It broke into my thoughts again, distracting me from what I was reading. The word ‘faith’ in the text must have triggered it. I pondered on it again like I had in the past few weeks and came to the same conclusion. No, I couldn’t accept it as a faith expression. It was a lie. There had to be a line between exercising faith and lying or deceit. It is fast becoming a trend to see Christians doing what some would term weird in the name of exercising faith.
I have no problem with anyone exercising their faith in whatever way they choose even if it means for instance a single lady buying a wedding gown, renting a hall and finally walking down a church aisle dressed in the gown taking imaginary vows without a groom. It may seem crazy but at least they haven’t really hurt or deceived anyone. We all have different ways of expressing our faith and making confessions. I however cannot comprehend someone lying to another under the guise of faith.
I try not to stir or enter into arguments on certain matters always keeping in mind Apostle paul’s admonition not to partake in vain, unnecessary arguments, and considering how easily people want to show their religious expertise and shove their knowledge down the throat of others, it is usually best to overlook some things. Most times we are more interested in stating our pastors and denomination’s position than simply speaking the truth in love.
This has however continued to weigh on my mind as I still ask myself: when exactly do we cross the line between exercising faith and deceiving and hurting other people who may be Christians too? This isn’t about whether or not a Christian lady should wear heels or whether Christians should use deodorants (you will be surprised to know some people still argue on these mundane matters) No! This is me asking an honest important question. Is there a line between exercising faith and deceit? Besides, when do we cross that line?
I know you would be wondering when I’m going to say what exactly triggered my thoughts on this issue. Here it is: I was reading a blog post sometime last month and a lady was lamenting about what her fiance did to her. They are both Christians, had been dating for some years and were preparing to get married . They had a fasting program in church and she had gone to the service. At the close of service, her mum invited her fiance home for dinner. While at their house, he went to use the toilet.
she casually picked up his bible which was on the sofa beside her. She opened it and saw a piece of paper which had urgent prayer points. She knew she ought to leave it, but she was curious to see if her fiance added anything concerning her to his prayer points. She wanted to affirm his care for her. Her curiosity got the better of her and she took the paper out and there, on the number 1 prayer point was: ‘I need a miraculous change of genotype from AS to AA.’ She was stunned. All along he had told her he was AA knowing fully well she was AS and didn’t want to marry anyone except an AA.
When she confronted him with it , he said he was exercising faith and many readers asked the lady to forgive him because, well, he was exercising faith. I am all for forgiving. That is mandatory and necessary but I have pondered and thought about it and cannot come to terms with anyone deliberately deceiving another and hiding under the faith umbrella. The same bible which asks us to exercise faith also says we should not lie to one another. Some say since faith is calling things that are not as if they are, it would be wrong for me, an AS to speak contrary to my confession (of being an AA) by telling someone I am an AS. Never mind that this someone is my fiancee. We have been in a relationship for three years and have plans to marry this year. She is an AS and only wants to marry and AA.
It reminded me of a friend who told me her aunt got infected with the HIV virus from her husband who knew he was positive before he married her and never told her till after a year of marriage. Little wonder churches insist on couples taking all necessary tests and submitting to the church before joining them in holy matrimony.
It is disheartening that some would lie to others on grave matters like this and say they were believing and exercising faith.
A man’s business got ruined totally before he told his wife. When she asked why he had to wait till everything was lost before he told her, he said he had been praying and believing. He had been exercising faith and to tell his wife his business had issues would be speaking contrary to his confession. Really! Really!!
When did making faith confessions translate to lying and deceiving others? I cannot imagine someone walking up to me and asking what’s your name ma’am? And a very single me says Mrs Parker (Parker being the rich attractive brother in church engaged to another but whom I am believing God for) Yes, it may come to that stage if we do not learn what exactly exercising faith, positive confessions is all about and knowing when to draw the line between that and lying/ deceiving others. It becomes an issue when people don’t just do weird things but deceive others. We ought to be careful. There are so many instances of this subtle deceit in the name of faith that I’ll rather not delve into.
We should not let people question the same faith we say we are exercising. We should not let them question our integrity. Our Lord was a man of faith and no one dealt with people with integrity more than He did. If we cannot trust each other in the body of Christ, how then do we tell the world to trust our Christ?
Faith is what our relationship with God is all about, it cannot be over emphasised, but while we live by faith, we are also called to walk in love and love is all about being true to yourself and to others.
This was my conclusion after everything. There exists hope, faith and love, but love is the greatest of all. Love believes all things, it hopes all things but does not rejoice in falsehood, Love rejoices in the truth.
Please share your comments and views. I’ll like to know what faith and confessions mean to you, whether you think a line should be drawn and when you think it should be drawn. Much love as always.
diademstots 