A while back, a friend of mine and I were talking about twitter and he mentioned a person that goes by Godless Spellchecker...check out his website HERE if you'd like. This guy searches twitter for misspellings of Atheist or Atheism and responds with a snarky (and often funny) comment. Unfortunately, it's fairly common that people who claim to follow Christ retaliate with hate-filled attacks (not so 'Christian'). For some people, this is probably just more funny. But truly...it's just sad.
One of my favorite verses is probably an odd choice. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says this - "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." So...why are we so surprised when people think our faith is the stuff of fairy tales? And why are we so quick to attack when our beliefs are questioned? Is our faith so fragile?
And Christians don't own the rights to seemingly illogical beliefs. Everyone in the world clings to some degree of foolishness...every day we leave ourselves open to the criticism of those who don't agree with us. But we still believe we're right...right? I regularly tell Sara that we ALL think we're right. If we didn't, we wouldn't think what we think.
For the record, she doesn't always appreciate it when I say this...
(Is it bad that I think that's ok, because I'm still right?)
If we're completely honest with ourselves and each other, everyone of us holds firmly to beliefs that we know aren't completely founded on knowledge. A few years back, I heard someone say (repeatedly) "I know that I know that..." It grated on me every time I heard it. Without personal experience (and even that's suspect), do we really KNOW anything? Experience, education or evidence may lead me to believe something, but that doesn't make it the truth. I can tell people that I believe that God completed creation in 6 days or it was a natural process over 6 million years. But I wasn't there! My belief does NOT define the truth. I believe the Bible is the truth. But again, my belief does not make that statement true. It either is or it is not...and every time we tear someone (or their beliefs) down, we imply that we're somehow more enlightened than they are. We bask in our own arrogance.
I came across a quote recently that was part of an Atheist's argument against Christianity. While you (and I) don't have to believe everything (or anything) this person says, we should at least consider the logic of this part of his argument:
And being in a Christian part of the world, I feel that I would have no trouble convincing most of you that the Moslem holy books are false, that those books are not the true word of God. You would tend to agree that all those other people, who have other Gods and other religious books, are mistaken. You might agree that they have been misinformed, or even deceived. It would seem that people in other parts of the world are so easily made to believe whatever is accepted in their part of the world. They so easily believe in false idols. Only we, who happen to be born in the Christian part of the world, have the "true truth." Well, most of us do. There are, of course, the Jews, and those terrible old Atheists, and many others who refuse to accept the "truth" of the Christian Bible .... but they don't count.
As for me, this got me thinking about why we believe what we believe. I would say that I believe in my interpretation of the Bible. But why do I believe the Bible is true...and why do I think the interpretation I follow is better than others? I believe in gravity because it hasn't failed me yet and because the science that measures gravity doesn't conflict with more deeply held beliefs. Again...this doesn't mean that my understanding of gravity is correct. But I didn't at some point choose to believe in gravity any more than I chose to believe the Bible...I just believe! And even in the face of what some would call logic, someone can't just choose to stop (or start) believing in God. In The Convert, Oliver Broudy puts it this way:
Belief is, in fact, nothing like what it is so often made out to be: a fully intentional, multiple-choice answer to the question of how to make sense of reality. It is much more like a state of mind one occupies, inspired by a relational paradigm that the word 'belief' alone does little to illuminate. For the same reason, comparing belief to science, or any other answer, dramatically misses the point. You might as well compare it to music. (One does not ask if music is 'true'.)
In fact, if anything distinguishes the onset of belief, it's that, at that moment, individual choice could not possibly matter less.
The funny thing is that most of us aren't even all that confident in our own beliefs (although we would never admit it)! On a recent album, Propaganda released the song "Forgive Me For Asking". I'd definitely recommend clicking on the link and listening to the song. But if you'd rather read, the lyrics are at the end of this post...at least scan them! This song is a truly honest look at the way we choose to lie to ourselves and each other every day.*
So (you may wonder), what's the point of all this rambling? My point is that our beliefs were not something that we chose...they just are. I can present overwhelming evidence for my faith, but that won't necessarily spark faith in someone else (that's God's job, not mine!). And with that in mind, isn't a bit ridiculous that we choose to ridicule people for what they believe? Isn't it just as ridiculous to get combative in defense of our beliefs? Instead, can't we engage in respectful dialogue and learn to grow from our conversations with those that disagree with us? Christians - I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't tell us to berate people into the kingdom of heaven between bouts of berating those who may be a part of the kingdom but are clearly confused by some jacked-up denomination. Instead, the Bible states that we should be known by the way we love our brothers and care for those in need.
To be clear, I don't think we should ignore or trivialize our understanding of the truth. Christians are called to make disciples. Other faiths (including Atheists) are free to do the same. However, all of us should approach every interaction with humility...knowing that our views may be somewhat off...at least occasionally.
John Adams - "Admire and adore the Author of the telescopic universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend."
* - Yes, I realize I constantly quote artists. I tend to think that some (not all!) of the people making our music are the prophets and philosophers of our day. Deal with it...that's pretty much how I roll. Ok...here's the lyrics to Forgive Me For Asking:
Question:
(And this is embarrassing)
You ever
been scared you had no idea what you were talking about?
Yeah, me
too.
Honestly
perplexed.
I've
lied and so have you, Christians.
Lying.
Like you
never had questions?
Like you
never had a moment
when
your inner dialogues
were all
of a sudden in third person like,
"Are
you really buying this?"
You're
lying.
Like
your eyes are 100% always satisfied by your spouse
and you
don't need accountability
neither
of which is biblical, by the way.
YOUR
EYES ARE NEVER SATISFIED.
Us,
overgrown primates with egos, lying.
You
quote the devil when you declare yourself okay!
You get
it but you don't get it.
Like
you've never planted your Chuck Taylors firmly in the sinking sand...
You're
lying.
We for
centuries sing hymns of grace,
and THIS
IS WHY IT'S AMAZING!
And if
it's not, you don't understand…
Or
you're lying.
Which is
why your friends don't believe you.
There is
just as much Jesus' blood on your hand as there is his.
You sure
you understand the cross?
Forgive
me for asking.
Forgive
me for asking.
And
Muslims— excuse my boldness— but what if you're lying, too?
Like you
don't ever have questions?
As if
you've never wondered why Allah's ears only hear directionally,
and if
you accidentally pointed slightly north easterly then you've blasphemed?
As if
the thought has never crossed your mind
that the
Jihadists interpret the Quran correctly
and you
are what we Christians would call 'lukewarm'?
Which
makes you much more like my evanjellyfish churchianity would allow me to
admit.
And you can call me on it; I'll deny it, just don't believe me
because
I'm lying.
I strain
at gnats; I focus on silliness; I act like God has joined a political party—
just like you.
As if
you've never thought,
"What
if I was paralyzed and I can't make my pilgrimage to Mecca—
yet I
follow the text better than my whole family? Is there enough mercy for
me?"
Forgive
me for asking.
Forgive
me for asking.
I know
it's wrong for me to front like I understand your theology
as well
as I think I understand mine,
but I
know we can agree on this:
Something
is deathly wrong with us.
And you,
smarty pants, don't front
Like the
little you know about our universe
you
ready to draw conclusions about it's origins?
Maybe we
don't know as much as we think we do…
Science
still can't explain yawning.
Like you
never took your world view to it's furthest conclusions?
That if
human behavior is just what protoplasm does at this temperature,
then
there is no need for humanitarian effort,
because
these atrocities weren't wrong,
IT'S
JUST THE UNIVERSE WEEDING OUT BAD GENES.
Them is
fingernail-on-chalkboard words, ain't 'em?
You're
lying.
Maybe
I'm wrong, maybe you're right.
Maybe
we'll find out the day after the world ends.
Yeah, I
guess we're all a little inconsistent,
SO MAYBE
WE CAN JUST SHOW EACH OTHER SOME GRACE.
Forgive
me for asking.
Forgive
me for asking.
Forgive
me for asking.
You ever
bury yourself in self-righteous guilt?
[Huh, me
too.]
Are
there fresh tally marks on the walls of your brain's prison,
[Mine,
too]
hoping
that the count of good deeds outnumber the bad ones?
Are your
miserable failures your badges of honor?
And when
you count those tallies,
and the
day the good outnumber the bad,
pat
yourself on the back:
YOU HAVE
JOINED THE REST OF HUMANITY.
You,
too, are lying.
Like you
never thought,
"Someone
might catch me in my contradiction."
Yeah, me
too.
You ever
think to yourself,
"I
have no idea what I'm talking about"?
Yeah, me
too.
Forgive
me for asking.
Forgive
me for asking
No comments:
Post a Comment