Surprisingly, it wasn't atheists or liberals or (horrors!) the new Rob Bell book, but a couple of Christian fundamentalists that made me question how much they (and I) have right about spirituality. As they were talking to me, they showed a lot of paranoia, closed-mindedness, and an exclusionary mindset that made me realize how ignorant they were about themselves, human nature, and the world in general.
If I agree with most of their doctrine...and if I was taught most of my doctrine by fundamentalists...how much of it can I really trust when it comes from such shallow, fear-filled brains? If Christianity WORKS, really works, then why is the church filled with more self-righteousness, scandal, and a focus on looking good than with love, compassion, trust, and openness.
Maybe that's a dumb reason to start questioning Christian tenants that usually make sense, but I started ruminating on specific issues and it all spiraled out of control. When I get to the passages in the Bible that touch on the issues, I'll let you know. I guess one good thing about this blog is it's a spiritual barometer for me. When I'm not feeling close to God, I don't even want to touch it. I've gotten to the point where I want to study/talk about the Bible again. So, onward. Back to Job soon. For now, check out this quote. It pretty much nails where I've landed:
For many people in our world, the opposite of faith is doubt. The goal, then, within this understanding is to eliminate doubt. But faith and doubt aren’t opposites. Doubt is often a sign that your faith has a pulse, that it’s alive and well and exploring and searching. Faith and doubt…are excellent dance partners….
Fundamentalism shouldn’t surprise us. When a leader comes along who eliminates the tension and dodges the paradox and neatly and precisely explains who the enemies are and gives black-and-white answers to questions, leaving little room for the very real mystery of the divine, it should not surprise us when that person gains a large audience.
Especially when that person is really, really confident.
Certainty is easier, faster, awesome for fundraising, and it often generates large amounts of energy because who doesn’t want to be right?…Two people can believe the same thing but hold that belief in very different ways.
You can believe something with so much conviction that you’d die for that belief, and yet in the exact same moment you can also say, “I could be wrong.”
This is because conviction and humility, like faith and doubt, are not opposites; they’re dance partners. It’s possible to hold your faith with open ands, living with great conviction and yet at the same time humbly admitting that your knowledge and perspective will always be limited.
Do you believe the exact same things you did in the exact same way you did five years ago? Probably not. You’ve grown, evolved, changed, had new experiences, studied, listened, observed, suffered, reflected, and reexamined. That’s how faith is. We learn as we go.
#fundies gonna fundie
