Greg Koukl Abandons "Faith" & Recommends You Do The Same!
He still believes in Jesus and the core doctrines of Christianity, but in a recent article he encourages Christians to stop using the English word "faith."
In his recent article, "It's Time to Forget Faith," Greg Koukl, founder and host of Stand to Reason, writes that Christians should stop using the word "faith" since it has evolved well beyond the meaning intended by the biblical authors. In fact, in his discussion of this issue, Greg ended up highlighting the work of The Humble Skeptic podcast. Here’s a brief sample from his new piece.
I have a suggestion. I want you to forget talking about faith—your faith, others’ faith, even the Christian faith. Here’s why you should take my advice.
Sometimes a word outlives its usefulness to communicate accurately. When that happens, discard it and choose a different word. For example, “gay” will never, ever again mean cheerful, merry, or brightly colored as it once did. Now “gay” means only one thing: homosexual. “Happy” gay is gone for good.
Something similar has happened to the word “faith.” It’s virtually impossible nowadays to use the word without people subconsciously adding “blind” or “leap of” as modifiers. Indeed, some find it impossible to understand faith in any other way since, in their minds, irrationality is central to any definition of religious faith. For example:
“Faith is the purposeful suspension of critical thinking.”
“Faith is convincing yourself to believe something with absolutely no evidence.”
“If there were evidence for faith, why would you need to call it faith? We use the word ‘faith’ when there isn't any evidence.”
“This is why religions are called ‘faiths,’ because you believe something in the absence of evidence.”
“Asking for proof is a sin because it shows we don’t have faith.”
These are the understandings of faith advanced by such notables as Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and a host of others (thanks to Shane Rosenthal for researching and collecting these examples on his Humble Skeptic podcast). If you persist in using “faith” to describe your own spiritual convictions, that’s the confusion you’re up against.
Click here to READ the full article, and here to LISTEN to the episode of The Humble Skeptic podcast highlighted by Greg.
Related Podcasts
Greg Koukl on Blind Faith, Humble Skeptic #18
Dealing with Doubt, Humble Skeptic #19
Greg Koukl on Street Smarts, Humble Skeptic #27
Is Faith Irrational?, Humble Skeptic #02
Related Articles
Faith Is Not Wishing, Greg Koukl
Don’t Take a Leap of Faith, Greg Koukl
Why Should We Believe the Bible?, Shane Rosenthal
On Faith & Doubt, Shane Rosenthal
Related Books
Faith is Not Wishing, Greg Koukl
A Doubters Guide to Jesus, John Dickson
Proof of The Gospel, Eusebius of Caesarea
Is Faith Blind? Shane Rosenthal (forthcoming: due late 2024)
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Equally I think there is power in defining terms. So having listened to your podcast where you define faith as the OED does as ‘belief based on evidence, testimony or authority’ I talk of how Christian faith is a rational belief based on compelling evidence of the historicity of the empty tomb, compelling eye witness testimony of those who saw Jesus after he rose from the dead, and the authority of the one who spoke the universe into existence.
Why must a man who wishes to be regarded as intelligent and articulate define gay with the made up word “homosexual?” Its usage has caused untold harm to my people when it first appeared as an inaccurate translation of St. Paul, and was withdrawn - finally - by the translators. Every group of people has the right to define themselves, and , at least those queer people of my acquaintance, would never use the word homosexual. He wishes us to substitute the word trust for the widely misunderstood word faith. He is guilty of the same misuse and misunderstanding with gay and homosexual.