The Difference Between Faith and Mere Belief
By Edward Hills
Published 07/19/2007

What is the difference between faith and doubting? Many Christians are unable to answer this question because they confuse divine, God given faith with mere animal or human belief. Animal belief arises spontaneously out of habit. If you put your dog's food in a certain bowl, he will soon believe that this is the place to go when hungry. But if you stop putting food in the bowl, his belief will begin to give place to doubt and will eventually cease. Our human beliefs likewise arise involuntarily out of our experience. For example, unless we are very ill or in great danger, we cannot help believing that we will be alive tomorrow, because this has always been our experience. Yet we cannot be sure. So when we believe anything, we partly doubt it, and when we doubt anything we partly believe it.
But our faith in God is different from all our other beliefs. For otherwise this faith would be in part a doubting, and our thinking would be no better than a dog's. God is the Truth, the Supreme Reality on which all other realities depend. A "God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He" (Deut. 32:4). And because God is most real, we must believe in Him as such. We must let nothing else be more real to us than God. For this is faith! Anything less than this would be doubting. We must make God and Jesus Christ His Son the starting point of all our thinking.
We see, then, the difference between the carnally minded man and the spiritually minded man. The carnally minded man begins his thinking with something other than God and then believes in God merely as a probability or a possibility. Hence he cannot distinguish between believing and doubting. All his beliefs are doubtful. The spiritual man takes God and Jesus Christ His Son as the starting point of all his thinking. When anything else becomes more real to him than God and Christ, then he knows that he is doubting and must repent and return to the feet of his Saviour.

Interesting cultural statement. It is like Disney cutting back on it good clean movies and going more political. It does not sell and they are losing money. People never learn.

Christian radio leader beats Howard SternDobson among 2008 National Hall of Fame inductees
Posted: July 19, 200812:00 am Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Christian psychologist James Dobson, who has been telling parents how to apply biblical principles to lead their families, raise their children and affect society for more than 30 years, is being honored by the National Radio Hall of Fame.
Dobson's "Focus on the Family" radio broadcast, which is heard on more than 4,000 radio stations worldwide, is among the members of the 2008 class of inductees, officials have announced.
"I've made a living putting thoughts into words throughout my adult life, but it is difficult to express how I feel about this honor,” Dobson said today at a staff assembly. “I am especially pleased because the wonderful people at Focus on the Family deserve it. Our radio program has not been a solo effort. It has been a symphony performed by more than 10,000 people over the past 32 years. I am indebted to them all."
To have 'Focus on the Family' honored in this manner means we've made a difference in families all over the world," said Jim Daly, the president of the organization. "That Dr. Dobson's listeners recognized the excellence and relevance of the content of the daily broadcast and voted to give him a much-deserved win shows Dr. Dobson's influence is as strong as ever in the hearts of his fans, as well as in the culture."
The Hall of Fame's 2008 steering committee had nominated Dobson in the “national active” category, alongside Bob Costas, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and the notorious Howard Stern, officials said. To qualify, a broadcaster must have contributed to the radio industry on a national level for at least 10 years.
Dobson's program then was chosen in the Hall's first-ever online voting competition.
As host of the daily broadcast, Dobson is being added to a field of radio luminaries such as Orson Wells, Paul Harvey, Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, Jack Benny, Walter Winchell, Dick Clark and Rush Limbaugh, while the "Focus on the Family" program is recognized along with hit shows as "The Shadow" and "Your Hit Parade."
Dobson started his program in 1977 and today it is heard on more than 3,000 radio stations across North America plus hundreds more in nearly 160 other nations where his broadcasts are heard in 27 languages.
The Hall of Fame said others in the Class of 2008 are Art Bell, whose program "Coast to Coast AM" was syndicated on more than 500 stations; the late Jess Cain, the long-time morning host on WHDH/Boston who died in February; Howie Carr, who also is an award-winning columnist for the "Boston Herald;" the late Bob Collins, a popular talk show host in Chicago until his death in 2000; Michael Luckoff, president and general manager of KGO-AM in San Francisco; Charlie Tuna, a veteran of 40 years on the air in Oklahoma, Kansas, Boston and Los Angeles; and the late Dick Whittinghill, a southern California personality who once sang with Tommy Dorsey and his big band.
Ceremonies to honor the individuals and programs will be Nov. 8.


Study: Network TV likes sex, but not in marriage August 5, 2008 - 11:54pm
By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Marriage gets little respect on network TV shows that instead revel in the pleasures of extramarital and even kinky sex, according to a study released Tuesday.
The study by the Parents Television Council includes a strongly worded condemnation of prime-time TV, contending it "seems to be actively seeking to undermine marriage by consistently painting it in a negative light."
Even more troubling, according to the watchdog group, is what it characterized as TV's recent obsession with what it termed "outre" or bizarre behavior, including partner swapping and pedophilia.
As for references to pornography, sex toys and "kinky" behavior, those are now common on TV, the report said. Visual references to practices such as voyeurism and sadomasochistic sex outnumbered married-sex references by a ratio approaching 3 to 1.
The effect on young viewers is dire, the Parents Television Council contends.
Behavior that once was seen as "fringe, immoral or socially destructive have been given the imprimatur of acceptability by the television industry" and children are absorbing or even imitating it, the report contends.
Parents don't necessarily have the tools to identify programs they may want to block via the V-chip, according to the study: It says designations such as "S," signaling sexual content, were applied inconsistently and inaccurately.
ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC, the networks in the study, all declined comment.
James Steyer, CEO of nonprofit Common Sense Media, which helps parents sift through media offerings to decide what's right for their children, said he couldn't vouch for the Parents Television Council's research but lauded the effort.
While the council takes a very traditional view of society and pop culture, "I respect it," Steyer said Tuesday. "There are millions of Americans that feel this way," he said.
It's legitimate to scrutinize TV's take on marriage and sexuality given its influence on children, Steyer said.
But TV Watch, a nonpartisan coalition that counts networks among its members and argues that individuals and not government should decide what's seen, fired a volley at the council.
"The Parents Television Council won't be satisfied with television content until they convince the government to enforce their personal, selective judgments," Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch, said in a statement.
The study analyzed four weeks of scripted shows on the major networks at the start of the 2007-08 season, noting content including depictions of sex; implied sex; discussions on the subject, and visual references to strippers, pornography and other aspects of sexuality.
Among the networks overall, references to adultery outnumbered references to marital sex by 2 to 1. The "family hour" _ the first hour of prime-time TV, which draws the most young viewers _ contained the highest ratio of references to non-married vs. married sex, the study found.
Shows held up as containing bad examples of TV behavior included "Grey's Anatomy," with the report citing a scene with singles Meredith and Derek in bed, and "Boston Legal," for an exchange about prostitution.
"Desperate Housewives" was singled out for a bedroom scene involving Gabrielle and Carlos, who divorced and then, while in other relationships, had sex.
Some shows have better attitudes toward marriage although they're not necessarily appropriate for families with young children, said Tim Winter, council president.
The drama "Friday Night Lights" is "better than most in showing positive portrayals of marital relations and intimacy," he said in a telephone conference, while the sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris" depicts a strong married relationship.
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On the Net:
Parents Television Council: http://www.parentstv.org/
Common Sense Media: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/
TV Watch: http://www.televisionwatch.org/
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