Let me start by saying that I know there are a lot of blogs out there. I am not intending this blog for a wide audience or launching my career as a blogger or anything. It is more of a catharsis, and I am hoping people I actually know in real life will read it, but not really hoping for any audience beyond that. And, by design, it has a limited run.
It is time I came out of the closet about my beliefs. I’ve sat silent in church, I’ve left church. I’ve tried other churches. I’ve come back to church. No more sitting silent.
I’d like to start with a post that is foundational to all the other topics I’ll talk about: fundamentals of theology. What do I believe about God? Because, of course, what I believe about God motivates what I believe about everything else.
So, what do I believe? More specifically, what do I believe about the “big ideas” of Christianity? For the record, I am not saying you should also believe these things. I am telling you what I believe, because I think it is important for people to be aware of the diversity of thought present in Christianity.
1. I believe in God.
I believe he exists, that he “created” us in some sense of the word, and that he loves us. An important component of this belief is the fact that I do not know it to be true. That’s right, I view my doubt as a component of my belief. Knowing something factual - for example, the Pythagorean Theorem - is not the same thing as having faith in something that you feel to be true in your heart, even if your head is not sure. So, I believe God exists, I have faith that he loves us, and that is an active choice I am making. My constant prayer is “I believe, forgive Thou my unbelief.”
2. I believe the Bible contains a record of certain people’s experience of the divine. I do not believe it was dictated by God and is infallible in every historical detail. For example - I don’t believe in 7-day creation. But, I do believe there are true things to be gleaned from the creation story. The Bible tells us something about God because it was written down by people who had experienced Him.
3. I believe God wants to redeem us for the here-and-now. I don’t know what comes after death, but I firmly believe that the teachings of Christ are relevant throughout our earthly life. As for the afterlife, I do not believe anyone will be permanently consigned to Hell. Beyond that, my faith that God is benevolent means that I have faith in whatever he has in store after life, even if I have no idea of what it is.
Now, I think of myself as a Christian. I’m sure there are some who would say that I am not, based on what I have just said. Regardless, I wanted to set the record straight on what I believe, call it what you will. I haven’t been that vocal about my beliefs, especially in certain circles. I am not a religious scholar. If you are wanting more details about any of these ideas, I refer you to the following books as a starting place:
1. Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg
This book ruined my life, ya’ll. I grew up in the church, and I loved it. All of my friends were there. We had lots of fun, and I was completely on-board with traditional Christianity, True Love Waits, all that. This book came along at a time in my life when all of that was starting to unravel, and just kept on pulling the strings even harder. It was a starting place (thankfully, not an ending place), it propelled me on towards further study and reflection about faith.
“Myth is stories about the way things never were, but always are.”
2. If Grace is True, Phillip Yancey
This is one of the books that started putting the pieces back together. It was still hard to read, given my upbringing, but it helped. I didn’t fit in at church anymore, but I felt more comfortable with that.
“Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe, and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet.”
3. A Generous Orthodoxy
I gave a report about this book in our college-age Wednesday night Bible study (back when I was college-age). The basic idea is this: People/denominations tend to have a specific belief they emphasize above all others, and they tend to assume that other Christians, even outside their denomination, share that belief and would agree with its primacy. However, this turns out not to be the case. McLaren talks about what the “central” beliefs of many denominations can tell us about Christianity as a whole.
“We must never underestimate our power to be wrong when talking about God, when thinking about God, when imagining God, whether in prose or in poetry. A generous orthodoxy, in contrast to the tense, narrow, or controlling orthodoxies of so much of Christian history, doesn't take itself too seriously. It is humble. It doesn't claim too much. It admits it walks with a limp.”
Anyways, if you haven’t written me off after reading all this, keep tuning in for thoughts on more specific issues.
