Why It's Important
The Relevance of Spirituality
Noted theologian Charles C. Ryrie writes
“Consciously or unconsciously, everyone operates on the basis
of some presupposition. The atheist who says there is no God has
to believe that basic presupposition.” He goes on to say, “We
learn nothing about the Trinity or Christ from nature or from
the human mind. And we cannot be certain that what we learn from
the Bible about the Triune God is accurate unless we believe
that our source itself is accurate. Thus the belief in the
truthfulness of the Bible is the basic presupposition [to a
belief in Christ].”
In order to accept the Christian faith, you first have to
accept, on some level, the authority of the Bible. It really is
that simple. Absent the foundation of the Word of God, there's
just no way to go. No way to place trust in some historical
figure. Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom
of God” (Matt 19:24). The same could be said for intellectuals.
People who think, who question, who study— these people have the
hardest time of all finding, maintaining and increasing faith in
their lives. However, when they do find it— when people who
scrutinize and qualify and question finally succumb to a true
worship experience— that faith is often richer and deeper and
more fervent and productive than is typical among even the
holiest of rollers.
Faith is a lot like riding a bicycle. Intellect fights with your
instinct when you're trying to learn to ride a two-wheeler for
the first time. It's even worse for a unicycle, which I rode for
awhile. The notion of balance is more visceral than
intellectual, as intellect tells us without some counterbalance
to the two-wheels (such as training wheels), we're likely to
pitch over. And, if we pitch over, the concrete will be hard.
Similarly, I can't teach anybody how to have faith. You just
try. And you pitch over and bust your head on the concrete. But
you dust yourself off and you keep looking, you keep trying.
Intellectuals are looking for a complete and inerrant record:
Spirituality For Dummies, A Complete Owner's Manual for The
Human Experience. That's not the Bible. There are (typically
right wing) Christian sects who believe not only in the
inerrancy of the Bible, but the literacy (i.e. taking every word
at literal value) of the Bible. These groups typically express
themselves in repressive and dogmatic ways, using the doctrine
of paradox to gloss over contradictions in Biblical texts. A
paradox is a profound truth that embraces contradictions that
can neither be reconciled nor dismissed, so they have to be held
in tension.
The Bible is full of mysteries, none of which makes the Bible
any less authoritatively God's Holy and inspired Word. Ryrie
describes the Bible as the orderly and progressive
self-revelation of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 describes “All scripture
is given by inspiration of God...” For me, that implies
authority without an injunctive demand for inerrancy. The Bible
is filled with examples of men who accomplished great things by
inspiration of God, but who were nonetheless flawed and made
mistakes. This web page is being created certainly by
inspiration of God, and I've absolutely no doubt there are
errors and inaccuracies here that I'll be correcting for weeks.
Which is a lot of blathering on to say this:
For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. That
whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have
everlasting life.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed.
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man commeth unto the
Father, but by me.
These are words I have chosen to believe. These are truths I
have chosen to embrace. Not blindly, or by rote or virtue of
family tradition, but by examination, trial and perseverance. At
times in spite of my intellect and against my nature, I find
meaning, comfort, purpose and fulfillment in the scriptures,
which I believe to be God's Holy Word, and by which I am
empowered to reach beyond my earthbound state and commune with
something on a higher plane of awareness and existence. I choose
to call that God, and I choose to believe in His Son, Jesus
Christ. We can argue the complexities of the scriptures, the
politics of the church, and the great many contradictions of
religion for weeks on end: Faith, in the final analysis, is a
choice. A choice to become something greater than what you
already are, and to recognize the greatness within yourself.
The absence of some expression of spirituality implies a bleak
existence, our entire lives summed up as a collection of breaths
and heartbeats. In the great war of intellect versus
instinct, my intellect refuses to embrace a theory that we're
all here by some cosmic accident. The designs are too grand, the
circuitry too specific, the process too logical, for us all to
have been thrown together by some random act. And, even if I did
believe in the randomness of it all, my intellect still demands
the randomness have some origin. And, if there is an origin,
that, whatever that is and however you have decided to see it is,
by definition, God.
I believe it's important for us to decide Who God is and pursue
some manner of connection. Without it, we're half of what we
could be. I suppose the youth leader could have simply said
that. The point is, you have to start somewhere. If you're
looking for the Microsoft Bible, with every command line in
place and every plot hole filled, this faith deal just isn't
going to work for you.
“Lord, I don't believe in you, and I feel ridiculous sitting
here, talking to myself.” That's the first prayer any
non-believer should pray. The first thing anyone thinking about
God, in any form, should realize is God Is Not Stupid. God knows
who you are, what you're feeling, what you're dealing with. God
knows, right this moment, if you're snickering at Him (or me),
or if you're on the precipice of some real decision about what
to do with yourself. And, honestly, if it wasn't important, I
doubt you'd be reading this.
Christopher J. Priest
7 September 2003
editor@praisenet.org
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