A treasure passed on - to me

My great great grand father Tore wasn't alone in possessing it, but he saw to it that his biggest treasure was passed on to his son, Anders. And he in turn sought to impress on my grandmother Astrid the importance of owning it for herself. The result was that she, too, held it in high esteem. never to let go of it.

My uncle Tore is no exception. He is a direct descendant of his namesake, a great grandson, but there's more that tie them together. More than a century apart, they're still connected by a common denominator, the faith that was first preached in this country well before Vikings left their native shores to terrorize, pillage and rape.

A FAMILY HERITAGE

I profess it myself, openly and unashamedly. It seems to have become an inseperable part of our family DNA, an influence that cannot be ignored or undone regardless of any strenuous, concerted effort, and thus it's continued to make its mark in a multiplicity of ways. Not all of us have kept the faith, and some have never embraced it. But I think, at least in part, that most members of my immediate family will, however reluctantly, admit that it has done us more good than harm.

Marx eyed it angrily, designating faith a detrimental force in society. Evolutionists are baffled by its survival and resurgence, as it really should have been declared obsolete by now, they think. And those adhering to a secularist philosophies are aggravated by its presence in any form, continually waging war against it, employing ridicule when rational arguments elude them.

IT'S MINE, TOO

I have accepted this faith of my ancestors for many reasons, but not as a way of showing deference to those whose blood flows on in my veins. I was partly taught it by my maternal grandmother, certainly, but still I had to make my own choice. Faith was never, and can never be, a set of dogmas simply and solely to be learned by rote. It's a gift, a miracle recreated in the human spirit, effortlessly, as we chose to listen to God's Holy Spirit.

My faith isn't blind, but informed. It has survived traumas, prolonged periods of depression and setbacks, diappointments and bouts of doubt. I hold it to be both rational and reasonable, despite the fact that faith's one great object of study and worship, God, is invisible and intangible as - in essence - a spirit being. I love the effects faith has had, and still has on me, as it calms my fears, blunts my pains, clears my thinking, and energizes my efforts at work and at home.

My faith isn't dead. I live it every day. It lives on, and will live on well, I trust, to the day when I will no longer need the confirmation of Scripture to bolster it.