Faith.
Why does my faith challenge me so much?
Is it because crazy people like Terry Jones use Christianity as a shield to schedule things like a Quran burning? Is it because Christians feel it is their obligatory duty to evangelize people and often make assumptions about what people do and don’t believe and how they should and shouldn’t profess and demonstrate that belief? Is it because the financially better off Christians often seem to want to help the poor, but don’t want to live next to them or be a part of their every day lives? Is it because people who claim Christianity feel it is ok to make disparaging comments about people?
I guess if I were Muslim my faith might be challenged in the same way. I would wonder why the extremists have to kill and I would be angry at the ones who take the Quran and use it to abuse women. I suppose that every religious sect has sections of people who seem to distort and then justify their message. I also guess I have to realize that we are all flawed.
Some recent events have caused me to think about what and how I believe.
Eat Pray Love (the book...not the movie) caused me to reflect on my own faith...my internal faith--what I believe when no one else is watching. Realizations: Faith is my own spiritual journey. When I focus on myself, it radiates out. Not through evangelism or piety, but in how I interact with others. Faith is internal that results in horizontal relationships with people and a vertical relationship with my God. My hope would be that my horizontal relationships and interactions with people would cause others to seek to create these as well…which would cause them to begin to find their own vertical relationship with God or, if they already have a relationship, they would reflect and continue to seek to improve. Eat Pray Love helped reinforce the conclusion I was already moving toward. It’s not about my evangelism. It’s about changing myself from the inside out.
This morning, I finished A Lesson Before Dying (by Ernest Gaines). Toward the end of the book, I found myself reading quicker, wanting to figure out what the “lesson” was going to be. Mr. Grant Wiggins seemed to have faith struggles much like my own. He had stopped going to church. The preacher, his aunt, and the other ladies in the community constantly raised their eyebrows and shook their head, yet never thought to seek an understanding of what he did believe. Their judgment didn’t make him desire to go to church, but reinforced his decision not to. The irony of this was that Mr. Wiggins had a better ability to create a horizontal relationship with other "unbelievers"...the ones the preacher and the church-goers desperately wanted to "save."
Alternately, though the book reinforced my belief that “church people” can often be over-bearing to the point of turning people away from Christianity, it also challenged my thoughts of why we all need to be grounded in faith. Our faith is often not about us. Our faith is often conciliation. Sometimes we demonstrate our faith by doing conciliatory things for others...and sometimes that means portraying faith in a way that helps them feel comfortable.
In our world today, it also has other implications. Our conciliatory nature can be to accept and allow Muslims to build a mosque at ground zero...because conciliation doesn’t mean expecting others to make the compromise. It means that we (because of our faith) make the effort. It doesn't matter how others respond and whether they do something for us in return. Christianity...and many other faith religions...is about what we do...how we respond to situations more so than church attendance. Church and prayer is what keeps us focused on how we're doing and what we still need to work on.
Faith reminds me of integrity…what I do and how I act when no one else is looking. Every day I have new things to work on.
5 comments:
In response to... "Is it because Christians feel it is their obligatory duty to evangelize people..." I would like to say, that it is the nearly the same as people would feel it is their "obligatory duty" to rescue someone from a burning house, or getting ready to struck by a tornado....... like I heard once someone say, if your neighbor's house was on fire, you'd try to recuse them, right? But sadly we (MYSELF INCLUDED) don't try to rescue our neighobrs who are not following Christ. Would love your thoughts - agree or disagree on that.
That being said the mosque thing doesn't bother me a bit. I am glad they have the freedom to do so, b/c if they didn't we might not have the freedom to build a church. And, I have to say that if it were Christians who caused the attack, I don't there would be an uproar over building a church there. So it doesn't bug me.
And, that being said, would you have written this post if Jesus was standing right next to you? You seem to be very negative of Christianity.
I guess I just see the "obligatory duty" differently. I am more about the Franciscan way of "evangelism." "Preach the gospel at all times...use words only when necessary." I believe my faith is very important...and I should demonstrate it. That just doesn't mean I have to talk about it. I believe people see faith in action.
And, yes, I would definitely have written it with Jesus standing right next to me! In fact, I'd absolutely love to have that conversation with him! I love the book of Habbakuk because the he challenges God. I love that my God is someone who can be challenged and is big enough to handle the questions.
My expression of thoughts is simply because I believe that I am not the only one who thinks about these things and questions, grapples, struggles, and celebrates my faith. I am a constant work in progress. I challenge (and am challenged by) my faith because I don't believe something can grow stronger without the struggle.
Thx for your response. I want to add that not all Christians should be grouped together. Just because one Christian is bad (or does bad things like the burning) doesn't mean that all are.
I will add that there are some Christians who do give Christianity a bad rap because of their way that they try to teach others.
HOWEVER, you mentioned that you should only use words "when necessary"
While I agree that setting an example is equally important - and in many times the demonstration of faith influences others -- I do believe that it does mean to talk about it as well.
I guess one way to look at it - is look at all other groups in our society - I don't know, let's use the example of a book club. Let's say you wanted to bring more people into your book club group. Sure, setting a good example is great, but unless you verbally invite them to learn more about the group and to join the group, they probably won't come. In fact they might even assume they aren't invited because they have never been told about it.
That's the same way I feel when Christians say we need to teach by example, not by using words.
Would you join a book club only because of the example other members had? No, you probably wouldn't even think you were welcome. You probably wouldn't join until someone actually TOLD you and INVITED you.
Just my 2 cents.
I have worked with people who are in similar situations as the families you work with at CDM.
You'd be surprised - (though I don't think that is probably the case there) - there are alot of people who truly don't feel welcome to learn more about Christ until you verbally tell them. While showing an example is great, I know of at least one person who thought she wasn't invited at Church b/c no one verbally told her she could come or told her more about Christ.
I don't think you should allow the negativity of other Christians to bring your faith down.
Think of Christianity as more of a hospital for the sick(such as sick people who plan burnings, the Baptist church that protests at funerals etc) instead of a place for perfect people.
I agree that we should see church as a hospital for the sick...... If we expect church to be full of perfect people and stand against imperfect people (like people who don't want to live near the poor as you said, or drug-dealers, prostitutes gossipers, muslim attackers, WHATEVER) then we will definite miss the point of what church is about. It's not a gathering of the perfect, but a place of healing for the sick...........
Everyone should be welcomed in Christianity, including the imperfect people you blog about
go with the Jew! Most Jews are more "christian" than a christian.
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