Faith and Knowledge

24th October '21

Gospel Reading: ​Revelations 19: 11-16

“It is he who makes faith and knowledge true”.*
​So we hear from the Revelation of John. Are faith and knowledge opposites?

Dear Community of Christians,

For our time of scientific thinking, these two forces, faith and knowledge, are seemingly opposites.

Let’s take children for example. For them Christmas, Easter, and even the being of Michael are living realities. Of course they know the Christ Child comes to them at Christmas. And of course they feel the Easter Bunny is a reality that engenders an attitude of devotion.

What adult would want to deprive a child of this soul-warming faith? There is nothing more beautiful than listening to children looking forward to Christmas and the Christ child’s birth. The underlying atmosphere is a harmonious sense of anticipation and wonder.

The adult point of view only appears to be a contradictory one. Yes, the birth of Christ took place on earth, and in the innermost place of the soul. The God of man dedicated himself with the death on the cross.

Our adult cognition, in contrast to that of a child, is based on an expanded knowledge, and is rooted in sources that are incomprehensible to children.

Does this drifting apart of faith and knowledge have to do with the development of our adult consciousness? The next sentence in Revelations says: “Morality arises through his decisions and his battles”.

The battle between our scientific thinking, and our deeper understanding of world evolution and development takes place inside of us. It is about the relationship to our innermost being, our ‘I am’. By thinking about the truth that man and the world are permeated by spiritual forces, by spiritual entities, and if we allow this thought, trying to understand it through our enlivened and active thinking, then knowledge and faith are no longer opposites. The ‘I am’ can then come as far as the truth insofar as it has experienced it for itself. Then we can approach the kingdom of heaven with both faith and knowledge.

“Whoever does not take the kingdom of God into himself as a child and has it within him, he will never find the way into it”

Rev. Ute Koenig

* The John Madsen translation, which we use varies from the linked text. The Christian Community translation is not currently online