I woke up this morning to CNN's homepage with a shining article by Christian author Karen Spear Zacharias entitled, "My Faith: What does God sound like?" Good question, Karen. What does God sound like?
I found the faith article interesting, if a little weightless, and decided to poke around CNN's faith section a bit. A few days ago, Becky Perlow wrote a summary about a recent publication in Science magazine about the inverse relationship between analytical thinking and belief in God, called "Analytical Thinking Promotes Religious Disbelief" by Gervais and Norenzayan of the University of British Columbia. You have to pay to read the full article, but Perlow summarized it here: "Study: Analytical Thinking Can Decrease Religious Belief."
I want to honor the attention the article gives to critical thinking and religious thought together because too often they are seen as exclusivities. However, I want to offer a few critiques, particularly of the authors' description of religious thought as 'intuitive.' Really? It's intuitive to believe without question a poor servant carpenter man rode into town on a donkey and saved the world by raising himself from the dead after being crucified? Really? It's natural to think that the first will be last and the last will be first? It's easy to believe that that special joy that passes through even the most trying of circumstances comes from a life a selflessness and possible/probable danger and uncertainty? It's intuitive to believe that we possess the power (through the Holy Spirit, which comes with belief and submission to Christ) to heal the sick and the make the lame walk? Maybe that's easy and natural for some... but it isn't intuitive for me. My faith is really freaking hard work (perhaps because I secretly and pridefully want to be an intellectual snob, too). Walking through this life of faith has been an extraordinary intellectually challenging endeavor.
Most of my hard questions start with prayer and some Bible study. Here are a few:
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God is not afraid of hard questions, nor is He offended by them. Let's ask more hard questions.
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At the end of the day, I hold onto the sentiment behind this quote from one of my favorite movies, Rudy:
"Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard, incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and...I am not Him." - Father Cavanaugh
I found the faith article interesting, if a little weightless, and decided to poke around CNN's faith section a bit. A few days ago, Becky Perlow wrote a summary about a recent publication in Science magazine about the inverse relationship between analytical thinking and belief in God, called "Analytical Thinking Promotes Religious Disbelief" by Gervais and Norenzayan of the University of British Columbia. You have to pay to read the full article, but Perlow summarized it here: "Study: Analytical Thinking Can Decrease Religious Belief."
I want to honor the attention the article gives to critical thinking and religious thought together because too often they are seen as exclusivities. However, I want to offer a few critiques, particularly of the authors' description of religious thought as 'intuitive.' Really? It's intuitive to believe without question a poor servant carpenter man rode into town on a donkey and saved the world by raising himself from the dead after being crucified? Really? It's natural to think that the first will be last and the last will be first? It's easy to believe that that special joy that passes through even the most trying of circumstances comes from a life a selflessness and possible/probable danger and uncertainty? It's intuitive to believe that we possess the power (through the Holy Spirit, which comes with belief and submission to Christ) to heal the sick and the make the lame walk? Maybe that's easy and natural for some... but it isn't intuitive for me. My faith is really freaking hard work (perhaps because I secretly and pridefully want to be an intellectual snob, too). Walking through this life of faith has been an extraordinary intellectually challenging endeavor.
Most of my hard questions start with prayer and some Bible study. Here are a few:
- What exactly does salvation mean? Is it the prayer you pray asking Jesus into your heart? (If yes, then what about Catholics?) Or is it some period of time later when you've better understood the transformation that happens when you choose to follow Christ and his ways?
- Can you lose your salvation?
- Why are 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' listed as two separate religions on the demographic information section of most forms?
- Is there an unpardonable sin?
- Why are some people gay or transgendered? Is it possible that they were born genetically pre-disposed to be that way, and if so, then what? Is it wrong/bad to think they should be allowed to get married?
- Why don't people (including myself) ask these questions in church/ Sunday school class?
- What about the people in the faraway villages of the interior of Africa (or anywhere else) that haven't heard about Jesus?
- Is it possible to believe in Intelligent Design and/or evolution, and also in the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
- Since "accepting Jesus into your heart" and "praying the Salvation prayer" isn't in Scripture, where does that language come from?
- What does it mean for a Christian to be culturally relevant in the 21st century? How can we reach our generation without compromising our faith?
- Does God audibly converse with us today? If so, how can I hear Him, also? If not, what do people mean when they say they were talking with God?
- What about Love Wins? What about what Rob Bell has to say? Can any piece of it true?
- Why does it sometimes feel like a cop-out to say that God is bigger than all of this, and hey-we'll understand-someday-when-we-get-to-heaven?
~
God is not afraid of hard questions, nor is He offended by them. Let's ask more hard questions.
~
At the end of the day, I hold onto the sentiment behind this quote from one of my favorite movies, Rudy:
"Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard, incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and...I am not Him." - Father Cavanaugh
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