{"id":346,"date":"2010-08-18T19:48:55","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T18:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pender.org.uk\/?p=346"},"modified":"2011-08-26T11:39:49","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T10:39:49","slug":"what-goes-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/08\/what-goes-down\/","title":{"rendered":"What goes down!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have been reading an amazing book &#8211;<em> Faith and Doubt<\/em>, by <a href=\"http:\/\/johnortberg.com\/\">John Ortberg<\/a>. In part of the book, John explains that there are three kinds of faith:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the faith that we <strong><em>say <\/em><\/strong>we have. This is what I call &#8220;Sunday faith&#8221;. It is where we tell people that we have faith for something, but we don&#8217;t really believe it or live it.<\/li>\n<li>the faith that we <strong><em>think<\/em><\/strong> we have. This faith is strong until it is tested. We might have faith in healing, for instance,\u00a0 but when we fall ill the faith starts to peter out.<\/li>\n<li>the faith that we <strong><em>really <\/em><\/strong>have. This is the faith that actually changes our behaviour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/08\/what-goes-down\/man-losing-his-balance-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-358\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-358\" title=\"Man losing his balance\" src=\"http:\/\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/iStock_000009835178XSmall1.jpg\" alt=\"Man on the edge, losing his balance\" width=\"292\" height=\"414\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/iStock_000009835178XSmall1.jpg 292w, https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/iStock_000009835178XSmall1-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px\" \/><\/a>An example of the third kind of faith is the law of gravity. My faith in gravity is absolute and changes the way I live. I know beyond any doubt that if I jump off the top of a ten-storey building then I am going down, quickly and with fatal consequences. My faith in the law of gravity therefore changes my behaviour &#8211; I don&#8217;t jump off. I keep my feet on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Just how much of my faith is like that, though? Just how is my behaviour determined by my faith? Do I ever step out in faith?<\/p>\n<p>Taking courage and telling someone about Christ is not like jumping off a building, but it can feel like it, so I hold back, for fear of rejection or of making a mess of it. I keep my feet on the ground, perhaps with fatal consequences &#8211; I might be that person&#8217;s last chance of salvation. Then he\/she is going down.<\/p>\n<p>And that is the problem. Another kind of gravity is when we talk of something being serious, or grave. I know that I am playing with words here, but the gravity of the situation <strong><em>is<\/em><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\"> the grave. My lack of faith can quite literally drop people in it. That should not be.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">I have to change. My faith should be built on the solid foundation which is the risen Christ. My faith must rise, so that the laws of this world, including the law of gravity, are broken. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">The only way is up!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have been reading an amazing book &#8211; Faith and Doubt, by John Ortberg. In part of the book, John explains that there are three kinds of faith: the faith that we say we have. This is what I call &#8220;Sunday faith&#8221;. It is where we tell people that we have faith for something, but&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[28,33,38,41,48,64],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-decision","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-healing","tag-jesus","tag-prayer","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-5A","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2194,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2011\/04\/well-well-will-will\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":0},"title":"Well, well! Will, will!","author":"Robert Pender","date":"05\/04\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"How big is your faith? In our Celebrate Recovery programme, we have been talking quite a bit about faith and, to help people get a grasp of what Jesus said about faith (Matthew 17:20), we gave everyone a mustard seed. If we have faith that big, we can move a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christianity&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2110,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2011\/01\/right-mountain-out-of-the-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":1},"title":"Right, Mountain, out of the way!","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/01\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend of mine will shortly set out on an amazing adventure - to climb Mount Kilimanjaro - to help raise funds for the charity Scottish Spina Bifida. I really admire him for that. It will take courage, strength and endurance. You can sponsor him if you would like to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christianity&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7454,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/09\/25-believe-it-or-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":2},"title":"25 &#8211; Believe it or not","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7463\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Believe it or not, it is exactly one year ago today that I contacted the GP surgery with my current condition. Believe it or not, I thought I had an infection. If you read my blog from the start of this series, you will find that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7131,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/7-the-big-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":3},"title":"7 &#8211; The Big Sea","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7132\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]For most of the first 20 years of my life I lived next to the Clyde, a beautiful river with stunning scenery around it. Where I was, the river was very wide and was for most of the time calm. Occasionally the wind would get up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1865,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/11\/can-i-help-mr-cameron\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":4},"title":"Can I help, Mr Cameron?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"28\/11\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was interested to read that Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, is going to spend \u00c2\u00a32million on measuring the happiness of the British people. Happiness, according to the dictionary is a state of well being and contentment. I do not see a lot of contentment in the society in which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christianity&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7158,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/11\/badsadglad\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":5},"title":"8 &#8211; Bad Sad Glad","author":"Robert Pender","date":"20\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There is no photo at the top of this post because there isn't one which could cover everything that I am going to say. The three weeks since my last post have been a bit busy with appointments and it has been a whirlwind of emotions and news. There have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}