Why I Believe – A Pause to Respond to Comments 4

Greetings Dear Reader,

I want to address one more comment before I continue my thoughts.  I will return to comments a little further down the path.  Before that I would also like to encourage my readers to encourage Patrick Sharp.  After his last comment I found his Blog.  I would like to encourage him to write more. I believe the stated purpose of his Blog may be the noblest there is. He is intelligent and articulate.  I would read his writing with joy. 

The comment I would like to respond to is one from Anonymous.  It is a though I share and that I find beautiful in its innocence.  Anonymous writes, “I must admit that though my faith is young I've never analyzed it like this before, in the first beginnings of my faith one thing was made very clear and that was: do I want a God that I could comprehend or a God that was bigger than me and in all ways is beyond us yet there for us. I took that proposed question and chose that I wanted a uncomprehendable God that was almighty and that I could know and rely on in all ways.”

I think this goes to the essence of faith.  I think it is also elemental to belief in God.  The quandary that we all face is the question of whether we believe that there is intelligence that is greater than ours.  No matter how shallow or deep one goes with this question, everyone answers it in some way.  Everyone chooses whether man is the ultimate there is or not. 

This leads me to thoughts on why we dismiss the idea of God.  I think the problem with us is us.  In so many ways we demonstrate that left to ourselves we are arrogant and self-absorbed.  I am not judging anyone because I am guilty of this as well.  If we do not accept that there is more to the universe than us and that there is power beyond ours we are in danger. 

I would posit that we want a God that is beyond our comprehension on one hand and we want a God we can shape to our own wants on the other.  We place requirements on God.  In the words of Michael Card “we’ve made you in our image so our faith is idolatry.” 

I think that those who do not believe in God do the same.  They fashion a straw god and then dismiss him.  They do this with questions that seem to make the straw god unjust or unloving.  I think that one of the hinges on which faith must swing to be reasonable is a humble acceptance that we are not the top.  We are great and amazing as humans but we are also fallen and flawed. 

The acceptance that I need something greater than me leads me to seeking in truth what that something is.  I think I will again refer to the words of Patrick Sharp, “I'm trying to fight for something. I believe that something is unashamed, relentless, barrier crushing love. It strikes me that Jesus of Nazareth understood what that is and teaches us how to be loving like that. I say fighting for that is the hardest and best thing anyone can do.”

This thought in different words has been a guiding principle for me of late.  Thank you Anonymous and Patrick for helping me crystalize my thinking.  I am a failure in many ways and others have paid the price of that failure.  I can only try to do better today and hope that the pursuit of love can outweigh and heal past pain.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."