When the Gears are Greased
This afternoon, I went out to lunch with my youth pastor to speak about the little existential crisis I have been enduring over the past couple weeks. I think I sometimes exasperate him in conversation because I can become stubborn to the point of ludicrousness, and tend to drag out conversations longer than they should go on if I don't feel quite resolved yet. I have the tendency to nitpick about things he doesn't seem to think are of much consequence. But this latter bit is most of why I find conversation with him rewarding - because he thinks about things much differently than I do. The conversation this afternoon had no resolution or Aha! moment. In fact, I walked out thinking I'd been set more firmly in place further from, rather than closer to, Christianity. But ideas started churning and eventually they started recombining in all kinds of funny new ways. Eventually, it worked out pretty well.
That is where I left off, last I wrote. I have been at peace since May 15th. So much so, that I've been writing this blog in tiny increments over the course of a month. I was brought to such a sudden and complete resolution in regards to this issue that I have scarcely had the drive to keep writing. I do keep writing, though, because I feel the duty to resolve the thoughts I've put out in my past couple posts. Here's what I've got:
When applied accurately, the basic ideas behind Christianity simply work. I don't mean to say here that Christianity is logical - I'll get to that in a bit. I mean that the religion's portrayal of love, kindness, grace, mercy, sacrifice, dedication, faith, relationships, etc. are very healthy ones, psychologically, socially, spiritually. Religion in general is statistically proven to be healthy on a certain level. A vast quantity of studies (which I won't attempt to cite because this is a blog post about religious epiphany and not a Sociology paper) have shown that people are healthier, have more successful marriages, and are more financially stable when involved with some kind of religion. That's for obvious reasons: community, purpose, direction, the ability to relinquish one's problems and de-stress... Religion has a lot of those things built in. But Christianity in particular has a bunch of things that make absolutely no sense in terms of WHY they would be that way, but that clearly ARE, similarly to the existence of evolution or the presence of gravity. Why would the low be exalted? Why would the innocent be sacrificed for the sinful to live? Why would we ask to be completely forgiving of those who sin against us? Why would we be asked to turn the other cheek? None of these concepts seem to make sense from a strictly scientific perspective, but they work. When applied correctly, all Christian tenants work. I certainly do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, but I can go for its infallibility. Everything around the core works, so the core does not need logical proof. It has proven itself.
What I discovered in posting "Fatigue," and in my prayers and thoughts in the days following, was that every single religion, every worldview, every system of thought ever adopted by anyone, rests on a bunch of unexplainable core assumptions, illogical premises, gigantic red question marks. And no one path, when reduced to that level, seems all that much more plausible than another. Thankfully, worldview does not have to be reduced to that level, and things can seem more or less plausible on the macro level, as well. Except for its inevitable gigantic red question marks, Christianity is absolutely brilliant, and I personally feel as though there are far fewer question marks on the base level than there are in most other religions and worldviews, perhaps simply because I've been raised Christian. I believe that God is a just God and that he would not expect us to know him completely. Even Jesus had a limited understanding of God while he was on earth. Our brains are only so large, they only contain so many neurons, they can only work so quickly.
We are not God for a reason. He's smart enough to get that we are going to end up believing some lies about him, and that's okay. Our lives are about subjective truth, our subjective experiences of an objective reality. He knows what's going on. I don't have any reason not to be content with the confines of the worldview I have embraced thus far. This says a great deal about what I believe about judgment and evangelism: although I would certainly encourage people to get to know the God of Christianity, to accept Jesus as their savior, it would be because I believe that Christianity is adaptable to near every culture; because I believe that it works splendidly within the human life; because I believe the Christian understanding allows a particularly close relationship with God. It also means I am even more open to learning about God from places other than Christianity, that I am much, much more hesitant to tell someone outright that their view is ridiculous or that they are certainly wrong. There have been enough people in this world that nearly every worldview I will ever encounter has had a library books authored in its defense. I do not feel as though I have any kind of right to dismiss others' beliefs as totally invalid, because I simply can't say enough against it to do that. I never will, and don't have enough time on earth that I ever might. My faith has increased drastically and my understanding revolutionized. I have taken no "step back" into Christianity; I have taken a step into something entirely new. I do not like to think of my faith as religion, or as Christianity. My relationship with God is and has always been so much more complex than a set of tenants and doctrines. I'm rather inclined to believe that other people's faiths work the same way.
That is where I left off, last I wrote. I have been at peace since May 15th. So much so, that I've been writing this blog in tiny increments over the course of a month. I was brought to such a sudden and complete resolution in regards to this issue that I have scarcely had the drive to keep writing. I do keep writing, though, because I feel the duty to resolve the thoughts I've put out in my past couple posts. Here's what I've got:
When applied accurately, the basic ideas behind Christianity simply work. I don't mean to say here that Christianity is logical - I'll get to that in a bit. I mean that the religion's portrayal of love, kindness, grace, mercy, sacrifice, dedication, faith, relationships, etc. are very healthy ones, psychologically, socially, spiritually. Religion in general is statistically proven to be healthy on a certain level. A vast quantity of studies (which I won't attempt to cite because this is a blog post about religious epiphany and not a Sociology paper) have shown that people are healthier, have more successful marriages, and are more financially stable when involved with some kind of religion. That's for obvious reasons: community, purpose, direction, the ability to relinquish one's problems and de-stress... Religion has a lot of those things built in. But Christianity in particular has a bunch of things that make absolutely no sense in terms of WHY they would be that way, but that clearly ARE, similarly to the existence of evolution or the presence of gravity. Why would the low be exalted? Why would the innocent be sacrificed for the sinful to live? Why would we ask to be completely forgiving of those who sin against us? Why would we be asked to turn the other cheek? None of these concepts seem to make sense from a strictly scientific perspective, but they work. When applied correctly, all Christian tenants work. I certainly do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, but I can go for its infallibility. Everything around the core works, so the core does not need logical proof. It has proven itself.
What I discovered in posting "Fatigue," and in my prayers and thoughts in the days following, was that every single religion, every worldview, every system of thought ever adopted by anyone, rests on a bunch of unexplainable core assumptions, illogical premises, gigantic red question marks. And no one path, when reduced to that level, seems all that much more plausible than another. Thankfully, worldview does not have to be reduced to that level, and things can seem more or less plausible on the macro level, as well. Except for its inevitable gigantic red question marks, Christianity is absolutely brilliant, and I personally feel as though there are far fewer question marks on the base level than there are in most other religions and worldviews, perhaps simply because I've been raised Christian. I believe that God is a just God and that he would not expect us to know him completely. Even Jesus had a limited understanding of God while he was on earth. Our brains are only so large, they only contain so many neurons, they can only work so quickly.
We are not God for a reason. He's smart enough to get that we are going to end up believing some lies about him, and that's okay. Our lives are about subjective truth, our subjective experiences of an objective reality. He knows what's going on. I don't have any reason not to be content with the confines of the worldview I have embraced thus far. This says a great deal about what I believe about judgment and evangelism: although I would certainly encourage people to get to know the God of Christianity, to accept Jesus as their savior, it would be because I believe that Christianity is adaptable to near every culture; because I believe that it works splendidly within the human life; because I believe the Christian understanding allows a particularly close relationship with God. It also means I am even more open to learning about God from places other than Christianity, that I am much, much more hesitant to tell someone outright that their view is ridiculous or that they are certainly wrong. There have been enough people in this world that nearly every worldview I will ever encounter has had a library books authored in its defense. I do not feel as though I have any kind of right to dismiss others' beliefs as totally invalid, because I simply can't say enough against it to do that. I never will, and don't have enough time on earth that I ever might. My faith has increased drastically and my understanding revolutionized. I have taken no "step back" into Christianity; I have taken a step into something entirely new. I do not like to think of my faith as religion, or as Christianity. My relationship with God is and has always been so much more complex than a set of tenants and doctrines. I'm rather inclined to believe that other people's faiths work the same way.
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