Faith and Courage
© 23 Jan 2012 Luther Tychonievich
Licensed under Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
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Is faith to doubt what courage is to fear?

 

I have often heard it stated that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather acting despite fear. Conversation last evening led me to wonder if a similar thing might be said of faith and doubt.

The idea seems to fit. “‍Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things.‍” Enos conversed with god twice before his “‍faith began to be unshaken in the Lord.‍” Doubt, uncertainty, “‍shaking‍” seems permitted in faith.

Why would someone have courage? Why do something that brain and body agree is dangerous or foolish? Why would someone have faith? Why act on a belief for which there is doubt?

I wonder if faith and courage might not both be spirit overriding flesh. Just as we override our body’s built-in but fallible guess at safety to be courageous, so we override our brain’s built-in but fallible guess at truth to be faithful.

It all seems to make sense. But I haven’t heard it before. I wonder if some version of this is what is meant by the literally-incorrect quip “‍Faith is a verb‍”?




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