#98 Taking Faith Seriously

You must take your faith seriously. If you are a Christian there must be a reason. Furthermore, there must be a good reason. Growing up in a christian home, liking the community, witnessing a miracle, or having been helped by christians are not good enough reasons. This is exemplified in 1 Peter 3:15 which says “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” A good exercise to do is to follow these three steps. Step one what religion is true and why, step two what denomination or sect is correct, step three what individual beliefs are correct, and what are the limits. Following those three steps is what led me to where I am today.

Step One

Consider all the religions you reasonably can. This should include the most relevant ones to where you live and the most dominant ones in the world. For those in America there are three principle religions 1) Christianity, 2) atheism, 3) agnostic/ ambivalence. Then the major world religions are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The criteria by which you pick which religion is correct should by nature be multifaceted. It should include an account of what good or bad that religion has done, an understanding of the religion's principles and claims, and how it defends against the claims of other religions. While this is not the place to answer all of these claims and issues fully we can make some generalizations.

Christianity makes many truth claims. The two main claims would be that there is only one God, and Jesus died on the cross and rose again. The first claim is easily defendable and the second claim appears to be backed up by reality. For more about the second claim read Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels.

Atheism makes the claim that there is no God. This claim is practically meaningless and cannot be backed up in any meaningful way. Choosing atheism is about the same as choosing to give up the search for meaning. Yet worse than that it seeks meaning in trying to convince others to give up the search for meaning. For more on this read I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist and God Doesn't Believe In Atheists: Proof That The Atheist Doesn't Exist.

Agnostics on the other hand believe that we can’t know if there is a God or not or more likely they don’t care one way or the other. The problem with deciding this is that by searching out the different faiths you have already decided that God is probably knowable if there is one. Although as a last resort you may decide that God is in fact unknowable.

Islam has over its history produced so many problems in the world that it is easy to write off. If we try to take it seriously as an option there are many things that stop us. Simply put though Islam is indefensible with logic. To find out more about this read Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity.

Buddhism is grown out of the way philosophical background as Hinduism. Buddhism appears to be a complex form of atheism. In that there is not a god or that the god is irrelevant and that there is reincarnation. This is just me, but I don’t think you can have both no god and reincarnation. Hinduism does a bit better, yet its gods seem quite weak in the face of reality. Hinduism with its many gods feels like a repetition of ancient Greek and Roman polytheism. Put another way, hardly worth noting.

When I put all of this together I find that Christianity is the only reasonable religion out there. Of course we all must search out the truth for ourselves.

Step Two

Assuming you choose Christianity as the correct religion you must determine where you fall on the denominational scale. I am decidedly not Catholic, Orthodox, or Lutheran. I land somewhere within the Evangelical camp.

My great grandparents on my mother’s side were Catholic. The problem with being Catholic is the same now as it was in Martin Luther’s day. That the pope is not infallible, truth rests in the word of God and not in the hands of any one man. Some books to read more about Catholicism and these issues: 2000 Years of Papal History: The Popes from Peter to Benedict XVI, Ut Unum Sint, St. Ignatius Loyola and the Remarkable History of the First Jesuits, Trent: What Happened at the Council, and Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World.

The Orthodox Church is quite appealing for many reasons. Yet I do not believe it is the most correct Christian group because of the icons. Iconography is widespread and appears to me to be a form of idol worship or at least a distraction from the truth. Some books that aided my understanding of the Orthodox Church are The Orthodox Christian Church: History, Beliefs, and Practices, The Philokalia, The Way of a Pilgrim, Crazy John, The Life of St. Mary of Egypt, and The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.

The error of the Lutherans is that they did not go far enough away from the Catholic church. They believe in consubstantiation which is the belief that the real body and blood of Jesus are in the eucharist. They also practice infant baptism which I believe is incorrect.

The issue of infant baptism is the dividing issue for many other denominations as well including Methodists, Reformed Churches, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and so on.

This leaves me with a few other denominations to consider. Mainly: Assemblies of God, Four Square, Calvary Chapel, Disciples of Christ, Christian Missionary Alliance, and Baptists. All of these denominations are similar on the main points and I am willing to be a part of any of them it just depends on the specifics of that church.

Step Three

Here is where we start to dig into the nitty-gritty of it all. The individual beliefs that make up the individual. We must make a distinction between dividing beliefs and non-dividing beliefs at this point. Some of my beliefs such as those about baptism and the eucharist are dividing beliefs. While others are not, such as the use of vestments. I strongly believe in male leadership in the Church. While I am okay with female pastors in general I am not okay with being part of a church with a female senior pastor. Furthermore I have strong beliefs about the nature of sin and righteousness but that would not be a dividing belief but rather my opinion.

We each must determine where we fall within each of these three steps. It is my prayer that you end up somewhere close to where I did with each of these three steps of faith but especially the first two. We all must seriously consider and find out for ourselves what is the truth concerning God.