarding Jesus. They have to believe that He was NOT a liar, and that He was
exactly who He claimed to be, the long-awaited Christ, the Son of God. They
have to believe also, that just as God's Holy Word testifies to, Jesus was born
of a virgin, lived as a man, died on the cross at Calvary,
and was raised again from the dead, by God, on the third day following His
crucifixion, and death. We must also believe in all the teachings He imparted
onto us through His disciples, and do our best to obey them, proving our solidarity with the ideas behind
each and every one of those teachings (no believer succeeds in doing this
anywhere near perfectly, but we continue to try, and have faith that our Father
will honour the effort). Consider Jesus' call to the people at the beginning of
His ministry:" 'The time has come,' He said. 'The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!' "Mark 1:15 (Emphasis mine.)
It is of special interest that the
above quotation is the very first occurrence of Jesus' words in the Book of
Mark, thus, quite possibly, the first message to the people that He chose to
deliver. And we have to note also that Jesus did not just say
"believe" and leave it at that, but rather, He took the time to tell
us just what it is that we need to believe; we need to believe the "good
news", another way of saying "the gospel". This same thought is
echoed by Paul in Acts 15 when he says,
"...Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the Gospel and believe."Acts 15:7
A little further in Book of The Acts,
we have the recounting of the story involving the jailor in charge of Paul and Silas, who asked them what exactly he must do to be saved,
"They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household.' Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in His house."Acts 16:31-32 (Emphasis mine.)
Notice that Paul takes the time to
report that they spoke the Word of the Lord to everyone in the house. He
apparently thought that this was important enough to make mention of. That is
because Salvation comes through belief in the Lord, and spiritual growth comes
through the nourishment of the Holy Word.
Nowadays, Paul has long-since gone home to His Maker. Thus, we
may not have the benefit of his personally teaching us, but we do have his
thoughts, preserved within the Bible, and so we read, or listen to a pastor as
he attempts in the power of the Spirit, to illuminate these words for those of
us in his congregation. This idea of believing is so important as to be worthy
of yet one more clarifying verse:
"...that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."Romans 10:8b-10 (Emphasis mine.)
I have to point out that it appears
you are trying to "believe with your mouth", and "confess with
your biased imagination". This simply will not work. And there are so many other Scriptures that speak of the true
essence of belief, that entire volumes could, and have, been written on this
topic, by countless men smarter than me. I humbly refer you to those works for clarification, or further consideration of this subject.
At any rate, the point of all this, is that
"belief", like "sincerity" (of which we spoke earlier) is
not something you can just turn on or off. In fact, the "belief that receives from God", which is quite apparently the belief you are most
interested in, is not even the result of anything we might do; we can never
obtain it by ourselves. It is a gift from God, yet again, to believers, or those
truly and sincerely seeking after God, who by His Grace, and His willingness to reward those who sincerely
search for Him, are about to become believers. Without this crucial type of
belief, or faith, our quest for reconciliation with God can only be fruitless.
But you can be certain that God will impart this gift unto you, implanting it
in your heart, as soon as you truly seek after His Will for your life.
So the conclusion of this particular matter is really quite
straightforward. As you yourself have recognized, and reflected in your own
comments, the whole matter of receiving from God, that which we request of Him,
hinges on the prerequisite of "believing". As you yourself stated
"If we believe....". Since
it's very unlikely that such a staunch non-believer as yourself should actually
hold within their heart a "true" belief in God (or he/she wouldn't be
making the claims you have been making), then your premise fails due to your
own admitted lack of belief. And if
you say that I'm in error because you were only offering a hypothetical
situation, then it must also be noted that the impossibility of the conditions
which you have outlined, send your hypothetical situation into the realm of
pure fantasy, and I can reply that in that fantasy world of yours, your prayer
was in fact answered, and all forms of cancer were indeed eliminated from the
earth as a direct result of your prayer. That's why it's a fantasy world, it
can work in any way that you or I choose. However, if we remain in the real
world, then there are prerequisites to effective prayer, and you, as a
confirmed unbeliever, are unable to meet any of them. Once again, God did not
fail to answer a prayer, but in truth, no real prayer was ever offered in the
circumstances you describe. So let us continue.
