Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. – Genesis 15:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 4, 2012): Genesis 15

When I was in University I took some philosophy courses. I actually enjoyed the classes. For me it was an example of the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. It was fun trying to write a paper on whether or not we could truly know that we are awake in an exercise when all of my senses are discounted, or on the existence of God using nothing but intellectual arguments to build the case. But the problem is that, in spite of the enjoyable intellectual exercise, it is precisely the senses that I am discounting that prove that I am awake. And it is the faith that is being ignored that is needed to really prove God.

But the intellectual discussions didn’t stop with my University Philosophy classes. Recently I have been involved in several discussions over the ideas of orthodoxy and orthopraxy – that is, between right thinking and right action. I believe it is a valuable discussion. The argument that is being made is that we talk about orthodoxy quite a bit. We want to make sure that our thinking is right. But the discussion rarely moves into the realm of orthopraxy. And the result is that the church is in danger of becoming a philosophical institution - we will spend a lot of time arguing over the spiritual realm that exists in our minds without ever living the spiritual realm out in our physical realities. 

  

So the importance of the orthopraxy argument is to remind us that our thoughts need to lead us into actions. There is an ethical requirement to what we believe. But the tension that we live in is that it isn’t our orthopraxy that is needed for us to be righteous. We try to act with righteousness, but our righteousness stems from our belief. And it has been that way since the beginning. Even for Abram, it wasn’t his action that made him righteous – it was his belief.

The reality of the argument is that it can’t be one or the other. The Christian faith needs both right belief and right action –both orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 16