Come Now, Let Us Fight

I've had the pleasure over the last few weeks to be challenged in my beliefs in various ways, most of them through interactions that I've been having with others. One of the more thought-provoking questions was "Why do so many Christians take the words of Paul more seriously than the words of Jesus?" (The comment wasn't meant antagonistically, however the print may sound.) It's actually a good question, but not one I'm caring to blog about today.

Instead I'm thinking about something I read in a history of the church book (Church History in Plain Language). The author comments that during the Protestant reformation, Catholics and Protestant sects often militantly fought each other because they saw beliefs not so merely as individual, but as communal, and if one believed falsely, one led the entire community astray. While I'm glad that theologically debates aren't fought to the death and religious beliefs aren't forced upon me, I've been thinking about that passion for others and for seeing other's walk a good path.

My impression is that in American, many of us view spiritual beliefs as private. And even if they aren't private, we often speak in code words or cliches - "God wants us to come to him in faith." The sayings may be true, but they conceal that people view the sayings very differently. Who do I mean by God? Faith? What does it mean to come to God in faith? Is that an active or passive? How do I learn about what it means to come to God in faith? And does everyone agree with the answers I'd give? My guess is no, not at all.

So why aren't we more passionate about sharing our knowledge, our beliefs, our understanding with others? After all, it's what sustains us in tough times, right? It's the source of our hope and joy when times are dark. Isn't it that which gives us meaning when the world is turned upside down? Well...maybe not. Here's three reasons I've been contemplating why we aren't more verbal with our faith.

1. Frequently, we don't have the character for prolonged disagreement about important issues. How we fight or debate reveals our character deficiencies. Paul tells Timothy "And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth..." My first thought in debate is usually "Wow, it's really important that this person see truth." And then when I'm done, I often realize that by about the third sentence out of my mouth, I'd totally forgotten about them and focused on winning. (Never mind that they actually might be right...)

2. Sometimes, our beliefs aren't as important as we claim they are. We don't really see our faith as being our hope in a confused and messed up world. It's more like dessert. Nice, but not really essential. Sometimes, as part of this, we aren't really sure what we believe...and it's not a priority for us to figure out.

3. All too often, we don't deeply care about other's spirituality. Alright, I'm making assumptions. Let me rephrase: Often I don't care - at all. And from observation, I'm guessing others are like me. We're glad we have hope in a crazy world, and if our neighbor came and begged for us to share our beliefs, we'd obliged him. But we aren't desperate for others to have our hope. We don't look at people and think "Oh God, please send more workers to help these people. Please, change me, use me, let me communicate you to them. If it means a Mohawk, tattoos, a different career, embarrassment, shame, the loss of friendships - please God, let me reach others with the hope that I have."

And yes, I think there's other reasons too. There's issues of calling, uncertainty, growth, humility, timing, wisdom, and so on. It's possible this is more me projecting myself onto others than the actual state of affairs. Comments?