Friday, March 16, 2012

Why Do You Believe What You Say You Believe?

In my experience, when this question is asked of professing Christians, an awkward silence follows.  I have yet to encounter a person whose answer is not eventually expressed as “it’s what I was taught,” or words to that effect.  And so, a follow up question: “What makes it valid for you?”  Again, silence.  There’s a strong suggestion here that most of us come by our professed faith second hand – “If it’s good enough for ……………, it’s good enough for me.”  I wonder how well this applies in other aspects of our living.  Some might say that it doesn’t matter; spiritual things are in a league to themselves.  I choose to think that there is a vital connection between spirit and mind; no neutral zone for either in any area of life. 

Another popular response to the original question credits the Bible.  As in the familiar children’s song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”  The simple faith of a child is prescribed as appropriate for all ages.  Does God speak through no other medium?  Is the Bible really where we learn all we need to know about God?  Why do we choose to think so?  Why do we vest authority in someone else to make such a choice for us?

I learned recently about an organization known as The Church of Yahweh.  I invite you to check out the website: www.Yhwh.com.  This organization has published The Future Testament to help respond to this challenge of a genuine, aware, religious life: “…to distinguish eternal truth from cultural tradition within scriptures and denominations.  Then, with the eternal truths firmly identified, determine the best way to express those timeless realities today, here and now, within this time, place, language and culture, to create a new tradition.”

At first blush, I thought this to be a rather presumptuous undertaking. But I have to acknowledge that my response is influenced by my own conditioning to think that God’s only true revelation is through the Bible, and specifically in the person of Jesus Christ.  The final word.  I have come to believe that the exclusive nature of this understanding is at the heart of division and separation between persons of differing faith traditions and cultures and consequent mistrust, even hatred that expresses itself in acts of aggression and conflict.

Long story short, I am reading The Future Testament with an expectation of discovering new light for my spiritual path.  I encourage you to do the same.  You can order a copy on the website.  Or type The Future Testament into your browser.  A Kindle edition is available.

I believe my best spiritual path is the one I make.  But this is not accomplished in a vacuum.   The soul stories of others, including yours, are learning resources for me.  I hope you will share yours.
Posted by at 8:39 PM

3 comments:

  1. Marcia N. BurnsMarch 17, 2012 at 7:47 AM

    I always had the "gut feeling" that I'd let the demands of the immediate divert my desire to follow the path Jesus led, but I have come to realize that God puts hurting people, who need our compassion and support, in our paths every day. We often bypass them, on the way to what we thought was our goal. Being a senior has freed me up to recognize this, and to seek out what is really of value. I will gladly join this quest.
    Marcia N. Burns

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    Replies
    1. Steve TMarch 17, 2012 at 7:20 PM

      Hooray for you, little sister. As seniors, we can indeed experience a freedom to move beyond strictures of the past. Welcome aboard. For me, there was a conscious decision to open some windows to new understandings of who I am called to be in a world where pain and suffering are daily fare for most of the world's people. I felt a need to put behind me some spiritual understandings taught to me as a child that were mental and spiritual barriers to my growth into a more mature faith, one that acknowledges and honors the unity and balance in all of creation and my stewardship accountability. I am at a comfortable place in my journey, but much more aware of the challenges before me to fulfill my perceived role -- to be a life-giver to members of my human family as I may encounter them along my way. And to encourage others to join me in what I feel is our common life purpose. Thank you for the many ways you have blessed my life. And please feel free to invite others of your friends to join us in this quest.

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    2. Steve TMarch 17, 2012 at 9:23 PM

      A friend has invited me to respond to my own question “Why do you believe what you say you believe?” I should be able to do that, shouldn’t I?

      The simple answer is that I choose to believe what I profess to believe. My choice is a consequence of my strongly felt needs for clarity and assurance and a product of my understandings about the meaning of life and my place in it. For most of my life, however, my beliefs were those I was given as a child, and my reasons for believing them related entirely to authority figures in my life. I think I have always questioned “authority” in spiritual matters, but in my senior years I have experienced a greater freedom to make my own spiritual path. This is troublesome for me only in my self-perception of being an alien among those who have constituted my spiritual family for most of my life. This is entirely a self-perception; no one has rejected me or refuted my thinking. This leads me to believe there are others, perhaps many, within my spiritual family who are ready, even anxious, to venture forth in new directions. I have chosen to be an agent of encouragement for others in their own path finding.

      I am essentially panentheistic in my theology – God is part and parcel of everything that exists, yet indescribably greater than the collective everything.

      My God-perception establishes the context for the way I live my life. I need to believe that God is benevolent (God is love), impartial (doesn’t play favorites), and constant (not subject to variation or change). Only in this framework can I make sense of inequity and injustice in human society. It is important to me that my God-perception be sensible. God has established a constant system (“It rains on the just and the unjust alike”) that allows for no exceptions. Within this system, humankind, as the highest and most sophisticated form of life, makes choices that have systemic consequences. Those consequences may be destructive or productive, or both concurrently, to those affected by the choices.

      I choose to believe that God has no specific purpose for my life other than that I learn to sing in harmony with the Creation Choir, giving life to all about me. My beliefs require an understanding of spiritual unity with all my human family (everybody). My beliefs must be fully applicable in my life. They have to work for me in the context of my understanding of who I am and why I am here. My beliefs must honor both intellect and spirit (faith); my mind must accept what my heart wants to embrace.

      I choose to think of God as personal not because of what God does for me, but for what God does through me as an agent of love, reconciliation, and restoration. I am called to be relationship with all of life. I am a thread in a tapestry called life.

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