The Simple Faith Struggle

I write this post today out of genuine concern. It is another one of my honest posts, and I am kind of scared by it too. It may be nothing and I may be overemphasising something unnecessarily, but nevertheless, it is something I have noticed and am concerned about so here it is. You can let me know if you think that I am exaggerating.

It seems to me that everyone I speak to about faith in general at the moment falls into one of two categories:

• Those who believe in God and all that the Bible says without question – what we sometimes call 'simple faith.' (Clearly the preferable option – those of you who tell me I make faith too complicated probably fall into this category. I envy you!)
• Those for whom questioning everything about their faith has become the norm, to the point where their faith is being severely tested and challenged.

Maybe I have only been talking to a small contingent of people, maybe there are many more who would fall somewhere between these two extremes, but I have to say, I am not aware of them. It is most likely due to my perception, and as I am a very 'black and white' thinker, its easy to classify people into one of these groups but to fail to see the grey areas. So if there is more to it than this, please let me know.

No surprises, I fall in the second category. I am one of the 'questioners.' And yes, I admit it, it has resulted in many doubts. For me, I know that I will not lose my faith. I don't have concerns about that. It is too deeply rooted in me, and deep down in my heart it's too real to deny, and yet my head questions and questions and questions. Some may consider that this is ok, because as long as my roots are deep and secure then my head can question all it wants, but that is not true for me because my head guides my actions way more than my heart does, and therefore, I am being far less effective in the Kingdom than I would be otherwise. Also, with my questions and doubts and confusions taking up so much space, there is not room enough left to love God, or to be as amazed by Him as I know He deserves.

But this is not really about me, - from some of my recent conversations I have found that a surprisingly high proportion of people, who I know once had such strong faith, are wavering massively and cannot bring themselves to let go of their questions and simply, 'have faith'. However much we talk about the fact that faith is 'faith' because we don't have the answers, and however much we remind people that if the existence, love, or power of God were first proved to us, in order that we might believe, it wouldn't be much of a faith, it is still so hard for them to let go of their questions and 'simply believe'.

(I place myself in this category, so am not getting at anyone in particular).

Why is that? Why are we so frightened to 'let go'. Why are we so frightened to believe without having the answers. Why do we need to know before we believe rather than because we believe. I know precisely why, and it is summed up very nicely by Richard Dawkins.

Individuals in asylums think they are Napoleon or Charlie Chaplin, or that the entire world is conspiring against them, or that they can broadcast their thoughts into other people's heads. We humour them but don't take their internally revealed beliefs seriously, mostly because not many people share them.

Religious experiences are different only in that the people who claim them are numerous. Sam Harris was not being overly cynical when he wrote, in The End of Faith: "We have names for people who have many beliefs for which there is no rational justification. When their beliefs are extremely common we call them 'religious'; otherwise, they are likely to be called 'mad', 'psychotic' or ' delusional'... Clearly there is sanity in numbers. And yet, it is merely an accident of history that it is considered normal in our society to believe that the Creator of the universe can hear your thoughts, while it is demonstrative of mental illness to believe that he is communicating with you by having the rain tap in Morse code on your bedroom window. And so, while religious people are not generally mad, their core beliefs absolutely are."

(Yes, I know I have quoted this before! Sorry to go back there!)

The reason we feel so strongly that we need to know, or have proof before we put believe in God and all that God can do is that we do not want anyone to be able to look at us an say 'you are deluded', or to look at us with pity or disdain. I think this is made all the harder by the fact that we live in a society where being a Christian does not necessarily make our physical lives any better or more enviable, whilst on this earth, than those who choose not to believe.

If we choose to let go of our questions and put faith in God, why shouldn't people call us 'mad' or deluded. As far as our society is concerned everything is explainable, and proof is the only justifiable means for believing in something. We readily accept people who choose to believe something which to us sounds crazy, we find it easy to be 'accepting' but really in our hearts we are saying, 'poor deluded soul'.

I do believe and I do have faith and I do not consider myself poor or deluded. But that is easy for me to say. I am sure someone who thought they had been abducted by aliens, or thought they were Jesus and so on, would say exactly the same thing. The reason that faith is so hard is that we have to be prepared to stand up in front of the world and say, I believe in something that I cannot prove to you is true and that I don't fully understand, and I am prepared to not care that you will think that I am deluded because of that.

The reason that I write this post is that I am concerned by the increasing number of people I am speaking to who are affected by these thoughts, and these questions, and by the massive impact it is having on the whole of their lives. Having these questions and concerns does not make them, (us) happy but its better than being deluded! As I speak to more and more people going through this, I am starting to think more and more that maybe this attitude is coming from the devil. I don't want to scare anyone, and I certainly don't think there is any need to fear since we are on the side of God who is victorious, but I do think we have a responsibility to pray against him if it is the Devil. I wouldn't call this a conviction because I, (being part of that questioning group) would worry I was making a false claim, but I do have a niggle on my heart that it saying we need to get people praying that the Devil will stop making the desire the be considered 'right' and 'sensible' and 'wise' (by the world's standards) greater than the desire for God. It was kind of apt that the evening meeting last week was about resisting evil, and about the fact that there is an unseen spiritual realm out there, which we know little of, but are impacted by. I believe that we can have an impact on that realm too through our prayers. I don't get it, I don't know how, and I am scared that I am wrong, but I think I believe it!

What do people think? Is this something we can do? Could we commit to praying for this? And could we do it seriously? Am I making a big deal out of nothing?