Faithless

[Alexander Fedczuk]

I find it kind of funny that for an agnostic guy, I most of my volenteer work comes from Park Pres. When I was at work camp, I was awed by the energy of the room when everyone was believing in the power of Christ together. Sadly though, I wound up thinking it was worth a laugh. Seeing all of those people, trusting their very souls with something that may not exist. Then again, that is the very definition of faith. I still find it very hard to get on with religion. First of all, it expects you to be intollerant, to hate people for their sexuality, or think someone is missguided because their veiw of the world is different. Two, there is too much zealotry, the anti-gay protests are too much, but killing an abortion doctor is just boarder line pysocotic. And all of this comes from a single solitary book, the bible. One lone collection of ideas is the only proof Christianity has of it's own credibility. There are people that accept proven facts, like evolution, but any evangical will blindly stand behind the bible as the only true source of fact in the whole world.

The bible is a collection of tales if a man who did great acts of good. Is Jesus real, possibally. Was he the son of god, doubt full. The stories of his deed were written from the perspective of other MEN (who as men, capible of lying). His actions can be explianed rationally, and though I am not daring anyone, I would like someone to try and prove me wrong.

That's a rundown of my take on faith. I will gladly become a christian once is stops becoming faith, and more of fact. Until then, may you paths be long and many. May your luck be plentiful and rewarding. And may roses line your way, so there is always a place to stop and smell.

[Christy]

I love the honesty, here, and the critique of Christendom is significantly deserved. I have other thoughts, too, and will come back here with them when I have some time for a considered commentary. Till then, what I notice about these thoughts is the deep sensitivity in them to the troubles of the world, also the sense of offense taken against the hostile use of power and religion that kills and destroys. There is a strong and enlivened human spirit at work here. Thank you, Alex.

[Chris Wilck]

Thanks for sharing your views on faith. When I was your age, I could not (or would not) have been as open about my views on faith. That honesty says a great deal about you.

If I had read your comment a year ago, I would have agreed whole-heartedly. Not that I disagree with you now, my viewpoint has just changed a little. Last summer, as a self-professed agnostic, I doubted the existence of a loving God. How could there be such a God with everything “bad” in the world? Why would I want to pray to such a God? I had gone through most of my life trying to fit everyone else’s Christian beliefs into my own “world”. (Which obviously was not working for me or I would not have said that I was an agnostic.)

As you have stated, the zealots of the “religious” world –along with a lot of organized religions’ dogma– have convinced many people that they are agnostics or atheists. These zealots have taken their interpretation of various religious texts to an extreme that only allows for their viewpoints and there cannot be any contradictory views–which is really a contradiction in itself. How can you say that you are religious and hate all of those around you who are different from you? Being human has created a huge variance in how man interprets the religious texts of the world. Hubris plays a major part in this interpretation– humans think too highly of themselves.

During the process of examining "my faith”, I decided to start at the very beginning– wiping the slate clean. I focused my thoughts on God, the Creator. If you take away all of the crap, we live in an awesome world. I can find peace and spiritual connection with my Supreme Being while watching a sunrise, walking along an ocean beach or sitting on a mountain. Even the simple things like a gentle breeze can cause me to turn my thoughts to God– my Supreme Being. Thinking about the physical world around me has led me to believe that there is a force greater than myself. Do I believe that world was created in 6 days and then God rested? Not in the least. Evolution is something that I can’t ignore. Do I still have moments of doubt? Yes. There are many things that I have been working on this past year and in doing so, I still have my moments of doubt. To make a long story short, I still have a lot to work through and I am not sure if I will ever be able to reconcile all of my thoughts in this lifetime. (That is not neccessarily a bad thing.)

One thing that I do know, my beliefs are not going to fit into everyone else’s world– there are many different paths to that Supreme Being that some call God. You are on a different path– at least at a different point on that path– than I, and that is ok. I don’t believe there is one “right” path to Ultimate Truth. You’ve got to believe what works for you.

If you can find some sort of comfort or gratification from being a part of Park Church, that is great. I am not trying to validate your views because you certainly don’t need any validation from me. I am just letting you know there are people who doubt the existence of God and that doubt brings to some, a different kind of faith.

I came across an article while reading the NY Times online: http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/the-self-thinking-tho... . Maybe you will find it interesting.

Chris

[Christy]

Reading this post the first time was exciting, Chris. The second time through it was a meditation. I am very moved.

I went to the link you provided and read the blog post, too. Very stimulating. The key concept of the post, Anselm's "ontological argument" for the existence of God was something I spent a whole pro-seminar course on in college. It proved to be a foundational theological stone from which my personal theology developed. In 30 years of ministry (next month!), this is the first time anyone in a church has brought it to my attention.

[Seth C. Burgess]

Thanks for sharing Alex. I'm catching up on some of the ParkChurchNet messages and was very interested to find this incredible conversation-starter. Your thoughts remind me very much of a cousin of mine with whom I have frequent "debate-type" arguments on many issues. I value his differences of thought from mine greatly, and am quite often truly sparked by the way in which our conversations provide further clarity for both of us to develop our ideas.

I think that finding a personal approach to a personal faith is something that we are all in on together.