FAITH…BELONGING TO SOMETHING!

My young nephew is very good in sports, participating competitively in soccer, basketball, rugby, and athletics. Recently, he was preparing for a school athletic meet and seemed not completely sure of himself. Like any responsible uncle I had to give words of assurance to motivate the young man. Without much thought, I reiterated words that I was taught as a young man: that he must have faith. When the young man performed well in the competition, it made me wonder whether my mention of faith had anything to do with his good performance.

I also questioned why it seems one considers faith mostly when going through life challenges. Could it not be that we refer to faith even when things are going well? I have realised that conversations about faith often slant towards a religious perspective. I have sought wisdom from the noble books of Quran, The Tanakh, and the Holy Bible. The three books respectively represent Islam, Judaism, and Christian religions. There are other religious books but for convenience I will take pieces from these three.

Consideration in the religious context, we are taught that faith is confidence and trust in God. The Quran says, “Surely those who believe, and do deed, of righteousness, their Lord will guide them by their belief …;”. In the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), faith is expressed through the word ‘Emunah’ which comes from the root aman, meaning to support, uphold, or make steady.

The Jewish religion has as the minimum requirement of faith, belief in a singular, omnipresent, omnipotent God Who is the cause of all existence. In Reading the Christian book, Hebrews 11:1 faith is defined as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. All the noble religious books speak of trust, confidence, hope, and assurance.

There is another perspective of faith outside of the confines of religion. According to Marian-Webster dictionary, ‘faith is an assurance in difficult situations, functioning as a conviction that transcends sight or immediate circumstances.

I didn’t mention that when assuring my nephew, I added that he should have confidence in competing in his athletics because I believed he had done all the preparation required of him to do well. In reading the various religious books, one learns that faith is a skill developed through consistent practice, nurturing, and effort. What are we learning from different versions of scriptures and life, is that to live, be competent on anything, excelling as an athlete one needs to believe in something.

Believing in something means trusting in God, idea, someone or yourself. If one plans to start and run a successful business, it all begins with believing that the business will work. But faith cannot survive on its own, it needs to be followed and nurtured by consistent action.

As I touch on the deeply personal and challenging topic of faith, I feel a little confident with having Dr Phume as a brother, which has privileged me with fierce protection and robust religious knowledge. I am excited and understand the vision shared by the recent launch of a partnership between Unisa and Zallywood Network. Unisa is one of the leading universities in Africa. The latter is a media organisation led by Dr Victor Tuwani Phume.

Dr Phume is an accomplished theologian, who has a PhD in Leadership & Management from Logos University, Florida USA. He also has a degree in divinity from the University of Denver Colorado. He is a reverend, a businessman and author of nineteen publications.

Dr Phume has spent his entire life teaching and coaching issues of faith. The collaboration with UNISA will provide an intellectual platform where we may probe, question, and ultimately strengthen our understanding of faith and enable spiritual maturity. My heart is still relishing and appreciating the opportunity to have been asked to introduce Dr Phume at the Unisa-Zallywood Activation and Workshop.