An Attempt to Understand Unbelief

I am reading Hebrews Chapter 3 this morning. If you have not read my post (Ungodly?) on ungodliness, maybe you should read that first. Because I am going to build something on top of that understanding of ungodliness.

I mentioned that in Jerry Bridges book "Respectable Sins" he uses an illustration to help us understand what ungodliness is. His picture is one of a tree. The roots below the ground are roots of ungodliness from which the trunk of pride springs forth. The branches growing forth from the trunk, he says are unrighteousness. 

1. Root = Ungodliness (an attitude of the heart that is either indifferent to God, or an outward rebellion that says, "there is no God!")

2. Trunk = Pride (he says all sin grows out of the sin of pride)

3. Branches = Unrighteousness (these are the visible fruits of the tree, which are sins)

I want to build off of that understanding as I read Hebrews this morning and you can comment whether you think it fits or not.

(Hebrews 3:12) Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

(Hebrews 3:19) So we see that they (the Israelites) were unable to enter (the Promise Land) because of unbelief. 

I have learned from theses texts, and the structure of Chapter 3 that disobedience (sin) flows from unbelief. Here is what I would like to add to the illustration of the tree. That the roots are ungodliness, and from that springs forth the trunk of pride, but it comes through the ground, or soil of unbelief. 

I say that because I think that unbelief comes after revelation, either natural or special. Natural Revelation is the way in which God communicates to His creation without the Bible (Romans 1). And Special Revelation is how God communicates with His creation through specific words, concepts and ideas. 

So I think that in order for unbelief to occur, someone must communicate with me. I must have something to disbelieve. The creation screams of a Creator. The creation is communicating to me that there is a God. I can choose to believe or disbelieve that. The Bible screams to me that there is a God. I can choose to believe or disbelieve that as well. 

Out of the root of ungodliness comes the budding tree of pride, but it must first break the soil of unbelief in order to see or hear something above ground. 

Whether you agree with my argument or not there is a strong warning for all of us. That unbelief causes us to fall away from God. And falling away from God has eternal consequences.