Can You Benefit from Faith?

THROUGHOUT the earth in recent years there has been what some term a religious revival. Why has it taken place?

Giving his answer, Professor Martin E. Marty of the University of Chicago Divinity School said: “Number one, nothing else works​—which is a crude way of saying that as recently as the last 15 years people put a lot of faith in human mastery, in the combination of technology and politics. And, we made some wonderful gains, I think, in our country [the United States]​—in civil rights, human rights, in interpersonal relations, in certain features of health care and the provision of security.”

“But,” continued Professor Marty, “we also learned the limits of the human venture. We found that these achievements weren’t giving a sense of meaning in life. They weren’t giving us sets of values that a new generation could pick up. And, whenever in history people sense their limits, they reach in two directions​—one, deeper inside themselves for inner experience, and two, further beyond themselves to the transcendent. . . . People seek meaning. People seek belonging. And there are urgent reasons for that in the ’70s, and I think that’s why you have the revival.”

Yet, has the modern-day religious revival removed the ethnic barriers that divide the human race? Has religion in general really transformed lives and provided ‘sets of values that a new generation can pick up’? Has it given the people a sure hope for the future?

Informed observers realize that, despite any worldwide religious revival, ethnic barriers still divide the human family. Such professions of faith have not brought an end to marital strife, spiraling divorce rates and the sexual irresponsibility that actually produces frustration and unhappiness. Moreover, although more and more people are turning to religion, there is little evidence that what most of them are getting is imparting real courage or giving them well-founded hope for the future. For instance, suicide has become the third principal cause of death among 15 to-24-year-old individuals in the United States, and Dr. Calvin J. Frederick of the National Institute of Mental Health attributes such suicides “to depression brought on by ‘haplessness, helplessness and hopelessness.’”​—Newsweek, Aug. 28, 1978.

Since the religious revival of recent years has not made a marked impression on human society, a person may well ask: ‘Can I benefit from faith? Does it really have an effect on one’s life?’

An individual can be religious and yet not have true faith. For that matter, the Christian apostle Paul wrote: “Faith is not a possession of all people.” (2 Thess. 3:2) But Bible-based faith is the possession of some people, and it does affect their lives. Such faith surmounts obstacles and hardships. It has transforming power. True faith knows no ethnic barriers. It imparts courage and gives hope for the future.

Are these mere assertions? No indeed! Please weigh the evidence in the following article.