Some thoughts on faith...

If it's true that what we really believe in is what we live for, and that our lives will really show what we believe, then Faith becomes more about a Way Of Life, than a set of beliefs or any particular theology.

Recently Dana and I watched the movie The Da Vinci Code. For the past months we've heard so much about it - how the christians in India called for the movie to be banned and all. My reaction to that was like, 'It's FICTION! What part of the word fiction don't you understand?!'

But having now seen the film, I can see how many 'Churchians' would feel threatened by this movie. It questions assumptions - and people don't like their foundations to be shaken - it causes fear. Many people, not having studied church history and having no real desire to, either blindly defend their assumptions, or may be shaken in their faith. Neither of these reactions are right.

So many people, I feel, hold on to Christianity or 'Churchianity' because it offers safety and security - they hold on to the surety of it all - that there are answers to the tough questions of life and death. Making the unknown, known.

But Jesus was never about comfort. He challenged His disciples, and He shook up the tidy rules and theology the religious leaders had created.

The fact is that any 'Faith' we hold onto is no true Faith until we make it our own, until it becomes real for us.
We must struggle with doubts, and search for Truth. We must reject ignorance and untruth - no matter how comfortable they might be. Until we do, we live in illusion.

Believing all the right things will not save us - Theology can never save us. But Jesus can. He doesn't ask us to be comfortable - He never offered that to His followers. He asked them to Follow Him.

Faith is therefore something to be experienced - a way of life. And as such requires all of us - mind, heart, and life.













"There are many people who arrive at conclusions in life much the same way school boys do; they cheat their teachers by copying the answer book without having worked the problems themselves."
- Soren Kierkegaard

"Truth is not something you can appropriate easily and quickly. You certainly cannot sleep or dream yourself into the truth. No, you must be tried, do battle, and suffer if you are to aquire truth for yourself. ...With respect to aquiring truth to live by, every generation and every individual must essentially begin from the beginning."
-Soren Kierkegaard

"the preacher's temptation, among others, is to deal with those problems only to which there is, however complex and hard to arrive at, a solution."
- from 'Telling the Truth...' by Frederick Buechner

Simone Weil said something to this effect: 'If ever I have to choose between God and Truth. I always choose Truth. And when I do, I find myself running into the arms of Jesus.'