Do you see Christian faith as something fixed to hold onto, or as a journey of change?
It is possible to see it in either way. For some, Christian faith was “was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 3) and we cannot depart from this without slipping into error.
But it is also possible to see life with Jesus as a journey of growth, perhaps like John Bunyan set out in The Pilgrim’s Progress.
I’m firmly in the second group. Here’s how I see it.
Revealed once and for all?
There are some good reasons to think our Christian belief is fixed and cannot vary. After all, the Bible is fixed, with no additions possible. The gospels give us the story of Jesus from the first eyewitnesses, so that is fixed also. And God doesn’t change, right? So he doesn’t get things wrong the first time and have to give updates like buggy Microsoft software.
But these reasons don’t stand up to scrutiny.
We learn things
As we gain knowledge, we occasionally have to re-assess what we believe God or the Bible are teaching us. There are many examples:
- Scholars discover more accurate versions of the Biblical text, or more accurate translations based on better understanding of Greek and Hebrew, or changing word meanings in our culture.
- Scientific discoveries can change the way we understand the text.
- The Biblical worldview, especially early on, was of a flat earth with a “firmament” (basically a hard surface) above the sky keeping the waters above the earth from flooding us. While that view is understandable (it is how things may seem), we now know that the world isn’t like this.
- For many Christians (including me) the theory of evolution shows that Genesis 1-3 cannot be simply interpreted literally, however we may see it.
- Archaeology can both confirm or throw doubt on Biblical accounts. For example, the archaeology of Canaan in the period 1400 BCE to 1100 BCE confirms that the account in Joshua 13-24 is more historical than the account in Joshua 1-12.
- Understanding the culture of first century Israel enhances, and sometimes changes, our understanding of Jesus’ ministry.
The Holy Spirit teaches us new things
Jesus promised that God’s Spirit would lead his followers into truth (John 16:13) and it is an ongoing process (“whatever he hears he will speak”). So there are new things we may need to know.
We have seen this in the two thousand year history of the church. Time and time again, the church, or part of it, has gone off track or needed new inspiration, and new ideas have come to the fore, for example:
- the early church councils
- monasticism, especially St Francis
- the Reformation and the Anabaptists
- the modern missionary movement
- Pentecostalism and the charismatic renewal
- the Salvation Army and the recognition of community welfare and justice.
If the church had refused to change at these important times, we wouldn’t be where we are today. To determine to remain static stifles the Spirit.
Does God never change?
Any good teacher or parent knows there are appropriate times and ways to teach certain information, and other times and methods that are inappropriate. An understanding of a person’s situation is crucial in communicating effectively with them.
So how could God be any different?
We should expect that God will have truths, or aspects of truth, that are inappropriate, unhelpful or less relevant at some times, but important at others. We can see this in the scriptures, where the moral law revealed in the Old Testament was external, based on actions. But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus revealed a “higher law”, based on love and internal attitudes that went beyond external actions.
My life as a journey of faith
My life illustrates this. My understanding of Christian doctrine, the church and the Bible have all developed over half a century, and (I hope) are still developing. Thankfully, I am not the opinionated but somewhat ignorant person I was when I was twenty. (It isn’t for me to judge how much I have “improved”, doubtless others who know me will have varying opinions! 🙂 )
I have written up my thought and life journeys:
- Eighty years in the making – how I came to believe in Jesus, why I continue to try to follow him 6 decades later, and how my beliefs have changed along the way.
- Church and me – my experience of church, how I’ve tried to serve God and people through the church, and some of the lessons I’ve learned.
- How I learned to love the Bible in a new way. This is a new page, where I tell the story of how a “good Presbyterian laddie” (as my first Minister described me) gradually came to see the Bible in a whole new way.
I hope this encourages you to be on a journey of discovery too. I’d be interested to hear your story.
Photo by Sharefaith.
Hi unkleE,
It’s that pesky man again, sorry !
My journey is much more simple than yours. I was also sent to Sunday school (Methodist), but left fairly early. Like a lot of youth I suspect I resented what I saw as the constriction of free thinking and its replacement with dogma. I have never really returned to the church.
I do believe in God and I think that Jesus was a great man, teacher and leader. (Some would say the same about Buddha and Mohammed).
I don’t call myself a Christian(yet), because the basis of the faith doesn’t make sense to me, even though many of the teachings are relevant in any time period.
The idea that only through belief in Jesus will a person enter the kingdom of Heaven doesn’t apply to a great many people who have never heard of Jesus through no fault of their own. Certainly all the people who died before Jesus was born never had the option of believing in him. What happens to them ?
Previously you intimated that there may be a way around this. Could you expand a bit on that idea ?
Thank you.
Hi! – never pesky, always welcome!!
My starting point is the Jews. Clearly the Bible sees the Old Testament Jews as being acceptable to God (they were his “chosen people”) yet they didn’t have belief in Jesus. So explicit belief in Jesus can’t be the ONLY way a person can be acceptable to God.
My opinion is that for some reason which I don’t understand, Jesus had to die as a sacrifice. it sounds barbaric to our modern ears, but I don’t think we can make sense of his life and teachings without accepting that. But I don’t think that means that every person MUST have explicit belief in him for that sacrifice to be beneficial to them. A short Biblical passage (Romans 2:13-16) suggests we will each be judged according to the understanding and opportunities we have been given. That means everyone can be acceptable to God if they choose to be or want to be.
That wouldn’t be a majority opinion among Christians, but it is quite a common belief. How do you feel about this?
Yes, that sounds very sensible, thank you.
Maybe Jesus’s sacrifice was necessary to “increase publicity” and therefore spread the word more effectively ?
In Christian theology, there are several theories of why Jesus had to die:
1. God’s justice required punishment for human sin, so Jesus paid the price.
2. Jesus’ death defeated the devil and conquered death.
3. His death demonstrated his love for us.
4. In his death he absorbed all evil and still “won”.
5. It was the unfortuante result of a good man standing up to powerful enemies.
I tend to think all have some truth but the real truth is deeper still, but it’s all very theoretical. Your thought is something like #3, though not exactly the same, and so who knows?
Well, Muhammed died a natural death and his influence is pretty widespread as well.
But one has a choice and to each his own 🙂
Not that I have any attraction towards Islam.
Naturally I think Jesus had superior ethical teachings and has a better claim to being God’s messenger if not God incarnate. I feel Muhammed was an interesting character but somewhat limited by the culture he was in. But to be fair, I’ve only studied him briefly.
I think you are right about the teachings of Jesus vs Muhammed. Jesus was much more forgiving than Muhammed from what I’ve read of Islam and that is not very much.
I was really just speculating again on the “hidden” reason why Jesus had to die versus leading his people out of the wilderness like Moses or indeed Muhammed.
I suppose “reason” may tend towards theory #5 in your list, but you say there is more to it and I’m in no position to argue.
Maybe this is just one of those enigmas that tests faith over reason.
I suppose he had to die so he could be resurrected! Which sounds like a facile comment, except I think it may be true that the only way to conquer death is to go through it and out the other side.
I’m a great believer in reason, and in not just believing something “on faith”, but for good reason. But once I have decided, on what I believe to be reasonable grounds, that Jesus was divine, then it is reasonable to believe him on matters that I cannot reason out. It’s analogous to me trusting my doctor even though I can’t understand all the medical matters, because he has the qualifications and his track record is good.
I suppose it is more reasonable to believe in Jesus whose existence has at least been documented , albeit with differences between the writings of the disciples, than it is to believe in God who is sometimes conspicuous by his absence !
Of course if you believe Jesus was God, then the problem is solved.
I can’t help thinking that there would have been more effective ways for God to reveal himself and his desires for us, like a booming voice from the sky for all to hear.
Anyway, I’m glad your journey has ended well for you, I think mine might continue for a while. 🙂
I will try and get a copy of Mere Christianity and see where that takes me.
The historians affirm that Jesus the man really existed and the gospels give us a reasonable picture of his life. We can each make a judgment about whether the historical evidence points to him being divine. And yes, believing in a God who we can’t see is a different question. I think answers to both questions (Is there a God? and Was Jesus divine?) depend partially on the other.
It is an interesting question. I think it depends on what we think God’s aims are. If it is just simply that we might all know, then he could appear in overwhelming ways. But I think his objective is to give us the dignity of autonomy and choice – which requires a more subtle approach.
I hate saying a cliche, but I don’t think our journey ends until our life ends – and then maybe not even then!
That has been a helpful book for many, including me.
Just to let you know, although I am subscribed to this blog, I don’t get email notifications of new posts within a topic, although I do get notifications of new topics.
Feel free to delete this post when you have read it.
Thanks. I’m working on it. Managing these things (unforseen changes when something is updated) takes a lot of time.
This comment matter is proving complex. I can comment as a new visitor and then I do get emails when another comment is added. At least sometimes. But the whole process is going a bit crazy – I got about 8 requests to confirm my subscription! I think I’m going to have to find another plugin.
When you comment, do you always get the option to subscribe to comments? Do you generally select that? But you never get any?
Thanks for assisting.
I have just noticed a selection box just before the “Post Comment” button that says “Notify me of follow up comments”
Previously that was set to “Don’t Subscribe” I have changed that to “All”, and see I’ll if that works.
Sorry I didn’t notice that before.
Thanks. I think this plugin probably works OK, but is complex and not intuitive. I have changed some settings and that may have put the checkbox where it wasn’t before. But I may also need to simplify settings where I can and make the text around the functions clearer and more obvious. Thanks.