I really like what Jordan Peterson once said when asked about believing in God. He said in part “I try to live as if God were real.” He got a lot of flack for saying that, but I sure appreciated it. The world is plumb full of people who say they believe things but proceed to live as if they don’t. A pastor once said, “I try to live not as if heaven were my final destination, but my internal reality right now.”
Both of those quotes speak to the fact that beliefs are fickle. What can I say, we are just kind of flaky. What’s even worse then being a flake, is gaining new insights and wisdom and refusing to change our beliefs to accommodate new information. So you know, with all good grace here, we’re supposed to be flaky. Our beliefs are supposed to be somewhat fickle and subject to change. That just means that what we claim to believe isn’t really the most important part, it’s how we internalize those beliefs and how we live them out that tells the story.
The church traditionally has had a hard time with this notion. Come to think of it, so has secular society. Here we are living in times of litmus tests and cancel culture, this never ending parade of demands for ideological purity and belief declarations in all relationships. Naturally there is nothing wrong with seeking some like mindedness, I’m just saying beliefs are really fickle so if that’s your foundation, it’s like trying to build something on sinking sand.
I’ve lived long enough that I’ve watched extreme progressives become extreme conservatives. And I’ve watched some extremists become so open minded their brains done fell out. Sadly, I’ve also watched some professing Christians well admired by others, turn out to have been pedophiles of the worst sort for decades. And thankfully I’ve also seen a few late staged chronic addicts recover and find hope where the was no hope.
It should not be breaking news to anyone that politicians can be quite fickle. One moment they are professing their idealistic beliefs and the next moment they are selling you out for some lucrative subsidies.
I suspect part of the reason why the institutional church has had a hard time with confronting the fact that human beliefs are not necessarily truth is because it pulls the foundation out from under you. It makes it hard to count on things. It’s scary, uncharted territory. I see this truth reflected in some of the people who roam the internet, attempting to larp out the Spanish Inquisition and slay all the heretics. They are a vile bunch, but right beneath the service is all this fear.
Kind of amusing, a bunch of reformed cage stage Calvinists were recently attacking both Catholics and people who were abused in the church and are now busy deconstructing their faith. I found myself a bit curious, I mean what was the entire reformation if not a massive deconstruction?! For the record one should never say such things out loud. Oops.
There is a group right now arguing against the notion that “God is love” since love is a vague concept and can be interpreted in so many squishy ways. Lord in your mercy protect us from the scary squish! Of course one issue with insisting that God is not love is that you outright contradict the Bible, the Bible being one of your more solid foundations in which to lean on. I can empathize however, in a world gone mad everyone scrambles to try to find something solid on which to place our feet.
I suspect we are supposed to live in this state of unease and discomfort, this tension. I mean, one reason why Jesus is called our rock is because we are going to be needing a rock in the first place. If life was neat and tidy and what people believed remained constant (and stagnant) than you could just put your faith exclusively in the material and physical instead.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
I heard one time that a woman went to a lawyer to divorce her husband. She was so angry at him she wanted to hurt him deeply. The lawyer told her, “Treat him as if you love him, be kind, take care of him, go out of your way to make him feel loved. Then when you give him the divorce papers, he will be devastated. Weeks later, he ran into her at a grocery store, and asked her when she wanted him to draw up the papers, and she said, “Oh, no, he has really changed. I don’t want to divorce him.”
I like the thought that we live as if God were actually living inside us. Even if we don’t feel him.
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Good story, Randy! Old fashioned manners work kind of like that, where we say “please” and “thank you” even though we may not be feeling it. When we are not feeling it is when we need these protocol most of all! LOL, I sound like an old grandma, but I honestly believe that returning formal manners to our culture would make a dramatic impact on our well being.
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Dear IB!
What a truly excellent essay and analysis you have written here! 👏🏻🙏🏻✝️📖. I feel as though I can’t even add anything because you’ve covered it all SO well!
Trying to figure out people and why they do and say certain things makes me think, “I can’t for the life of me figure out why”…some people say or believe what they do…especially when they’re being so obviously inconsistent, incoherent, or just plain insane.
When reading about people doing horribly evil things, it grieves me so much! Especially when such demons hurt children!😭
Having faith in Jesus calms me. I particularly love these verses:
Jhn 16:33 – “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will [fn]have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
And these:
”My grace is sufficient for you… “ from 2Cor 12:9
And this warning to us about what we’re up against while we’re in this world : Jhn 14:30 – “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.”
Heaven certainly isn’t “a place on earth!” But eternity with Christ will be! 🙏🏻❤️
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Thank you for your kind words. Great Bible verses, too.
Heaven certainly is not a place on earth, but we have a bit of heaven in us. We are temples for the Holy Spirit, so heaven actually has come down to Earth, much like Jesus Himself stepped down from heaven. I really enjoy some of the old hymns because they often use a lot of nature analogies to remind us we are actually already in the garden, walking with Jesus.
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You’re welcome! And, yes indeed about being temples for the Holy Spirit.
I could never have calmness in my heart, mind, soul & spirit without Jesus in my life. He, his presence and promises do calm me through the storms we experience here this earth!
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Part of me is ok and accepting of the concept that beliefs are “fickle” or changeable. The rest of me isn’t sure I’m ready to accept the full implications of such an idea. Gonna have to “think on these things”.
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Sounds reasonable I take a lot of comfort in the fact that, “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” We’re in a two way relationship with the Lord so it is not all dependent on me.
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Faith is reduced to “fickleness” whenever the object of our faith is a false believe. Being indoctrinated into any system through deliberate propaganda (false reporting, concealing realities, distorting facts), coerces people into faith in a lie, sadly truly believing it is truth.
Such perceived foundations for faith can never be anything reliable, merely sinking sand.
When Jesus commended Simon (from then on Peter) for his proper identification of Jesus, He told the others that THIS faith, is what He will build His Church upon. THAT faith was a willing acceptance of the Revelation of TRUTH. Jesus said, “flesh & blood did not reveal this, but My Father in Heaven”. Any faith derived from any source other than direct personal revelation from God, will cause eventual fickleness.
True faith stands firmly on the Rock, because THAT Rock has secured His promise to never leave nor forsake us. We can & do too often stray from our foundation (sin), but He is able to keep us, no matter what – Roman’s 8:35-39.
When situations tempt us to disregard what we otherwise believe, we can become fickle. Regardless, Jesus is never fickle.
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“…in a world gone mad everyone scrambles to try to find something solid on which to place our feet.”
THAT will be the essence in meeting the spiritual needs of those of us wanting such solace. Membership in religion is down everywhere and in many cases religion may even have to re-invent itself a bit to adapt to changes in that “real” life. Personally I think “the church”, in whatever form that takes, should push individualism rather than some collective. You want to find the answers to God and life… first start within yourself… then help your neighbor.
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Yes, I think I agree. Membership in religion really is down and I think we as the church do need to reinvent ourselves a bit. I think I understand what you mean about individualism versus the collective, but I think we’d need to elaborate a bit and pin those definitions down.
Unfortunately when covid shut down many churches, even more people realized that church just wasn’t benefiting them. I’ve had a hard time convincing churchian people that Christianity is actually a spiritual pursuit practiced by individuals. It is not a brand, not a corporation, and not a political action committee. We go to grow spiritually, to worship, to do life together, to fellowship.
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Sadly, the shut-down during Covid was purposely done to get people to fear being around each other! And, why were many bars and other secular establishments allowed to stay open? The secular “powers that be” targeted (and ordered the shut down of places frequented) so that certain people would stay away from each other? I think that was a big part of it.
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Since I managed to get myself involved as a council president to a failing local church I’m somehow the guy to “fix” things here. Uh. I’m spending most my time trying to “inspire” at a time where the pastor is in some personal turmoil. But… that’s my challenge. I agree with what you said.
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‘There is a group right now arguing against the notion that God is Love since love is a vague concept.’ I seem to recall the Apostle John saying something opposite of that; in fact, John says in his Epistle that to deny that God is Love is to deny Christ. These same people are never vague about talking about God’s wrath or God’s justice. In a culture like ours where Courts are holier ground than Churches and ‘Facts don’t care about your feelings,’ is part of our unofficial National Creed, this is probably to be expected.
If Love is such a vague concept, maybe these would-be religious leaders ought to try defining it instead of condemning it. But that would mean having to understand it themselves first.
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Exactly, Nightwind. I think you said it all here, “that would mean having to understand it themselves first.”
Justice is supposed to represent our own love for the spirit of the law, one tempered with mercy and not our own desires for vengeance. How we approach justice is a reflection of the state of our own soul.
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Besides the desire for vengeance, one also can detect definite strains of overt cruelty and a desire to exert power as ruthlessly as possible. It’s as though their concepts of Justice are centered on inflicting pain and instilling fear.
After the recent Trump conviction, I saw endless editorials and pronouncements that ‘our side’ was going to retaliate with targeted forms of legal brutality (as if they hadn’t been doing that already). Some congressional candidate in Florida is even proposing introducing Martial Law to effect that purpose. I suggested that maybe what ‘our side’ should be doing is working on some reforms of our out-of-control Legal System to make sure these abuses don’t happen again and if possible, do things to reverse the damage. Naturally, that suggestion was downvoted and denounced. You’re right: how we approach Justice really does reflect the state of our souls.
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Mutability of belief is necessarily a price for progress?
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Doug – I agree that our faith must begin as an individual priority. However, we must also balance that by honoring the admonition to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together – Heb. 10:25.
Where two or more assemble in Christ’s name, Jesus is in their midst. Where two or more agree under such anointing, it shall be done – Mt. 18:19.
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I’ve become more a religious cynic over the years so sometimes it slips through. My cynicism is less about spirituality itself and more about humanity trying to live within the confines of it… and look where its gotten us. I’m aware of the verses you’ve cited from my own basic Christian upbringing. I’m also aware of the human to need achieve a self-awareness, a practical and moral balance from which to survive in the world, not only to survive inside nature, but to survive in relationships with each other based on an empathy that’s greater than competition. In other words, develop self, establish some level of confidence and self-esteem, then go out beyond self to interact with others. Yes, I tend to follow Maslow a bit. But all that relates to humans as they meander inside real life. There’s the spiritual side where we apply faith and hope and love, also human traits. That’s why I tend to assign, “I don’t care what you believe, just believe in something that gives you a moral balance.” If you find that “comfort zone” then pass it on to others who might be looking for a path to follow. Here’s the important takeaway of all my jabbering here…. all this works for me… until the day it doesn’t. I evolve as needed.
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Doug, I appreciate your transparency, thank for sharing your perspective. Unfortunately, I don’t agree specifically with embracing a philosophy that allows for acceptance of “I don’t care what you believe, just believe in something that gives you a moral balance”.
That not only endorses every religion, it perpetuates the problem of alienation from God.
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name…” (Ac.4:12).
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I might concede my relatively simple (yet challenging to be sure) statement might suggest “endorsing every religion” but I might prefer to assign “endorsing A religion”. It rather applies a freedom to make a personal choice. The application of God being present seems to exist with most, if not all, major religions. I do suppose if one bothers to search the world that there are pagan religions. Yet I think if a religion renders forth a “Do unto others…” precept humanity might still contain the hope of living in harmony. Heresy? I might suggest we ask ourselves, what’s the truer heresy… accusing another religion their defiance of God, or, all the major religions currently on the world’s battlefields justifying the killing of their fellow man in defiance of the same God?
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Doug, again thanks for your willingness to share an honest commentary involving your personal beliefs.
Religion (by whatever persuasion) is universally humanity’s approach to God. Conversely, true faith is revealed and sustained by a right relationship with God perpetuated by His Spirit’s presence within us.
Anything/everything less leaves unsettled the question, “what profits a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul”?
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“what profits a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul”?
To borrow a Bond movie…. “The world is not enough”
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“Love” IS a squishy word, isn’t it? Ancient Greek had at least five words for it, meaning everything from selfish lust to self-sacrifice to the point of death. (The latter is the kind of “love” God is.) But today that word in the English language is used any way a person wants to use it, and to disagree with practically anyone on practically anything is labeled “hate.”
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LOL, love really is a squishy word! It took me a long time to understand what was meant by “squish “and “drift” and all this need for control and fear of anything not solid and rigid within faith. CS Lewis once wrote of Aslan that he was definitely good but not safe. Love is also good but it certainly isn’t safe.
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