Reflections on Faith

The Sower - GOGH, Vincent van

“(...) someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” (James 2:18 - NIV)

Sometimes, when we think about faith we ask ourselves about its reality as if it depended on something external to prove its existence. The real question is not whether we have faith in something external, but if we have faith at all and how we prove it to ourselves and ourselves alone.

Faith, like any other term, has a duality defined by our intentions. Take, for example, the approach of external and internal. If you are hungry and your father goes out to get you something to eat or even cook, you simply believe that he will cook or bring you something that will satisfy your hunger. That’s your faith in your father. Now, if you have a challenge to face and do not believe in yourself to overcome it, you lack faith in yourself. The problem is when we get confused by placing the onus of proving to us our own faith and when others place the onus of proving their own faith on us, mixing up what is external and what is internal.

Let's remember what a farmer's job is like. He or she did their part by planting seeds and trusting God—that is, having faith—to reap what was sown. Even nowadays with all the discoveries of science and technology, knowing almost precisely what to do to keep the soil healthy and then reap the fruits of their labor, you need to have faith in yourself, in your employees, and in God, that is to believe and know that you and your employees did everything that was spiritually and humanly possible and that God will provide the right climate for your harvest. Even if this is also a consequence of the sum of human actions, still for that precise period and time, you have to believe that everything will work out according to what you expect. Otherwise, understanding why, and believing in a purpose for it, whether it’s something profound and meaningful or a shallow and maleficent one. Still, it has a purpose.

In the end, you have to believe in something, and that is already a faith “as small as a mustard seed”, with which, according to Jesus, you will be able to say to this mountain: “Move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Gospel of Jesus, according to Matthew 17:20 NIV).

In these examples there is a crucial catch: you have to work. Yes, you need to do your part. Not even the trees remain inactive, but they also do their natural job, and God in His Divine Laws provides their sustenance. It is as Brother Alziro Zarur taught: “Do your part, and God will do His”.

What I want to bring in this article is the understanding of a concept of Brother Paiva Netto: the Accomplishing Faith, which is Faith + Good Deeds. This is part of the Four Initiatic Degrees of Faith, brought by the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, to show us how we can manifest our Faith and in what condition our mentality is to understand it. They are:

1. Reasoned Faith (Allan Kardec);

2. Reasoning Faith (Alziro Zarur);

3. Accomplishing Faith (Paiva Netto);

4. Divinizing Faith (Paiva Netto).

Practical ways of the Faith

We cannot measure our Faith as a quantifiable thing, we still don’t have the right means yet, but we can look through other lenses at what corresponding degree we are. Getting back to the farmer’s example. What would each degree mean in the manifestation of his or her faith? (1) The thought and perception of the need to work; (2) The realization and openness to the intuition of the Good Spirits on how to work more effectively, sharpening their tools and separating the good seeds; (3) Going to work and planting the seeds, doing it’s part, trusting that God will do His part; (4) Know and Understand God’s Will and Purpose for his or her work in the participation on the Divine Plan to institute His Love (Jesus, 13:34 and 35).

Through this, we will see that in the end “Faith is God Himself.  Faith equals God”, as Brother Zarur taught.

Faith, Good Deeds, and the Fear of “Death”

Those who have good works have nothing to fear because faith is sustained by work. And how to define fear? To begin with, let’s say that fear is the uncertainty produced by the certainty of inaction when we knew we could do something and decided not to do it because we feared a possible, not certain, result that would aggravate us or those we love.

Let’s see our own day-to-day when we work with Dignity, Honesty, Perseverance, and with Good Will. True to ourselves and what we believe. We have nothing to fear because we know that we did everything that was spiritually and materially possible, that is, knowing our limits, but deciding to go beyond.

As time passes, we find ourselves in a situation close to the phenomena of transition to the Spiritual World, that is, death. Which makes us face our conscience and look into what we did or didn’t do. The fear we may feel of “death” is actually a fear of facing and returning to God, morally naked, where our evidence for defense is our actions and inactions.

If we think about it, we don't fear the phenomena of death, we are afraid of confronting our own conscience with God, who is the Highest Value in the Universe. We fear the nakedness of our thoughts, words, and actions, without a filter, someone or something to blame. Losing our opportunity to walk “faithfully with God” (Genesis, 48:15 - NIV) as Adam and Eve lost when they found themselves “naked” before God. A subject worth discussing on another occasion.

I finish this article with a quote from Brother Paiva in his ebook Hope Never Dies (2021): “Faith is the fuel for Good Deeds and therefore for work”.