Mathematics and Faith
Just how does an abstract discipline like mathematics find
itself mixed up with a notion as difficult to pin down as that
of faith. What is this thing called faith anyway? As far as I
can see, I never saw faith walking around, nor was I ever able
to touch it. As much as I might have wanted a heavy dose of
faith as a Christmas present some years, I do not ever remember
anyone telling me that they just picked me up a nice piece of
faith in the local mall and got a great deal on it. In the
Book of Hebrews of the New Testament of the Bible we read in
Chapter 11, Verse 1: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things unseen." This has always been one of
my favorite Bible verses I guess because of the profound
implications of the statement. Faith has to be one of the
greatest gifts with which God could have endowed man. Yet
faith--in order to grow strong-- is something that needs to be
put into practice regularly, just like any other muscle in the
body. Use it, or lose it, as the saying goes. Faith strengthens
with use while it weakens through desuetude. Faith is simply not
like some other tangible thing that you can get your finger
around. Consequently, to embrace this elusive yet noble grace,
man needs some kind of driver to bring faith to the surface of
existence, a precursor, so to speak, which causes faith to
bubble into one's life and permits easy access to such.
But what is this so-called faith driver and how do we access it
so as to be able to implement faith in our lives? Moreover, how
can mathematics show us that faith is something real and
consequently that God the Creator, as an extension of our faith,
is really out there?
In short, belief is the key driver of faith. For that which we
believe in no longer necessitates proof of its existence. Yet
everything we believe in has required at some time or
another--in some form or another--a giant leap of faith. And
here is where mathematics, faith, and God all tie in together.
Let me explain.
In 1931, a brilliant Austrian mathematician by the name of Kurt
G