Saturday, April 18, 2015

IS FAITH A CRUTCH?


I am currently studying this book and hope to share some ideas and thoughts on my blog as I go through it.  These authors are deep thinkers and bring up some great spiritual points to ponder.

In the beginning of the chapter I started today the Givens' talk about how Jesus wasn't just bringing people some 'comfortable doctrine, easy on the ear'.  He upset the expectations of 'those who thought he spoke only soothing platitudes'.  His gospel was revolutionary. He proclaims to those who thought they were doing well not to kill or to commit adultery that now they must examine themselves and go beyond conduct to search out their innermost motives and desires-- just contemplating adultery in their mind makes them a sinner like unto those who commit adultery. Even his disciples complained sometimes of the difficulty of following His new precepts, saying, "This an an hard saying; who can hear it?"  And "From that time many of His disciples went back, an walked no more with Him."

As we strive to live Jesus's Christian doctrine the circumstances that define the reality of the human predicament are not a blatant choice between Good and Evil but a wrenching decision to be made between competing sets of Good.  There are very few simple choices. No blueprint gives us easy answers.  Life's most wrenching choices are not between right and wrong but between competing demands on our time, our resources, our love and loyalty.

The authors remind us that true religion is inseparable from suffering.  It tells us the truth about our condition without flinching, offers no cheap solutions, and conceals none of the costly price.  We feel unmoored if our religion fails to answer all our questions, if it does not resolve our anxious fears, if it does not tie up all loose ends. We want a script, and we find we stand before a blank canvas.  We expect a road map, and we find we have only a compass. 'It is curious, in this regard, that so many critics attribute to religion a kind of facile wish fulfillment, imaginative fairy-tale scenarios that reduce complexity and mystery to easy answers and glib forms of consolation.  As any disciple knows who has lived a life of faith thoughtfully attuned to rhythms of humanity's travails, to the demands of mercy and unconditional love, and to the call to patient waiting, religion is not the coward's way out of life's difficulties. As Flannery O'Connor wrote,"Religion costs.  They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is a cross."'

Reading this chapter helped me to realize that religion is not a crutch to lean on when life gets tough.  It is not some easy way out of dealing with the tragedies we see around us every day.  Like I mentioned above, religion is not a roadmap, it is only a compass.  Our faith in Jesus Christ can shine as a light to help us cope with the tough parts of life we travel through, it can help us find peace in the midst of the madness, but it does not remove the madness or the challenges.  Indeed, it may even challenge us to make hard choices to do the 'right thing' when others feel no compulsion to do so. Following the precepts our our great Exemplar is not the easy way out, but for me it is the best way through it all.

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