Buttress of Belief

The Bible does not encourage blind belief. It provides buttresses of belief varying according to context, some of which include:

  1. A miraculous sign (e.g. Moses in Egypt; Isaiah..)
  2. A covenant sign and oath (e.g. Abraham, Lord's Supper)
  3. A surety or guarantee (e.g. Passover..)
  4. A particular requested sign (e.g Gideon's fleece)
  5. A particular factual sign (e.g. Elizabeth to Mary)
  6. A prophetic word - dream (e.g. Joseph to the prisoners)
  7. A prophetic word - knowledge (e.g. Jesus to Samaritan woman)
  8. A prophetic word - foretelling (e.g. Jesus to Peter...)
  9. A healing, providential, protective, deliverance miracle (e.g. Gospels)
  10. An angelic sign (e.g. Resurrection)
  11. A divine stroke (e.g. Uzziah's leprosy, Zachariah's muteness, Miriam's leprosy)
  12. Prophetic fulfillment (Jewish and Gentile, including the Star of Magi)
  13. etcc....
Since the nature of the belief is supernatural, the buttress usually is also supernatural. 
  1. A written legal surety - The Bible (Word of God) 
  2. A living personal surety - The Holy Spirit 
  3. An authoritative signature - The Name of Jesus Christ (to make orders and requests in prayer and word of deliverance)
  4. A testifying community - The Church
Items that must not be considered as buttresses of belief:
  1. Personal feelings (which are fluctuating)
  2. Zeitgeist or spirit of the age (which are more of a fad)
  3. Probabilistic naturalist reasoning (whose final resort is chance and whose counterfactuals are not really factual)
  4. Speculative philosophy (which is mere speculation that attempts to act as an hypothetical gap-filler)
  5. etcc
Any of the non-buttresses will be able to try to explain away the true buttresses (A.1-13). The non-buttresses actually constitute unbelief. They are also explicitly skeptical if not absolutely irrational and are unreliable for any reasonable venture. 

PHOTO: (from dreamstime.com, google images) 

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