Reference Text
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Up to Speed
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Wednesday, July, 28, 2010
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by John Fischer
It’s a conversation that allegedly took place between Abraham Lincoln and his best friend, Joshua Speed. Speed, upon finding Lincoln reading the Bible, laid a hand on his shoulder and remarked, "I am glad to see you profitably engaged."
"I am profitably engaged," was the affirming reply.
"Well, if you have recovered from your skepticism, I am sorry to say that I have not."
"You are wrong, Speed," said Lincoln, looking up from the pages of his Bible. "Take all of this book upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will die a happier and better man."
I like this for numerous reasons.
1) It's Abraham Lincoln, an obviously smart and great man who gave God respect, believed the Bible, and relied on Christ for strength to lead America through one of it's most trying times.
2) It's a great statement on the cooperation of reason and faith. Christianity is not unreasonable. It does not require blind or stupid faith. It requires a reasonable faith. That would be, as Lincoln described it, a faith that travels along with reason until reason can go no further, at which point faith goes the rest of the way alone. That says that faith is not antagonistic to reason, it's just that reason alone isn't enough.
3) Joshua Speed, who was Lincoln's best friend, did not share Lincoln's belief. This is a good example for us, because we tend to gravitate, especially with best friends, to people who support the same belief systems we hold. We might have acquaintances that are not believers, but rarely best friends. This account lists Speed as Lincoln's best friend. I'd be curious as to whether Mr. Speed will be in heaven. It's hard to imagine a long, close friendship with a man like Lincoln that wouldn't have convinced Joshua Speed about the reality of all that Lincoln believed at some point.
At any rate, it's a great example of the kind of friendships I believe we as Christians need to cultivate—relationships of mutual respect with unbelievers (or what I like to call, from a more hopeful perspective: "not yet believers").
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