A lot of people come to me when they experience faith problems.
There's not a ton that I can do to help. There's no magic bullet that I have. No great answer I'm sitting on that I haven't shared.
But I'm not speechless. I can share my own story. I can express solidarity -- no one who doubts is ever alone. I can suggest things to read if there's a particular theological perspective that I think might be helpful. And sometimes I offer this response:
Have you given Christianity a try?
A lot of "faith struggles" are purely mental events. Wheels turning in the mind. Which is fine, but much of that mental drama has little to do with being or not being a Christian. I'm not saying that our questions aren't important. I'm saying that getting mentally okay with Christianity still doesn't make you a Christian. There's more to it than that. Like actually being a Christian.
Let me say it this way. We routinely say that Christianity isn't about intellectual assent to propositions. Christianity isn't about believing all the right things, checking all the right theological boxes. But if that's the case we have to say the same thing about our doubts.
Being -- or not being -- a Christian isn't about all the mental drama, all the stuff floating around in your head. Christianity is not just a head trip.
I'm a Christian not because I have all the mental ideas in my head in just the right way. I've hardly figured out all this God stuff. In fact, I'm never entirely sure, from one day to the next, whether I'm really a Christian at all. Because I fail at being a Christian more often than I succeed. My love is entirely too fickle and my kindness is sporadic. I'm too quick to judge someone else -- particularly other Christians. And I'm entirely too opinionated about this or that or the other thing. In short, my charity just isn't all that charitable.
That said, I still haven't given up. Because being a Christian isn't simply what goes on in my head. It's about the transformation of my whole self (think Romans 12, here). What keeps me going is the sheer joy of the chance to witnessing that transformation in myself and others and in the whole world. We are offered this gift every day of our life. But transformation must be received as well as given. It demands hard work, patience, diligence, courage to face seemingly insurmountable challenges, personal and collective discipline, cautious submission to the authority of mentors, confidence to step into physical and theological adulthood, trust in the truth, openness to its variety, wariness about its rivals and deceivers ... all you have, in exchange for all you might become. "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them ... in proportion" (Romans 12.6). God won't settle for less than all of us, not just our faith or our doubt.
So: Have you given Christianity a try?
There's not a ton that I can do to help. There's no magic bullet that I have. No great answer I'm sitting on that I haven't shared.
But I'm not speechless. I can share my own story. I can express solidarity -- no one who doubts is ever alone. I can suggest things to read if there's a particular theological perspective that I think might be helpful. And sometimes I offer this response:
Have you given Christianity a try?
A lot of "faith struggles" are purely mental events. Wheels turning in the mind. Which is fine, but much of that mental drama has little to do with being or not being a Christian. I'm not saying that our questions aren't important. I'm saying that getting mentally okay with Christianity still doesn't make you a Christian. There's more to it than that. Like actually being a Christian.
Let me say it this way. We routinely say that Christianity isn't about intellectual assent to propositions. Christianity isn't about believing all the right things, checking all the right theological boxes. But if that's the case we have to say the same thing about our doubts.
Being -- or not being -- a Christian isn't about all the mental drama, all the stuff floating around in your head. Christianity is not just a head trip.
I'm a Christian not because I have all the mental ideas in my head in just the right way. I've hardly figured out all this God stuff. In fact, I'm never entirely sure, from one day to the next, whether I'm really a Christian at all. Because I fail at being a Christian more often than I succeed. My love is entirely too fickle and my kindness is sporadic. I'm too quick to judge someone else -- particularly other Christians. And I'm entirely too opinionated about this or that or the other thing. In short, my charity just isn't all that charitable.
That said, I still haven't given up. Because being a Christian isn't simply what goes on in my head. It's about the transformation of my whole self (think Romans 12, here). What keeps me going is the sheer joy of the chance to witnessing that transformation in myself and others and in the whole world. We are offered this gift every day of our life. But transformation must be received as well as given. It demands hard work, patience, diligence, courage to face seemingly insurmountable challenges, personal and collective discipline, cautious submission to the authority of mentors, confidence to step into physical and theological adulthood, trust in the truth, openness to its variety, wariness about its rivals and deceivers ... all you have, in exchange for all you might become. "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them ... in proportion" (Romans 12.6). God won't settle for less than all of us, not just our faith or our doubt.
So: Have you given Christianity a try?
