Belief Is a Beautiful Armour...

Beliefs are a funny thing. Everyone has beliefs, some people believe in gods, others believe in things like love, honesty, and integrity and some people claim they don't believe in anything. That they have no faith.

I don't believe that anybody can have no faith. I envy atheists sometimes. Really. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to believe that we all came from nothing. That everything happened by chance, and when we die, it all ends. The main contradiction I hear from atheists is the claim that Christians are narrow minded. After all, as a Christian, my whole faith system is built on there being more than I can see. Whilst the average atheist won't believe anything they can't see, anything they can't prove. Narrow minded? Hmmm.

I love the movie Dogma. I think it's a movie filled with pictures of what Christianity should be. One of my favourite parts of the movie is Chris Rock, who plays a character called Rufus (the 13th apostle of Jesus) talks about beliefs;

Rufus: He still digs humanity, but it bothers Him to see the shit that gets carried out in His name - wars, bigotry, televangelism. But especially the factioning of all the religions. He said humanity took a good idea and, like always, built a belief structure on it.

Bethany: Having beliefs isn't good?

Rufus: I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant.

I was listening to a guy called Johnson McMaster speaking recently. At one point he talked about beliefs, and how the post-modern Church is moving away from beliefs, and embracing spirituality more and more. He talked about how Christians, rather than being caught up in doctrine and theology, is starting to realise they don't have all the answers, and grasping hold of a few basic principles instead, for example how Jesus is the son of God, and how trusting in him brings salvation.

I've been asking myself a lot of questions. It's hard being a Christian, especially a young Christian. You go to church and listen to the pastor/minister speak on a Sunday, and he tells you what to believe. What the bible says is true. Sometimes, I think, he can get it wrong. I grew up in a religious family. I was taught that there are certain things that we should believe, but when I started questioning these things, I started to think they weren't all that important. Even more poigniantly, I started to become unsure of what to believe. I wasn't sure anymore if smokers, or people who said bad words or gays were all that bad, or if Jesus loved them any less or if I should for that matter. I became confused as to what Christianity was all about, and began thinking it was about a certain set of rules I needed to follow.

I have an issue with people who try to force beliefs on other people. "Belief is a beautiful armour, but makes for the heaviest sword." Who am I to say that the things I believe are right, and the things you believe are wrong? And even if I am right, is proving you wrong going to make you want to believe the things I believe? I have this crazy idea that maybe Jesus wants us to love people, unconditionally, no matter what they believe, and let them ask the questions. I'm not saying it's wrong to talk about Jesus, I love to talk about Jesus, but walking up to a stranger on the street and telling them how they are a sinner and are going to spend eternity in hell unless they start to believe the things I believe...it just doesn't sit right with me.

There's a little bit of theory behind faith. A few guys have studied faith, and come up with stages that people go through in their 'faith journey.' A guy called Fowler was one of the main guys behind the research, but a guy called Brian McClaren adopted Fowlers 7 stages and cut them down to 3. I like his version.

The 4 main stages Brian talks about are; Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity and Humility/Harmony. Stage 1 is a very dualistic, us and them view of the world. You have all the right answers, everything is simple, you are right and everyone else is wrong. In stage 2 you start to realise that there are other views that aren’t the same as yours, but are also not necessarily wrong. Here rather than right or wrong you start to think about whether things work. You focus on ‘how to’s’. In stage 3 you start to wonder whos opinion in the right one and you start to get angry at people who claim that the answers are so easy. You start to look for honesty in people, but move away from looking for people who have all the right answers. People who claim to not know all the answers are more attractive than people who claim they have the answers. In stage 4 you realise that you don’t have all the answers, but you tend to take a few small, essentials and try to build your life around them. The focus instead of being right or wrong, shifts to wise or unwise. You become more sympathetic for people in stages 1-3.

I think Jesus wants us to be wise. To think about how we act. I don't think Jesus wants us to get everything right. He knows we can't. I think rather than being too caught up in what we believe, we should question. Questions are good. Often they lead to...more questions. But thats okay. I'm not God. I'm never going to understand everything, even though I like to try, but in the end, I think what matters most is that we love a lot, and search for God everyday. Half the fun is in not knowing the answers.

I don't know the answers. But I love Jesus, and Jesus loves me, and I'm convinced if I keep looking for answers, he will help me find some. It's frusrating, and beautiful and confusing, but its fun.

Just to leave you with something nice, here's a beautiful song by Passion Pit called To Kingdom Come. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX1KXFRIrpc