“The greatest danger that comes from frequent repetition of the phrase, ‘God cannot be proved,’ is that it lodges in the public mind the idea that reason has nothing to do with the matter at all. This leads millions to the impotence of mere ‘fideism.’ The word means acceptance of ‘faith alone,’ with no concern for intellectual content. The crucial difficulty of this position, however popular it may be at times, is that it provides no means of choosing between radically different faiths. It gives no basis for rejecting the Nazi faith or even the faith of voodooism. Once the life of reason is rejected, there is no reason why any one faith is better or worse than any other. The pathetic fact is that the people who say they do not need to give reasons for the objective validity of the faith they espouse do not seem to realize how sad the consequences of their position are.”

(Elton Trueblood, A Place to Stand, NewYork: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1969, 23)

Faith Abraham’s faith was more than a mental persuasion that God’s word was true. It was an obedient faith that responded to God’s commands with what Jesus said were “the works of Abraham.” He was not justified by the works but by the faith that generated the works. His outward acts or works were manifestations of his inward faith. When God saw that Abraham, under trial, had a living faith that gave birth to acts of righteousness, “it was accounted to him [put to his account] for righteousness” (Gal. 3:6) … Genuine faith glorifies God for His grace that makes justification possible. Without this grace, faith and its works would be nothing. Counterfeit faith produces self-righteousness and glorifies the creature more than the Creator. It is boastful and vain-glorious, and its self-righteous works are rejected by God as “filthy rags.” It was on this point of Abraham’s faith-works that Jesus angered the self-righteous Pharisees who were leaders of the Harlot Church at that time. They claimed the right to the eternal kingdom of God on the ground that they were the covenant sons of Abraham. But Jesus said if they were true spiritual sons of Abraham, they would “do the works of Abraham.” They were doing the “deeds” of their father the devil. Instead of the evidence of faith, they showed evidence of unbelief. Instead of proving themselves sons of God, they proved they were sons of the devil (John 8:33-44).

(Guy Duty, Christ’s Coming and the World Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany Fellowship, Inc., 1971, 54-55; Excerpt from Chapter 5, The Tested Church)