Why Faith Can’t Be Forced
The heart is a complicated thing. No, I’m not talking about the physical organ of the body that pumps blood to the different parts of the body (although it is a complicated organ). The heart is just the name we give that non-physical aspect of a person. It is what makes a person who they are. It is the center of their being/existence. Most cultures refer to that as the heart, while others have thought of it as the stomach and the kidney. Nevertheless, it exist as that part of us that makes us, us.
The thing about the heart is that it can never be forced. It is the truest part of a person. Where the mind can lie and deceive itself, the heart wants what it wants. It can not be forced. The great romantics throughout history understood this. They knew that the heart must be “won” or “courted” or “sought after.” It can never be forced.
Faith does not exist in the intellect. I am not saying that faith is not intellectual. I am saying that faith seems to exist in the heart of a person – the truest part of who they are. Intellectually, you can say you believe something; you can even try to trick yourself into believing it, but genuine faith exist at the core of a person – their heart.
Because it exists in the heart, it can not be forced. Just some thoughts.
Jonathan Edwards would say, every true conviction really comes from the mind. =p