"All of us have eyes with which we can see the dead rise in the way the son of the widow rose. Not all, however, have the wherewithal to see those who are dead in the heart rise again. To see that, you need to have already risen in the heart yourself. There is more to raising up someone to live forever than to raising up someone who will only die again." St. Augustine, Sermon 98,1.
Over the years, this, most of all, has caused my faith to grow and solidify. My own healing from smoking and subsequent transformation, all those whose witnesses and testimonies I have heard personally, and all those I have read about or seen on videos have convinced me of the reality of the Risen Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, we need the gift of faith to believe. And God wants us to use reason and logic as well. It's not enough to just have blind faith; we need to be able to explain why what we believe is the truth. But when Jesus lived on earth physically, He didn't just teach and preach the Gospel. He performed miraculous deeds to prove the validity of His words. His own resurrection from the dead only three days after having suffered such a horrible death was the ultimate proof.
It was the changed lives of the Apostles and early disciples and the signs and wonders that were done through the power of the Holy Spirit within them that caused so many to come to faith in Jesus Christ (see the "Acts of the Apostles" in the Bible).
And so it is today, in our time. It's the changed lives of those who have faith in Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit; the present day miracles; the Saints, that bring people to faith in Jesus Christ or strengthen the faith of those who already believe.
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