Derailing the Faith Train

My first effort to share my faith was at a Billy Graham Crusade in 1970.  A lot of my friends volunteered to sing in the choir, but since I had little or no interest in singing, but I wanted to go down to the crusade with them, I volunteered for counselor training which was being held at the same time as choir practice.  I was ushered into a room with several hundred other people and shown how to use a little booklet called  "Steps to peace with God." I have used that little book hundreds of times since. 

This book contains two illustrations that in  evangelical churches have become iconic--the "Cross Bridge" illustration  and the "Faith Train " illustration. 

The "Cross Bridge" illustration goes like this--a person wants to get to God, but sin interferes, open up a chasm between God and people  We try to build bridges to God with our good works--religious practices,  intellectual efforts, or whatever.  None of them work. So God builds a bridge to us--the cross of Jesus.  The cross enables us to reach God though Christ.  It's about the most simple way of explaining the Gospel I know.

The "Faith Train" illustration comes after the bridge illustration,  after a person has received Christ.  It is used to explain how we can know we have been saved.  It  consists of a train with three cars--an engine, a coal car, and a caboose.

• The engine is labeled 'Fact." The fact is that God has accepted us whether  we feel any different or not. 

• The coal car is "Faith."  Faith connects us to the facts and gives us something to hold on to.

• The caboose is "Feeling."  A train will run with or without a caboose. The fact of God's forgiveness coupled with  faith will get us to heaven, whether we feel anything or not.

As I said, I learned the Cross Bridge and the Faith Train illustrations while in my teens. I still think the bridge is for me the best way of explaining  how to receive Christ.  But lately I question the usefulness of the Faith Train.  Here's why.  

Don't get me wrong, I accept the basic premise.  We are saved though faith in the fact of God's grace.  But  feelings are not a caboose that is slapped on the back end of our psyche.  Salvation is more than a cognitive process. It is a life-changing, life rearranging  act of God, both initiated and manifested though actions, emotion, and intellectual assent.  Our whole self is involved in accepting the Gospel, not just our brains. It is an inner transformation, accomplished by God  through  the Spirit working in and through our minds, will, and emotions.  It not just a matter of our heads. It  also involves our hands and hearts. 

What we think certainly affects what we do and feel.  But the opposite is also true--what we feel and do also effects what we think.  Scripture supports this. Wisdom and knowledge begin with the fear of the Lord--an emotion.  God is defined by love--another emotion.  The idea that our devotion to God is brought about by accepting a fact alone does not reflect the truth. 

I do not deny that factual knowledge plays an important part. We must believe that the Cross and the resurrection really happened, and were not some metaphoric myth.  Our commitment to Christ will not last long if we do not believe it is true. The fallacy of liberal Christianity is that it is essentially non-factual Christianity. We cannot base our lives on something we only think may be true.  We do not buy insurance on the basis of a probable promise, or set up our retirement accounts on the basis of probable yields.  What makes us think that people will willingly give their lives for a Savior who may or may not be real?  If the Gospel may not be true, why  lay our lives down for it? 

 Faith in the reality of Christ keeps us going when our faith is shaky and our emotions weak. But emotions and actions keep us going when our faith is weak.  God works though emotion and ritual when our minds are unsure.  The idea that our intellect exists in a vacuum, unaffected by  our feelings is just not right.  Feelings are not a caboose we can live without--they are the blood, bone, and marrow of our spiritual nature.  Without our feelings, we will never possess absolute certainty, because absolute certainty is a feeling.

If we truly believe that faith rests entirely on fact, then why do we spend so much time singing in church?  Why do we quote St. Augustine's statement that we do not understand in order to believe, but believe in order to understand?  Why do we encourage people to evangelize their neighbors by being friendly, if faith rests on facts alone?  Without feelings,  faith is powerless and facts indecipherable.  Without feelings the power to obey is lost.  All our efforts to be good would be as  limp and useless as a sail without a wind.

Along with facts and feelings there is also action.  "Faith without works is dead," said James.  Unless we live out our faith and feelings,  then they dissipate into a mass of good intentions and remorse.  The spiritual disciplines are the reinforcers and concretizers of our faith.  The daily habits of the Christian life put that faith to work, and solidify the thoughts of our mind and the feelings of our hearts.  Faith without prayer,  feelings without worship,  and knowledge without study make no sense, and cannot last for long.  

Christians need emotional passion, intellectual study, and consistent action to keep assured of their salvation.  

A more accurate picture of the train illustration would be this--there are three engines on the front of the train--fact, passion, and action.  These three combine their strength and pull us forward.  When one fails, the other two are still with us.  Together they can get us much farther than any one of them can do alone.