faith and feeling

I'm a huge C.S. Lewis fan. I've been working my way through "Mere Christianity" for quite a long time now, trying my hardest to take it slow and think through what he's writing, while at the same time wanting to gulp down more and more of his analogies.

I read the chapter on faith last week. If you look at the post from Oct. 6, you'll recall I was in a bad mood.

Lews speaks to the issue of mood swings in the faith chapter. I'll reproduce an excerpt here: ". . . Faith . . . is the art of holding on to the things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods." It seems to me that the claim relies on two premises: first, that reason is the basis of the choice to accept whatever "things" you believe (assuming you believe anything at all), and second, that your moods will change. I like this perspective because it provides a place for both logic and emotion in regards to faith. Do I have faith in God? Sure do. Do I always feel like I have faith in God? Nope.

What inspires me about Lewis's definition of faith here is that faith itself is separate from the feeling. Feelings come and go, but faith is something far deeper. So, the measure of my faith isn't how good I'm feeling; it's whether or not I still believe what I've said I believe when war, famine, and pestilence (figuratively speaking) come. Even better, the notion of "blind faith" doesn't really apply since reason has already overcome doubt (again, assuming I have any beliefs at all).

All this is to say: I'm encouraged. For years I've been basing my faith in God on the feeling. When I screw up and do something stupid, it takes me days to regain my "faith" because I think I have to wait for the good feeling to return. So I am now at the point of "[recognizing] the fact that [my] moods change" (another quote from the faith chapter), and I can now move on to the next part of the prescription. More to come about that.

Appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Jeff