Foundation Day - How do we get there?

Advent must realise on Earth God's ideal, which was left unfulfilled at the first coming. That's what our True Parents have been doing: completing and finishing what Jesus set out to do, just as Joshua completed and finished what Moses set out to do. This is the overall framework in which we need to understand our life, our spiritual community, where we've come from, what we're doing, and where we're going. This has been what God has been doing for the pattern for the natural subjugation of Satan. We have read a lot about how this was done in Jacob's family, then by Moses and Joshua, and then by Jesus and our True Parents. If you want to stop me or ask a question, please do so at any time. Just put your hand up; if I get it wrong, please correct me. I don't like to just stand here and talk the whole time, so feel free to interrupt me from time to time or I'll be asking you questions if you don't.

So, what were the Hebrews doing in Egypt? Why were they there? This is all about Abraham. God made certain promises to Abraham. Abraham was a person of faith, the father of our faith, a person of extraordinary faith whose faith is based upon reason and evidence. One day, God said to him, 'Look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them.' Then He said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Abraham believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness. Here, God made this promise to Abraham: your descendants will be as numerous as the stars of heaven. Even though he didn't have any children up until then, Abraham believed in God. He trusted God because he knew God was a reality, he knew God cared about him, and he knew God was almighty and powerful. If God said He would do it, then he knew that He could do it.

Next, God said, 'I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.' But Abraham responded, 'Oh Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?' What do you think about that response? Is it the same kind of response as in the previous verse? He is questioning, which reveals some kind of doubt, doesn't it? He says, 'But how am I to know? What evidence is there?' He is looking around, seeing all these huge cities with people living there, and some doubt crept into his mind. In that sense, he wasn't able to sustain and maintain his faith. He needed to make a foundation; he needed to do something to restore the foundation of faith. That's why God said to him to bring an offering: a heifer, a ram, a goat, a dove, and a pigeon, which represented all the previous ones. Tragically, he wasn't able to cut the doves, and so Satan invaded this offering. God then said, 'Your descendants will suffer for 400 years in a foreign land.'

Do you think that's fair? It sounds a bit harsh, doesn't it? All he did was not cut the doves, and he had to spend 400 years living in a foreign country as a slave. Why is that? We have to understand that's the way it works. What happens if you park your car outside on the meter, put in the money, and it's three minutes short? If you arrive to get your car three minutes late and the parking warden comes by, how much is the ticket for? It depends on where you are, about £30 or £60. It seems a bit harsh, doesn't it? If you had paid that little bit, you would have been able to stay there without having to pay a fine. If you exceed it and don't make the right condition, then you get clobbered by the parking ticket. That's the way it was here. To restore the foundation of faith, Abraham had to make this small offering. If he made that small offering, it would have been a condition of lesser indemnity, and God would have blessed his descendants. For 400 years, they would have lived in Canaan, prospered, and flourished. But because he didn't make that small condition, Satan was able to give a greater indemnity.

It's like a contract between God and Satan. Abraham had to restore his foundation of faith. God said, 'What can he do to restore it?' If he makes this small offering, then I will be able to bless him for 400 years. Satan said, 'Okay, but if he breaks that small offering, then I can curse him for 400 years.' As much blessing as God would be able to give, Satan could give an equivalent amount of cursing and suffering upon his descendants. What do you think Satan was trying to do during these 400 years? He was trying to destroy them so that after 400 years, there would be nobody to bring out of Egypt into Canaan. Satan had 400 years in which to try and destroy the faith of the Hebrews. God had to allow Satan to do that for 400 years, and if they maintained their faith, then God would be able to intervene and bring them out of Egypt and back into Canaan.

I remember once, after God's Day, I parked my car outside here. I thought, 'It's God's Day, it's a bank holiday; surely there are no parking wardens around.' Anyway, I came out after God's Day, and the car had disappeared. I thought someone had stolen it, but I found out that the police had towed it away into the Hyde Park car park, and it cost me over £100 to restore it and get it back. That's just the way it works sometimes. That's like a condition of indemnity. As we know, it decides ownership: do you belong to God or to Satan? If you make a condition and you don't do it correctly, Satan invades you. You go through all kinds of difficulties for a certain period of time. Sometimes people lose their faith or even commit suicide because all these evil spirits come, and they have to overcome all these things. Eventually, they go through this period of darkness, the valley of the shadow of death, and they come out the other side into the sunshine, and God is able to work in their lives again. That's just the way it works.

So, what were the Hebrews doing down in Egypt? God wants to send the Messiah. To make the foundation to send the Messiah, they first need to make a foundation of faith, which you all know about, and a foundation of substance that overcomes the fallen nature. Then, with that foundation, they can receive the Messiah. This requires, as we know, a combination of divine grace and human will for God's will to be done. God does His bit, and we have to do our bit. This isn't theology; it has nothing to do with the Unification Church. This is just the way the world works. When you go to school as a school child, do you have to buy your school books? No? Does anyone here have to buy their school books? Not in this country. Do you have to build a school? No. Do you have to employ the teachers? No. In this country, somebody has done that 95%, and as a school child, all you have to do is your classwork and homework. If you work hard, you'll pass your exams and get your qualifications. I remember when I was a child, doing my school work felt overwhelming. I thought, 'How can anybody possibly do all this homework?' But when I thought about it, that little bit of homework compared to building the school, buying the school books, and employing the teachers is a tiny amount. It's like the relationship between us and God: God does 95%, and we have to do our 5%.

Over history, a lot of people have built the school, employed the teachers, and done all of this, so there's very little in this country that we have to do in that sense. We're very fortunate; we've inherited that 95%. We just have to do a little bit. So, what does this mean in practice? The foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. In order to send the Messiah, there needs to be a foundation of faith. The foundation of faith is that God wants to create a spiritual community. When the Messiah comes, they can understand what he's talking about. There has to be a spiritual community of people living a religious life, praying, worshipping God, and talking about God. They need to understand these things so that when the Messiah comes and starts telling them about why God created human beings, where evil came from, about Adam and Eve, and all these things, they know what he's talking about. God needs to create a spiritual community such that when the Messiah comes, they can understand what he's talking about.

On a larger scale, is that very common? You don't think so? If you look around the world, have most people been religious throughout human history? Historically, most societies and civilisations have been religious. It's very rare to find a non-religious society or community. Most people are religious in some sense or another. That's the foundation of faith. The foundation of substance, practically speaking, is that God needs not just a spiritual community but one in which there's freedom of belief. Not just religious people, but one in which there's also freedom of religion. When someone comes along with new ideas, like Abel, a young person with new ideas, people may disagree with him and argue with him, but they can't throw him into prison or kill him as a heretic. Cain cannot kill Abel. It has to be a society in which there is the rule of law, laws like human rights, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and freedom of movement. How common is it for there to be a religious community in which there is religious freedom? That's very rare. It's very rare to find a spiritual community that tolerates people with different ideas, new ideas, or funny ideas.

Look at the Muslim world: is a foundation of faith being established there? They are very religious; they pray five times a day and fast. But is there much freedom of religion in the Islamic world? No, there isn't. If the Messiah had been born in a Muslim country, what would have happened to him? He would have been killed. If the Messiah had been born in most of Europe within the last 2,000 years, what would have happened to him? He would have been burnt at the stake. Many heretics were burnt at the stake, and many people suffered under the Inquisition of the Catholic Church. There was no religious freedom on the continent of Europe until after the Second World War, very recently. There was no foundation to receive the Messiah in the world until very recently. Because the Messiah was born in a Christian country, for most of human history, he would have been put to death as a heretic. God has to create this kind of society. Who creates this kind of society where there's freedom of religion? God, men, and human beings, including women. People have to stand up for freedom of religion, and some stood up for it at the risk of their lives. Many were put to death until eventually, people said, 'We cannot go on like this; we have to have religious tolerance.' That started in Britain in the 16th century. This is the practical foundation to receive the Messiah: a spiritual community in which there's religious freedom. That's what God was trying to establish from the time of Abraham up until today.

So, what was life like in Egypt? Jacob took his family down into Egypt, and this is where they were supposed to have lived. You can see this is an old statue. Can you see the toes on the feet? From the bottom, the base is about 10 feet. Can you imagine how tall the statue was? Huge! They didn't have all these cranes. How did they do it? Go to the British Museum, and you can see these huge fingers from statues. Anyway, that's where they were supposed to have lived, and they prospered and multiplied there. They did very well and were very successful. Then it says that a new king arose who did not know Joseph. This new king thought to himself, 'Who are all these foreigners living in our country? Who are these foreigners who are doing so well and who are so prosperous that they are going to take over our country?' This is a similar kind of thing that people say. He came up with a project: what to do with all these foreigners? He came up with a cunning plan. His cunning plan was to initiate a huge building project to build these huge pyramids and the city of Ramesses. He offered good pay, so lots of people went to work. Egyptians and Hebrews went to work on the building site, and the pay was so good that many of the Hebrews left their businesses and farms to work for the Pharaoh. After a while, the Pharaoh changed the employment legislation to say that only people who were Egyptian citizens could be foremen and could be in management, which meant all the Hebrews were just ordinary workers.

You can read about it in the Talmud. Eventually, they reduced the pay until some of them thought, 'Well, we're going to go back to our old businesses.' But then he sent along his thugs to prevent them from doing that. So eventually, all the Hebrews ended up being in a state of dependency on the Pharaoh, reduced to a state of servitude. If you're a Hebrew, what are your options? You could rebel, but he had all the soldiers. You could just remain a slave, or you could leave. You could also take out Egyptian citizenship. Many might have thought, 'Why do we have to be different? Why can't we be like everybody else?' I can imagine a lot of Hebrews became Egyptians and even slave drivers themselves, while some decided to maintain their identity. Through this process, as you can see, Satan behind Pharaoh was trying to destroy the people, destroy their faith, and reduce their identity from being the people of God to being the slaves of Pharaoh.

So what is a slave? In a slave society, a slave is somebody else's property. You can be bought and sold; you belong to someone. You have no freedom of movement, no freedom of religion or work, and no family life. All these aspects are under the control of the slave master or slave owner. Do you think slaves work very hard? If you were a slave, would you work hard? They were under duress to do so because they would be beaten. But supposing the slave driver is not watching, what do you do when the person with the whip turns his back? You take a break. Basically, slaves don't work very hard unless someone is watching. They try not to work hard because they see no benefit in it. Nobody wants to be treated like a slave.

So do slaves generally take the initiative when something needs doing? No, they wait around to be told what to do. If something goes wrong, they don't think, 'I better sort that problem out.' They might think, 'Get out of here before I get accused,' or they might blame someone else. This leads to a very complaining kind of attitude. I've never been a slave, but I try to think myself into that situation. I remember when I was on MFT; for me, it was a holiday. A lot of people were complaining, but I was reading 'The Gulag Archipelago' by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, which talks about life in a slave labour camp in the Soviet Union. I could see similarities in the dynamics of how some of my team leaders treated me and how I treated my team members.

So, does God want us to be slaves? That's what Satan is trying to do—reduce the Hebrews to think of themselves as slaves and to behave like slaves. God was taking the people out of slavery in Egypt and wanted to take them to live in Canaan. What should have happened? We know that Moses killed an Egyptian slave driver. The Hebrews should have recognised Moses, loved him, respected him, and listened to him. They would have worked together and multiplied goodness, setting off towards Canaan. The Bible says they would have got there in 21 days. Do you think that's realistic? Why not?

They had to go from Egypt to Canaan in 21 days. You can actually walk from Egypt to Canaan in three weeks; it's not difficult if you have enough water and a camel. But what happened? Some Hebrews, when they saw Moses the next day, started to judge him, saying, 'Who made you a prince and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?' Moses was afraid and thought, 'Surely the thing is known.' He realised that the people didn't really love or respect him and were already starting to judge him. Mentally and psychologically, they weren't ready to go into Canaan, so Moses had to leave, and that didn't work out.

Why 21 days? It's a providential number. Where else does it crop up? Jacob's life, for example; he spent 21 years in Haran. It's also a time from landing until Noah left the ark. In terms of the principle of creation, it's a time to reach maturity. After 21 years, you should be mature and living in the direct dominion of God. When you're 21 years old, you should be making your own choices and decisions. This is how God wants people to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, in Canaan, and in Chong. He wants us to be growing up, living in the direct dominion of God, following our original mind and conscience.

So, God hoped that the Hebrews could go from Egypt to Canaan within 21 days, dwelling in the direct dominion of God. They were supposed to move from slavery to freedom in that time. Is it possible to go from a slave mentality to being a free person within 21 days? Some of them never went into a slave mentality, but many did. Is it really hard to change that mentality within 21 days? I think God is a bit idealistic sometimes. He has huge expectations, but they are not always tempered with reality. Many of the prophets in the Old Testament challenge God, saying, 'Come on, God, let's be a bit more realistic.'

The first thing is, what does it mean to change? We have to change from a slave mentality to the mentality of a free person. You can take the Hebrews out of slavery, but can you take the slavery out of the Hebrews? That's the difficult part. Sometimes people become institutionalised; they may go to prison or be in the army for many years. When they come out, is it easy for them to adjust? No, it's very difficult. Sometimes people on MFT for years stop fundraising and don't know what to do the next day. They need a leader to tell them what to do. A huge psychological and social change needs to take place within the Hebrews for them to enter Canaan. That's the journey God was trying to facilitate. If they all went into Canaan with the same slave mentality, what kind of society would they create? A slave society, which is not what God wants.

So, where is all this taking place? They could have gone straight to Canaan in 21 days, but instead, they went on a detour. The second course of restoration to Canaan involved God working through Moses, who was making the foundation of faith. They needed to love, respect, and listen to Moses, working together with him. When calamities came, they left Egypt and crossed the wilderness, probably over to Mount Sinai. This took some time, but it was part of the second course of restoration to Canaan, which was the foundation for the Tabernacle. God was preparing them to enter Canaan, both individually and socially, in the right frame of mind.

God woos the Hebrews. What does wooing mean? It's a bit more than just chatting someone up; it's about winning someone's heart. God wants to win the Hebrews' hearts, saying, 'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' This is what God is saying to the Hebrews: 'You were slaves in Egypt, but I brought you out of Egypt, and I want you to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests.'

Being a kingdom of priests is unusual. What do priests do? They keep the religious laws. Normally, within a society, you only have a few priests who teach the people and mediate between the people and God. Here, God says, 'I want you to be a kingdom of priests.' Each person should have a relationship with God. To whom are they going to be priests? To the rest of the world. That's the vision: God calling them to be a nation of priests, bringing God's word, love, and teachings to the rest of humanity. It's a huge vision, but it's not an easy calling.

What God's vision was, that was God inviting them to do. So how did the people respond? Moses then came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. God then said to Moses all the Ten Commandments and all the other commandments. Moses related all these words from God to the people, and the people answered together and said, 'All the Lord has spoken we will do.' Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord, and the Lord said to Moses, 'Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever.' Here, God is inviting them to enter into this covenant, an agreement based upon promises. It's not something forced upon them; they understand this is what God is hoping and expecting from them, and they agree to keep these laws and live this way. This remarkable agreement was made with the whole people. Most religions, I think all other religions, have only one founder, like Jesus, Buddha, or Muhammad. However, at Mount Sinai, God didn't just appear to Moses; He appeared to the whole people, and this agreement was made with all the Hebrews together on a national level.

You can see here that Moses had to memorise all the things God told him. Some things were supposed to be written down on tablets of stone, and you can imagine carrying the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. If you look at all the laws written on stones, how much do you think that would weigh? It would need a truck, wouldn't it? This is what's interesting about the word of God; they had to study God's word. Up until this time, there were basically seven pictogram forms of writing systems. Do you know what pictograms are? For example, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Chinese characters. It’s not easy to learn to write like this. If you want to learn Chinese, how many characters do you need to learn to be able to read and write? Thousands. Does it take a long time to do that? Most societies do not have the time and wealth to educate all members of the population to learn four or five thousand characters. So, who ends up learning to read and write using pictograms? The priests and the elite, basically. In these societies with pictograms, there is always a very hierarchical structure, and the only people who are well-educated enough to read and write are the priests and the aristocracy. Everybody else is ignorant.

The very first alphabet that was ever created was Semitic, the ancestor, the precursor to Hebrew. The word 'alphabet' comes from which language? Normally, one might think it's Greek. The first Greek letter is alpha. The Greek alphabet is not the oldest; the Hebrew alphabet predates it by thousands of years. All the alphabets in the Western world, including European and East Asian alphabets, come from this very first alphabet, which is the Phoenician alphabet. With this kind of alphabet, based on just 30 or 40 letters, everybody is able to learn. Everyone can become educated and learn how to read and write quite quickly and easily. This brought about a new law, a new religion, and together with it, a new alphabet and a new language. God wanted everybody to be able to understand and live according to His law. To understand, you have to be able to read it. That is why, if you are a Jew, you have to learn how to read and write in order to get a Bar Mitzvah and become an adult within Judaism. Earlier than almost any other country or civilisation in the world, Jewish people had almost universal literacy for far longer.

This equality meant that everyone became equal; you didn't need to ask the priest what the law said because anyone could read the law for themselves. If anyone can read it for themselves, you do not have the situation where some people can read and leave out the bits they do not want to tell you. In Jewish society, there was incredible egalitarianism; everyone was equal, everyone was a son or daughter of God. The Jewish law was unusual in the ancient world in that there was only one law which applied equally to everyone. In other parts of the ancient world, if you owned a slave and killed that slave, you would not be punished because a slave is your personal possession. If you killed someone else's slave, you would have to pay them compensation for damaging their property. If a slave killed his master, he would be put to death. Different laws applied to different groups within society. Do you think that is the way God wants it? In front of God, every human being is equal, and God's law applies and protects every single human being in the same way. This is an incredibly radical revelation at Mount Sinai: the equality of all human beings before God and the law.

Simon, I don't know if it's too early for this question, but in case there's a tension around it, how does this connect to us? Well, this is the very first language ever created, an alphabet. Father often talks about studying Korean, a new language for a new age. It is interesting, isn't it? A completely new alphabet. Korean also has a new alphabet, and I think it's one of the reasons why Father encourages everyone to study Korean. There are these interesting parallels; when God brings a new revelation, it is also connected to a language and a new script. Foundation Day, for the Hebrews 3,000 years ago, is similar to what we are doing today. How did the people prepare to receive God? They purified themselves for three days, had showers, prepared themselves internally through prayer, washed and cleaned their clothes, and had no sexual relations during this time. They were not to touch the holy mountain. Moses and Aaron went up the mountain to receive God's words together.

Moses rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men to sacrifice oxen to the Lord. Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he threw against the altar. The altar represents God, and the twelve pillars represent the twelve tribes of Israel. When they sacrificed oxen, they would cut the artery, and all the blood would go into a bowl. Moses took half the blood and put it in the basins and threw the rest against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. They said, 'All the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will attend to Him.' Moses took the blood and threw it on the people, saying, 'Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with these words.' This is a holy ceremony, similar to the holy wine ceremony. Through this, what connects the people to God is the same blood; the blood on the altar is the same as the blood sprinkled on the people. They are having a change of blood lineage, moving from being the slaves of Pharaoh to becoming the people of God, a holy nation, a kingdom of priests.

Through this ceremony, they are symbolising and representing this change of identity and lineage, becoming God's people. This was the foundation day of Judaism, the foundation day of the Jewish people as a nation. They are still here, flourishing 3,500 years later. You might think, 'What a bizarre little ritual this funny group is doing in the desert.' If you were there and saw it happening, you might think it was strange. However, in terms of world history, that day transformed and changed the world. We often think of it as just a ceremony or ritual, but it is through these rituals that we transform and change our consciousness as individuals and as a community. That is why Father calls us to go through these holy ceremonies; by participating together, we move to a higher level and into a closer relationship with God. It is not something external; something external is always a reflection of what is going on inside.

Whenever someone becomes a British citizen, they go through a citizenship ritual and come out feeling different. People get married and go through a ceremony, coming out as a couple and feeling different. When someone is baptised, they come out feeling different. Through these rituals, inner transformation takes place at the same time. This is why all religions are full of rituals. From the outside, it may seem curious, but what is happening inside is often invisible. Who remembers the definition of a sacrament? It is a visible sign of an inward grace. The two go together; it is the outward expression of an inward transforming grace. You cannot have one without the other. It is through these sacraments that God's grace is brought into the world. We may think of rituals as just that, but on the inside, an inner transformation is taking place. That is what was going on here, and that is what happens when we go to blessings.

The Covenant involved Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders of Israel, who ascended and witnessed the God of Israel. They saw something resembling a pavement made of sapphire beneath His feet, clear as the sky itself. God did not raise His hand against the leaders of the Israelites; they saw God and they ate and drank. This moment is captured in a painting by William Blake. Can you see any likenesses in this painting to other images? Sometimes, there is a sense of unification, isn't there? It resembles a holy day celebration. If you look closely, you can see cranes on the left and right, and a gathering of people sitting down to a meal. This imagery reflects a holy day, with a table full of food and chairs for God, which is very similar to traditions we see today. While some may think this is a uniquely Korean practice, it actually has roots that go back thousands of years. This spiritual imagery has been picked up by many, including William Blake, True Parents, and Moses, who all gave substantial form to an invisible reality.

What, then, is this change of lineage? As I mentioned, it is fundamentally a change of identity. When we consider who we are, we often reflect on our origins and our relationship with our parents and family, as these connections shape our identity. Should I continue for another four minutes? Perhaps we can take a moment for questions before the coffee break, which is in three minutes.

There is a question from the audience. Yes, Taco has a loud enough voice. You mentioned at the beginning that when Abraham made the initial offering, it was a consequence of doubt, correct? Ideally, he shouldn't have questioned. But what do you mean by questioning? Could you elaborate on that? Well, initially, Abraham believed it was possible for his descendants to be as numerous as the stars in heaven. However, when God told him that his descendants would live in Canaan forever, he doubted. It wasn't so much about asking questions; it was about his lack of belief in the possibility of what God promised.

Is it possible to ask questions without doubting? Yes, I do it all the time. I am a very skeptical person and always questioning. So, what is the difference between skepticism and doubt? I believe there is a distinction. I have asked questions while believing in something. For instance, a child might ask a mother, 'What coat are you going to buy me?' The child believes the mother will buy a coat but seeks more information. However, to an outsider, it might sound like the child doubts the mother's promise. This illustrates that asking questions is essential for discovering the truth. I often take principles apart to understand them better.

Faith is related to trust, but it also involves believing in the truth of something based on reason. Abraham's question about evidence was reasonable. Yet, he was punished by God for that. He wasn't punished in the traditional sense; he had to restore his error. It seems there is a fine line between wanting evidence and doubting. Many biblical figures, including Moses and Abraham, argued with God. It's not merely about questioning; it is about the nature of the inquiry. I agree with you, Taco; there is a difference between doubting and asking questions. Abraham needed to restore his foundation of faith, indicating that he must have doubted the possibility of God's promise.

If you doubt that something is possible, it often won't happen. Our beliefs shape our reality. If you believe you are poor, will you ever be rich? If you cannot conceive of wealth, you won't pursue it. In that sense, Abraham lost faith. If you believe something is possible, it can often manifest in your life. This ties into the idea of positive thinking. Abraham's doubt stemmed from a lack of confidence, which ultimately hindered his ability to accomplish what he could have achieved. Does this make sense?

In the same context, are we making the same mistake that Abraham did? I think there is a difference between doubting and questioning. We need to work out how we are going to create Heaven or Canaan. It is not about blind faith. The answer could be yes or no, depending on the motivation behind the question. If I ask why I should participate in a ceremony, it could be out of trust or out of doubt. Faith is deeply connected to trust. If you are merely curious, that is different from not trusting someone. Faith involves a feeling of trust in someone. This topic is certainly worthy of discussion over tea and coffee. Why don't you all take a moment to discuss it amongst yourselves, and then we can reconvene to share your thoughts?