A Fresh Perspective - 08/01/08
In the Gospel of John some form of the word "belief" occurs over one hundred times, but it is never defined. Precise definitions may be important for progress in mathematics and science, but in matters of faith they can be oppressive. To define faith with a single definition results in the kind of reductionism and oversimplification that makes for a small God and a very unhealthy Christianity.
Faith does not rest on proof, though it is not necessarily a leap in the dark. Life, as well as the whole evolutionary process, is characterized by both randomness and purpose. Life is not a blueprint; it is not determined. Much is happenchance, and yet there is order and meaning. There is a wonderful and terrifying freedom built into the entire creation. The freedom that produces the awesome beauty of the beaches of South Africa also can unleash the terror of a tsunami or earthquake. As humans we can use our freedom to alleviate suffering or cause suffering; to do great good or great harm.
God doesn't intervene to alter this freedom. One can look at the order and randomness of life and see God; another can look at the same process and not see God. What makes the difference? Is it how we are raised or socialized into the world? Is it the messages we internalize? Does it have to do with our life experiences, our education, the influence of others? I suspect that all of these are factors. Faith is easier for some than others.
Sometimes things happen to confirm our faith. The writer Frederick Buechner recalls sitting by the roadside once, greatly depressed and fearful that his daughter who had a terrible eating disorder would die. Out of nowhere a car came along with a license plate that bore the word "TRUST" - the one word out of all the words in the dictionary, says Buechner, that he most needed to hear. (The car belonged to a trust officer at a bank.) Buechner says, "What do you call a moment like that? Something to laugh off as a kind of cruel joke life plays on us every once in a while? Or do you call it the word of God?" He remarks that he was willing to believe it was something of both, but at that moment, it was an epiphany.
I am not an interventionist. If God does intervene in the world then God has some real explaining to do. Why wouldn't God intervene to stop the holocaust or the horrible genocides we have witnessed in recent history? I do believe, however, that God is at work in the world and I am prepared to say that in Buechner's "epiphany" God was present. I don't know how it works. And I wouldn't explain it in terms of God causing it to happen. Still, it was a small, but powerful grace that confirmed Buechner's faith.
I also have had such experiences. I can't explain them and would certainly not attribute them to God's intervention, but I believe that God was present in some way. I hope that people of great faith, little faith, and no faith at all can find ways to dialogue about important theological, spiritual, and social issues in ways that foster mutual acceptance and understanding.