Changes in faith

Do you ever feel happy to hear that someone changed their opinion in one direction, and then happy to hear that someone else changed their opinion in the opposite direction? What about when that involves religious conversion?

I've heard stories of many people giving up on Christianity, from my brother who is quite unclear where he stands on matters of faith, but doesn't seem to consider himself a Christian anymore, to stories online on sites like exchristian.net. When I hear these stories I feel a twinge of disappointment that they've given up on the faith that I hold dear, but I also find myself thinking, "Good for them." And it doesn't even feel like a condescending "Good for you that you're thinking for yourself, but you're wrong" sort of way. So why would I be happy about this?

I can think of a couple of reasons. First, there are times when I feel like I don't actually hold my faith all that dearly. I doubt, I get frustrated, and I feel like giving it up. Maybe these people have the courage to make a change, and I lack that courage.

Or I still believe in Jesus and still hold God and my faith in him dear, but I wonder if these people have actually moved closer to the real God by giving up their faith. There are many aspects of my own faith that I've given up over the years--the infallibility of scripture, opposition to evolution, much of the opposition to homosexuality and approaches to dealing with it (and I am quite uncertain about any opposition that I still have), and intellectual certainty about the truth of Christian claims. And many other Christians have been fed beliefs that I would consider much worse than what I've been raised with and rejected. When a person gives up beliefs that they're raised with, it shows that they're thinking for themselves, especially if they take their time and don't just change their beliefs to match someone else's exactly. These people have not found the whole truth, but maybe their view of God was so distorted, the god they rejected wasn't real.

(Am I closer to the whole truth than they are? If I didn't think so, I'd give up on Christianity, but only time will tell for sure. I could be wrong. And by the way, this is not meant as an attack on my parents or on the church I was raised in. I have drawn so many positive things from my parents and that church too that I still embrace, especially from my parents.)

And then there are stories of people becoming Christians. A few years ago a good friend of mine started to get a strong sense that God is real, right around the time that he lost a parent. This led him to Christianity. I'm happy to hear how he finds it so much better to have God in his life, but I also hope he will show discernment and reject harmful or false Christian teachings. I've met several others over the years who've given up various self-destructive lifestyles, including heavy drug use, as they became Christians. In those cases, the benefits are clear.

And on the internet, and atheist blogger that I occasionally read (too over my head to read all the time) recently became Catholic. Even though I'm not Catholic and have some with Catholicism, I'm happy to hear this too, and maybe even less concerned that this blogger will adopt harmful teachings. She seems to be taking time to learn about things and isn't accepting every Catholic teaching unquestioningly. Besides, I have issues with evangelicalism too.

And so I think, "Good for them," too.

Church

Christian talk show host Drew Marshall once said, "The sign of a good church is how many ugly people there are."

With that in mind, read this post: Blessed are the Un-Cool

The Bible--it's good but let's be realistic

A while back I wrote about some ideas I've rejected. Now I want to expand on a couple things.

"I've rejected the idea that the Bible is infallible."

"I've rejected the idea that more church involvement, more prayer, or more Bible reading will automatically make a person happier and closer to God. (Or did I ever believe this one?)"

The idea that the Bible is infallible seems to be based on circular reasoning. I can't believe that it's inspired by God just because it says so. And even if I could believe that, the part that says "All scripture is inspired by God" (2 Timothy 3:16) might not actually refer to the whole Bible. If the timeline that some fairly conservative scholars put in my Bible is correct, 2 Timothy wasn't the last book of the Bible written, so how could that verse refer to books that weren't written yet? And does "inspired by God" necessarily mean "infallible"? If a movie is "inspired by a true story," that doesn't mean it reflects the original story completely accurately. If God himself said the Bible is infallible, I could believe that. And if Jesus is God in the flesh, I could believe him. The Bible says Jesus said, "Scripture cannot be broken," (John 10:35), but that couldn't be referring to the New Testament, and something about how he just gave that a passing mention mid-sentence makes me wonder if that really wasn't his point. Or maybe I'm just looking for a cop-out.

And on the second topic, I used to read the Bible just about every day, pretty consistently. While I can't deny I learned some good stuff, and I matured during that time, it didn't make me super happy and I didn't feel close to God, despite what some preachers promised. So that's why I maybe never believed that reading the Bible would have some automatic amazing effect.

But when it really comes down to it, the Bible is an amazing book. Infallible or not, automatically life-changing or not, I have found it inspiring, convicting, just plain interesting, and sometimes just plain boring. And I still believe a divine message somehow comes through, but not necessarily in the form of answers; sometimes it's in the form of questions. I still try to read it regularly, and I'm still inspired, enlightened, and puzzled by it.

If there are any preachers out there who are inclined to make lofty promises about what will happen when people read the Bible, I'd suggest being more realistic. I suspect you'll get more people to actually stick to reading the Bible if you don't make promises like that.

So if you aren't all that familiar with the Bible, pick it up and read it. I promise it won't automatically revolutionize your life.

Not quite everything I believed in has lied to me

This post is inspired by the song "Where Are You?" by Our Lady Peace. They didn't sing this song at the concert I was at in July, but thinking about this song back then inspired this post. It just took me a while to get around to writing it. Anyway, here are the lyrics:

Hey you
Have you felt like this before?
You got style but ain't got soul
Are you happy now?
Are you happy, tonight?
Or did Punk Rock get it right?
Is there no future in sight?
Oh is it different now? Is it different?

Come up
Come up come on, come on
Where are you? Where are you?
I'm kicking and screaming
You're not listening
Where are you? Where are you?
Everything I've believed in, has lied to me
But this could be the best day, of my life
The best day of my life

eh you
Have you got everything you want?
Or do you want more than you got?
Is it different now? Is it different, tonight?
Or did Jesus get it right?
Or is the devil behind the light?
Are you happy now? Are you happy?

Come on
Come on, come on, come on
Where are you? Where are you?
I'm kicking and screaming,
You're not listening
Where are you? And where are you?
Everything I've believed in, has lied to me
But this could be the best day of my life

Ohhh sons and daughters,
Mothers and fathers,
Everyone's waiting for our luck to change
Sons and daughters,
Mothers and fathers,
Everyone's waiting, waiting

Cause this could be the best day
And this could be the best day
And this could be the best day, best day, best day

Come on
Come on, come on, come on
Where are you? Where are you?
I'm kicking and screaming
You're not listening
Where are you? And where are you?
Everything I believed in has lied to me
And this could be the best day
And this could be the best day,
And this could be the best day best day, best day
And this could be the best day
And this could be the best day,
And this could be the best day best day, best day of my life

For me, this song gets me thinking about my faith in God. I don't believe that everything I believed in has lied to me, but I've rejected some things that I used to believe. And maybe the times that I rejected those ideas weren't the best days of my life, but they were good. It feels freeing, and it makes it harder for people to control me by telling me what to think. A few ideas that I've rejected:

I've rejected the idea that the universe around us gives scientific evidence for God's existence.

I've rejected the idea that the Bible is infallible.

I've rejected the idea that God created each species separately, not from a common ancestor, or that God had to intervene in evolution to create the diversity of life that we see.

I've rejected the idea that the Bible has to be totally historically or scientifically accurate, or even infallible, to deliver a divine message.

I've rejected the idea that conservative politics reflects God's values better than liberal politics does.

I've rejected the idea that more church involvement, more prayer, or more Bible reading will automatically make a person happier and closer to God. (Or did I ever believe this one?)

Maybe sometime I'll list some ideas that I wasn't raised with that I have also rejected. What ideas that you were raised with (religious or not) have you rejected?

Highlights of "The Fidelity of Betrayal"

I finished reading the book, "The Fidelity of Betrayal" by Peter Rollins a while back. I already commented on it here before I finished it. Here are a few other highlights:

In reading Nietzsche [Dietrich Bonhoeffer] too became concerned that Christianity had become an anemic ideological expression that not only appealed to the infant within humanity but that fundamentally stood in the way of our becoming strong, intelligent, and courageous human beings who reflect our dignity as being formed in the image of God...

Bonhoeffer wondered whether it is possible to embrace God out of love and lightness of heart, out of a seduction that is caught up in the call of God rather than the need of God.

--page 102-103

The question is not whether God exists but rather what God has said.

--page 138

When thinking through issues to do with morality, religion, the world, and social action, people can introduce and employ the richest thoughts of the various intellectual disciplines, because the truth that Christianity affirms does not impact these discussions in terms of content but rather in terms of approach, demanding that the conclusions we come to bring liberation and healing.

--page 161

And when I wrote about this book before, I mentioned the glaring question: Why make an unconditional commitment to Christ? Well, here's one thing he says that seems to address that question, not necessarily the main thing he says on this topic:

While certain beliefs are affirmed as a means of reflecting upon the faith of Jesus, these beliefs can never take the place of, or fully describe, that faith. A metaphor that may help to illustrate this relationship concerns a beautiful, bright-white dove that, one day while flying through the air, imagines how high and fast she could soar if only the air, with all its resistance, did not exist. Never did this dove realize that it was the air she cursed, with all of its restrictive forces, that allowed her to rise up in the first place. We must endeavor to understand then how the common critique that Christianity offers a particular, "narrow" stance in relation to the transcendent fails to understand that this "constrictive" location is itself a privileged opening into the transcendent. It is only by locating oneself in a narrow particular site, perceived as such, that one can gaze beyond it.

--page 137

I find that many of Peter Rollins's ideas seem true based on my own experiences. Maybe I can't give logically defensible reasons for agreeing with him, but the things he said just resonate with my own issues with Christianity and help me move beyond these issues. Yeah, there are some things he says that I'm not so sure about, but don't take that as a criticism of the book. I agree with this book more than a lot of what I hear from Christians, including my own church.

The writing style is fairly academic, so at times that made it harder for it to keep my attention, but the ideas usually made up for it. I also wish he got more personal. We see very little of his own experiences here.

I recently started reading Shane Claiborne's book, "The Irresistible Revolution." The back of the book says, "This book will comfort the disturbed [and] disturb the comfortable." I think "The Fidelity of Betrayal" could have a similar effect. I'm a disturbed Christian, and I found the book refreshing. But to Christians who don't feel like they've ever had their illusions shattered, it could be disturbing.

Fun with expired coupons

Peter Griffin isn't the only one with a good story about an expired coupon. Yesterday I was at my weekly Ultimate game (the last one of the year), and afterward we decided to go to Dairy Queen. We usually go out for some food after the game, but it's been a while since we went to Dairy Queen. I found some DQ coupons in my house a while back (probably at least a month ago) and I've been bringing them every week, but this was my first chance to use them.

We got to DQ and I started reading off the coupons to see if any of my friends wanted to use one or split a 2-for-1 coupon. One coupon was for $3 off a cake, so someone suggested we get an ice cream cake. After being indecisive for a few minutes, we became decisive. We got a Reese cake. But someone looked at the expiry date on the coupon. November 4. We didn't have much time left to use the coupon. Then I noticed the expiry date was November 4, 2007. D'oh!

We got the cake anyway, and we asked for plates or bowls to eat it from. They had small plastic bowls for us, and they handed us some plastic forks and knives too. Someone asked if they had a metal knife for cutting the cake, and they did. They even let us use it!

And it's a good thing they had the metal knife. Apparently you're supposed to let the cake sit outside of the freezer for a while before eating it. They aren't really meant for eating in the restaurant. It was tough to cut that cake! Three of us took turns and after several minutes of hard work, we cut the cake into five pieces. (There were only five of us at DQ this time.) They were big pieces, and of course quite tough to eat with a plastic fork. But we persevered! That cake didn't know what hit it. By the time we left, there was just one piece left (because the two girls shared one piece).

I guess that's not as exciting as a fight almost-to-the-death with a giant chicken, but it wouldn't have happened without that coupon. But maybe you had to be there.

Vacations

Well, I'm back from Texas. Actually, I've been back for almost a week now. (I'm having a little trouble keeping up with my goal of one blog post per week. I've been busy, but I've been enjoying myself. I've been playing Ultimate and sometimes soccer, and I've checked out a few festivals. Then I went away for a week. I'm also in a bit of a rut when it comes to blog ideas. But for those of you that saw me push the envelope a while back, I thought of another way to push the envelope. So stay tuned and I might try it.)

Last week in Texas was kind of like my weekly games of Ultimate--it has me liking my church more. We had a great bunch of teenage people with us. They didn't cause too much trouble and they were a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and the other adult leaders. The trip included a Christian youth convention that probably had about 5000 people at it. For me, the speakers had some good things to say, including a good reminder that God really does change lives. It's also motivating me to think more about how I talk about faith in conversations at work. I know my standards on some things like sex and alcohol are different from a lot of people at work, so how do I make it clear where I stand, without being judgmental and defining my faith mostly by what I don't do? I've certainly thought about this question before, but I think I'm a bit more motivated now. Let's hope it lasts.

One special time was when our group sat down outside the convention centre to talk about what we're learning at the convention. We also prayed. It's great to see these people wanting to follow God more closely. Even if they're not so interested in God, I appreciate their honesty and having them as part of my life.

And soon I'm off on another vacation. This time I'll be backpacking near Mount Robson in British Columbia.

June

At my church, we used to have fairly regular activities for the College and Career group. ("College and Career" is a common label that churches use for their younger adults.) Eventually, maybe people got too busy and nobody really wanted to plan anything. There were some of us that played squash, but there were a lot that didn't.

In May the place where we played squash shut down for renovations, so for a few Wednesdays nothing was planned. But someone had brought up the idea that we could play Ultimate (a.k.a. Ultimate Frisbee) sometime. Around the end of May, I got some of them together for a game of Ultimate, and I enjoyed it a lot. Quite tiring though. I thought it would be nice to do it again, and I guess some others thought so too because they decided to do this every week for the summer. We've also been going for ice cream afterwards.

I think this was what I needed. I have friends at church who are close to my age and older who I haven't spent much time with in the last while, except at church services and maybe lunch after church. And then there are the friends younger than me. They hadn't really had the chance to be involved in the group back when it was going, because they were too young. I work with them in running the youth group, and as much as I usually enjoy my time with the youth, it's nice to finally hang out with these friends without having responsibilities going on at the same time. Maybe it helps having a bit less going on with the youth group this month (no fundraisers in the last few weeks!). The exercise is good too.

It's been a refreshing month, and maybe it's been refreshing for some others too because they keep coming. Maybe in certain ways, pursuing some self-interest in church can actually do some good. After all, there's a good chance that if I need something (for example, refreshment and times with friends), others need it too. Of course, selfishness in a church can be a very damaging too. So how do you decide when your own desires are a good thing?

Why people give up faith

You get two posts for the price of one today!

A Christian radio station in Edmonton likes to mention something related to Christianity during it's newscasts. Frequently, they have reports about things that World Vision or other Christian organizations are doing in poor countries. Today, they played a clip of Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis talking about how bad it is that some churches support the theory of evolution. The report said many people give up their faith in Christ when they get into college where they're taught evolution as fact.

I wonder about the backgrounds of these people who give up their faith. How many of them actually came from churches where evolution is accepted? Maybe many of them were raised in churches where evolution was fiercely denounced. If they end up thinking the evidence for evolution is pretty good, and they've been raised to think Christianity and evolution are incompatible, I can certainly see why they'd give up their faith. Maybe the message of Answers in Genesis is backfiring.

Or maybe some of these people who give up their faith come from churches where commitment to God doesn't really matter. Maybe they get into college and think, "Why bother? Faith doesn't make a difference in my life anyway."

There are some people, like Human Genome Project leader Francis Collins, who say a person can be completely committed to God and believe the theory of evolution. And it's not like this leaves us with no evidence for Christianity. Francis Collins himself wrote a book about why he believes in God. There's also evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. And some people have personal experiences that make God's involvement in their lives seem pretty obvious.

Baptisms

I go to a church that doesn't baptize babies. We baptize people after they personally make a decision to follow Jesus. Last Sunday eight people were baptized. Seven of them are in our youth group and the other one is a youth leader (who was in the youth group until recently). Being a youth leader myself, I've had the privilege of getting to know all of these people better over the last few years. It was really special to hear each of them talk about why they're getting baptized, each in their own unique way. I think I learned something new about each of them too.

Amid my doubts about God and my questions about what God really expects of us, here's one thing I'm pretty sure of: if the God that the Bible tells us about is real, there is nothing better than living a life devoted to him. Congratulations to everyone who was baptized. I think you've made a great decision.