Faith that Stands Up Under Trial

We finished week 7 of the Beth Moore's, "To Live is Christ," which is about the life of the Apostle Paul.  In today's video Beth talked about Wisconsin vs. Yoder, a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.  In the case, the court was faced with a decision about whether or not the mandatory high school education law pertained to Amish students.  The Amish parents refused to send their children to public high schools for religious reasons.  In order to make a well-thought out decision, the court developed standards to judge "religious convictions"  

Beth judged Apostle Paul based upon US Supreme Court's standards and his convictions met or exceeded every criteria.  It was an interesting, eye-opening video and caused each one of us to examine our own beliefs and "convictions."  In the court's opinion, religious convictions required:

A belief system beyond simple preferences and personal philosophy.  The criteria which help determine whether or not a claimed belief system is preference or genuine conviction state that

• True convictions are intimately related to daily living

• True convictions have a history

• True convictions are personal

• True convictions are preserved against the presure to conform

• True convictions are unchanging regardless of circumstances

If I was judged by the court's criteria, would there be enough evidence for them to "ratify" my convictions?  It's a great question and one I need to ponder.  What about you?  

I close with one of Beth's quotes:

Sometimes we don't share our faith because we don't have enough to spare.  Our faith sounds "okay" to us, but when we try to share it, it sounds "weak" and unsubstantial.