Experience versus faith

I recall a "don't knock it until you've tried it" proponent challenging me once in the midst of a conversation: "Do you believe everything your father tells you?" A thought provoking question, to say the least, especially for a boy in his mid-teens. I don't remember how I responded at the moment, but I recall a period of contemplation and a personal conclusion: In my father I had a man of considerable experience, insight and wisdom. I had a father who was a loving man. A prayerful man.

"...believe everything your father tells you?"

My brief life experience had taught me to expect this man's faithfulness, his passion, his commitment to the Lord, to his family and to his neighbors. It was relatively simple for me to answer: "Yes, I believe."

This is not to say I was taught that my father's faith would suffice for my salvation. As a guest preacher on Easter Sunday in 1959, my father said in part: "We asked some weeks ago that each listener ask themselves whether they would this day sing 'Allelujah, Christ is Risen' with their hearts or with their lips. We ask again this hour, not for our information but for your joy, whether He has risen for you? Christ lives and offers life! Have you taken the life of His body and blood into your own and made His victory over death your joyous reason for singing His praise this Easter Sunday? A Christian is one who has Christ. One who has Christ is hungry for His word and sacrament. If everyone here were a Christian, this house of God would ring with the song of Easter joy ... every Sunday of the year!"

Doesn't that sound like the words of a man whose opinion is worthy of respect?