G, G, G,
I am a Christian.
I believe the Story.
I trust the Promise.
I move toward the Nourishment in this Journey.
Here is a letter I wrote on Faith, I was going to post it on a new thread...stilll might...it may answer a few of your questions:
We need to hesitate just a bit and look at a couple of thoughts.
First, and, I know this is odd for someone from our backgrounds....I
have not appealed to an examination of the Bible. I have not said:
"Let us look at verse such and such and see what it says about
Jesus...." Why? I guess the easiest answer is this: I am not a "Bible
Believing Christian" if what you mean is that I base my"belief" on the
Bible. I do not. I base by "belief" on the The Story and my
confidence in the truthfulness of the Story Tellers.
If Christians were to be called by any other name, I think the best
would be "The Tellers of The Story." The Story has been told
everywhere under every type of circumstance and to every type of
person. Miners share it underground, sailors on the sea, airtravelers
in the sky, in prisons and in open air, in cathedrals and saloons, in
mansions and mud huts, in war and peace, in famine and harvest.....on
and on. The Story is told and people accept it with the vigor of the
Story Teller, him or herself. Sometimes with no threat, other times in
great peril. Sometimes with a great change and, sometimes, with
a slight shift.
And, always, this "thing," this phenomenon occurs. We call it
"Faith." We value The Story to the extent that it becomes central to
our beings and lives. Now, Faith is a slippery noun that is hard to
define. I have been meditating on this for a bit and the thing about
Faith is it's uncertainty, it's fluid-like state. It is always in movement, it seems to me.
Faith is not certainty. It is not absolute. We can not state the
elements of Faith in the way we list multiplication tables or a "chart
of the elements." Faith is a thing in motion and requires the attention
we give to objects that move. Faith is a semi-truck not a football stadium.
The best explanation I can give of Faith is this: Faith is a
jousting match between two opposites: Doubt, un-knowing-ness on one hand and a
blend of common sense, good humor, and child like innocence on the
other. Doubt, the lack of knowledge, of provable facts is our constant
companion. We need something to overcome the results of doubt. Doubt
causes drift away from The Story. We are drawn back to The Story by
the other three. The resultant "tension" between these two with the
continued victory of the three elements in opposition to doubt is
Faith.
An early Christian said "Faith is not the possession of all
men." He is right, I think. Most people spurn common sense due to self
interest or comfort. They consider the innocence of children better
left to little ones as it does not bring logic or profit to an adult.
And, they find it hard to look at themselves and smile at the
ridiculousness of a situation they are in or how they might look to
others.
So, then, the Bible. The Bible is a "data" source. It is
information. And, it has it's place. But, as with all information,
it can be "used." You can argue with data, twist it, distort it,
manipulate it, question it. It is specific and fixed. It is this
exactness that makes it so usable: for the Story believers and
the Story critic: for those that want us to draw closer to the Promise
that follows the Story for our good. and, for those that want us
to drift away from The Story for their benefit as they feel more
justified and stabilized as they see the result of their criticism.
Am I belittling the Bible? Making it "less than?" No. I am saying
that, from the beginning it went like this:
Story (with the results of Faith).
Understanding the Promise.
Being nourished to the personal fulfillment of the Promise.
The Bible fits into the last portion. By placing it there as a means
of nourishment rather than a means of proof, it's value is enhanced
not de-valued in some way. We approach the Bible "in Faith" because of
it's association with The Story. But, our Faith proceeds the Scripture
as it came first.
To put it all another way:
If the Bible rests on our Faith it is upheld with an unmovable
conviction because we are, constantly, overcomming doubt in a dynamic,
ongoing manner due to this "tension" condition I mentioned, above.
If our Faith rests on the Bible, it is only as solid as the "best
argument" in support of or against the data.
Because I will take Faith over convincing arguement any day, I think
the three fold approach listed above is the best introduction. True,
it took four years to see this, however, it was a four year cost well
invested.
Next letter: The Promise.
Yours in this Journey,
V
