New Way To Be Human
New Way To Be Human
I'm currently reading New Way To Be Human, by singer/songwriter, record producer, musician, and writer Charlie Peacock. Mr. Peacock takes an honest look at what it means to be what he calls "a student follower of Jesus". His point: don't settle for the status quo form of Christianity.
One of the things he addresses and that has come to my attention lately is the doubt to faith issue (or vice versa). I was recently chatting with a friend of mine. She's in her mid-twenties and has never had a boyfriend before. To her delight, she recently met a wonderful man and they're now a couple. Of course this new relationship brings only the joy and bliss of being in love, right? Wrong, there are also frustrations and doubts. It was precicely these doubts and frustrations that had her wondering if this was really the man for her. This dilemma got her thinking how every time she makes a decision, she begins worrying and wondering if she made the wrong decision. She has doubts.
We humans are silly like that, we doubt everything--every decision, every statement, every belief. Yet we want to have the Hebrews 11:1 faith, being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see. We get so frustrated with ourselves when we don't have this kind of faith. But when we think about it, doubt is what makes believing an act of faith. Mr. Peacock says:
T.S. Elliot says, "Doubt and uncertainty are merely a variety of belief." Faith that is always certain and all-knowing is not really faith at all. It takes subjectivity, doubt, and uncertainty to make faith eminent.It's time for Christians to recover from the illusion of personal objectivity and the posture of unflinching certainty in every regard. These are untenable positions. What we can say and do is hold to the Word of God as objective and absolute while confessing that our reflections on the Word are, by their very nature, relative and subjective. This is honest orthodoxy.
What do you think?
posted by Erica Stark at
10:42 AM
2 Comments:
First of all, I think it's a cheap shot to ask "what do you think?" at the end of a post. We're smart enough to know you want us to use the comment feature to tell you what we think. :)
That aside, yeah, I too found Peacock's take on faith helpful (heck, the whole book had a lot a of good stuff).
I love that God's love gives us space to doubt...yet it's true too that God lauds and rewards faith that doesn't doubt, so I'd love to read T.S. Elliot's remark in its original context.
Oh, to be more like a child...
By
curiousceridwen, at 3:09 PM
one of my favorite authors is Philip Yancey, because he deals with questions that i so often want to ask, yet by their very nature, appear to be heresy.
in "Reaching for the Invisible God", he tells of having gone on a silent spiritual retreat. as he was meditating one day, listening for God's voice, he heard, among other things, God tell him, "'Question your doubts as much as your faith.' By personality, or perhaps as a reaction to a fundamentalist past, I brood on doubts and experience faith in occasional flashes. Isn't it about time for me to reverse the pattern?"
he also says, in that same book, "How can we obey without certainty, when plagued by doubts? I have concluded that faith requires obedience without full knowledge. Like Job, like Abraham, I accept that much lies beyond my finite grasp, and yet I choose to trust God anyhow, humbly accepting my position as a creature whose worth and very life depend upon God's mercy."
i think God loves to see us working through issues, to see the brains He gave us at work. and yet He's also said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
could it be that there are different kinds of doubt, one which is stubborn because it has been hurt too many times before, and another which is working through the issues? i think it is possible to believe the impossible even while we doubt it could ever be true. for me, that is where grace falls. and though it seems too good to be true, and i find myself constantly doubting its goodness, it really is true, and it is that seemingly shaky, yet rock-solid base, on which i stake my faith.
By
Sarah, at 8:54 PM
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