A Fresh Perspective - 08/08/08
Novelist and spiritual writer Ann Lamott said in an interview: "If you are not careful, you think you are right, and you are sure your beliefs are the true beliefs. The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty. I'm not certain about a lot, and I hope that gets me partial credit in heaven."
Some degree of doubt is necessary for a growing, developing, and productive faith. Faith that rests in absolute certainty can easily become a closed faith that results in spiritual stagnation. Or even worse, a certain faith can lead to a blind obedience that can leave a train of destruction in its wake. Those who volunteer for suicide missions or shoot workers in abortion clinics are persons certain in their faith. Religion professor Charles Kimball has observed that when adherents of a religion elevate the teachings and beliefs of their religion to the level of absolute truth claims, they open the door to the possibility that their religion will become evil.
We do not have absolute truth; we all see through a glass dimly. But we can have foundational truths that are constructive and life-enhancing - truths that promote the good of humankind and creation.
My faith rests upon the foundational truths made known through the life and message of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus embodied and proclaimed God's compassion and justice. I trust in Jesus not primarily as my way to heaven, but as the one who makes known God's kingdom on earth and imparts the love and grace needed to bring it about.
Religion teacher and Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor said recently that she is more interested in the religion "of" Jesus than the religion "about" Jesus. Perhaps the faith of Jesus is more important and foundational to transformed lives and communities than faith in Jesus.
At the heart of the faith of Jesus is a firm belief in the goodness of God. God is imagined by Jesus as a loving Parent committed to the good of God's children. This is why forgiveness is such an important aspect of Jesus' teaching; it is essential for restoring and renewing relationships and creating a just and good society. Jesus incarnates and teaches a love ethic of nonviolence and forgiveness which emanates from his own personal experience of God.
Healthy and productive faith is more of a dance with the Divine than adherence to a structured system of belief. It is open to change and correction through new insights and perspectives. And while it is grounded solidly in God's grace and goodness, there is movement and flow back and forth between God and the faith community.
If our faith does not lead us to pray for, work for, and give ourselves for the good and betterment of life on earth, so that evil might be redeemed, injustice made right, poverty and war eliminated, relationships restored, and the planet put in balance - then our faith is unhealthy and futile. I wonder how many of us who claim faith in Jesus fall way short in exercising the faith of Jesus.