Nov 132012
 

First, it is no longer because…

…I’d be afraid of eternal hellfire if I weren’t a Christian. I just don’t believe that’s how things work.  It is impossible for me to believe in a supreme god so cruel and narrow-minded that he/she/it would create billions of human beings to be born into circumstances making it impossible to choose Christianity, or any other belief system, as the only way to eternal bliss.  While we might be free to create our own living hell to the degree that we choose the illusion of separation from the One, I do not believe that choice is available to us as a limited-time offer.  As I understand it, God’s love must be infinite, and so we have all eternity to welcome it and thus realize our oneness with God and each other.  However any of our beliefs and understandings might be mistaken, and our actions misguided, I completely trust God to be endlessly merciful and patient with understanding each of us even better than we understand ourselves.

…I’m too afraid of following a different path from many of my loved ones. While I know that some of my Christian friends and family members would be disappointed and in fear for my soul if I disavowed Christianity, I also know that others would not.  All the human acceptance, belonging, and companionship I could ever need would still be available to me, and I know that those hurt or frightened by my choice would be okay.  Furthermore, there is a limit to how far I am willing to go in accommodating the prejudices of even my dearest loved ones, and for everyone’s sake one thing I will not do is pretend to hold religious beliefs that don’t make sense to me or resonate with the still small voice in my heart.

…I judge other religions as inferior, misguided, or evil. As a Christian, I believe we all share equally in the Logos, the Word that is one with God and through which all that is has come to be.  As I understand it, when Jesus says things such as, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6),  he is speaking on behalf of the universal Logos, not of himself as the historical man, Jesus of Nazareth. Every philosophy, religion, spiritual tradition, every art and every science, is a manifestation of the Logos expressing and experiencing Itself through us.  In keeping with this, I do not believe the Christian Bible, in any version, is the one, true, inerrant, perfect and complete word of God, or even the best collection of revelation and wisdom available to all humanity.  There is no ‘best one’ for all humanity, but only a ‘best’ for each of us if we are so moved by the Spirit to discover for ourselves.  Finally, to me Christianity is not a religious team competing against other religious teams.  I will not cheer “Yay!” for ‘our side’ and “Boo!” for ‘their side.’  There is only one side, and it is all of us, believers of every faith and non-believers alike, each responding to the mysteries of our existence in the best way we can.

Each of those motivations has, at one time in my life or another, been part of why I called myself a Christian.  I’m thankful for the Divine Grace and Infinite Love that has freed me from them.

I am a Christian because…

…I was born into a Christian world. The sounds of Christianity were entering my consciousness before I left my mother’s womb.  All the other sensations of Christianity have been flooding into me ever since I was born.  My abilities to think, to speak, to sing, to recognize my feelings, to experience trust, hope, and love, to identify one person as family, another as friend, and another as neighbor or community member, all of these developments in my consciousness occurred in a Christian environment.  The stories of the Bible were like family legends.  Jesus was a beloved member of the family we all hoped to finally meet face-to-face, and his Father was our Heavenly Father whom we trusted to guide and protect us.  In time, I would even come to embrace his mother as The Mother.  I know that all of this means I am virtually hardwired to experience and express myself as a Christian. Therefore, all the deepest insights into my own psyche, both conscious and subconscious, all the highest realizations of the spirit animating my life in this world, all the most powerful acts of love I can participate in, cannot help but be interwoven with the emblems, stories, and rituals of Christianity.  Every piece of it is a path back through my psychological inner child to the spiritual child that is a spark of the Divine. The same is true of any other religion for those who are born to it.

…Christianity is my religious home. I have had my rebellion and have made my quest into the larger world of religions and philosophies.  I have enjoyed and benefited from what I have found.  Some of those things will always be with me, and others I will return to from time to time.  Yet, like the prodigal son, I also discovered that home is indeed where the heart is, and my heart is enfolded by Christianity.  It is the religion in which I find it most natural to express my spiritual awe, gratitude, and love of life.  Despite what I previously said about not being too afraid to be different from many of my loved ones, the fact remains that Christianity is interwoven with most of my closest relationships.  It is the common language of spirit we speak with each other, and I no longer see it as a barrier between me and the people of other faiths.  I’m deeply grateful for all these things, and no longer see any compelling reason to reject Christianity as my religious home.  Home is where the heart is.

…I don’t need to practice a different religion. I have found that Christianity offers everything I want and need in a religion.  Where I once judged it inferior in some ways to other religions, I have come to see that this was primarily because my own perspective was so narrow, shallow, and poorly informed, and because my immediate religious environment was so limited. Both the worldly and the mystical wisdom of our scriptures and early fathers and mothers becomes clearer with each passing year. Even as the history of our religion has many examples of very human shortcomings and atrocities, I nonetheless see the cup of this tradition overflowing with intelligence, creativity, grace, peace, joy, and love. The poetry, visual art, music, and ceremonies of Christianity are beautiful to me.  They inspire me to contemplate the transcendent and they move me to feel intimacy and kinship with all creation.  The Church offers me countless opportunities, encouragement, support, and role models for service to others.  What else could I possibly need?  Perhaps a different perspective is needed from time to time, but one perspective needs to already be in place in order for another to be different, and I no longer feel that being a Christian prohibits me from seeing differently.

Maranatha

Agape

  4 Responses to “Why I am a Christian”

  1. Great job on this, Chuck. The title you chose for this post reminded me of my old college days, reading and agreeing with Bertrand Russell’s “Why I Am NOT A Christian”. Who knew?

    I especially appreciate your analogy to sport. Just as there are sports “fanatics”, there are religious ones too. We cheer for our favorite team just like we cheer for our favorite Christian message. And, when we “win”, we get to rub our opponents’ noses in it! Contemplating our very strong egoic identifications in this regard is well worth the meditation time.

    Steve

    • Thanks, Steve. Yep, I couldn’t avoid thinking of Bertrand Russell as I wrote this. 🙂

      I’m glad you spelled out the part about contemplating our egoic identifications. Most of us are rarely encouraged to do that as part of our spiritual formation. We think we’re supposed to just accept that Christianity is ‘the right religion’ and get on with it, never realizing that this traditional wall of unquestioning conformity facilitates keeping a whole host of unhealthy, unwise, and unkind motivations as hidden factors in our religious thinking and behavior.

      Agape,
      Chuck

  2. Hi Chuck,

    I’ve been meaning to speak on your topic for a while but several of life’s recent happenings have occurred and I just had only one shot at reading it. Now, I revisit it after re-reading it and reflecting more.

    Bravo! Ole’, viva el gran matador! You are certainly muy courageous.

    YQ: “As I understand it, God’s love must be infinite, and so we have all eternity to welcome it and thus realize our oneness with God and each other.”

    I have to laugh in a way due to one of the programs on the H2 (History Channel #2) concerning the “Lost Books of the Bible” or the “Forbidden Books of the Bible” which I listened to recently, in particular the Gospel of Peter, I think if I’m not misquoting. In it there is a passage where Jesus is speaking to Peter according to the commentator in which a secret is revealed – something to the effect in the description of Hell there is this revelation that “in the end, they all get out”.

    So, of course the immediate question is, if that’s the case then what’s the point of doing anything good since everyone that continues to do evil simply spends time in a holding cell until somewhere along the eternal line God makes a decision to “Come on out” or “Come on up” in this case.

    I suppose this may be one reason the book became “hidden” or “forbidden”, ha, lol.

    YQ: “Furthermore, there is a limit to how far I am willing to go in accommodating the prejudices of even my dearest loved ones, and for everyone’s sake one thing I will not do is pretend to hold religious beliefs that don’t make sense to me or resonate with the still small voice in my heart.”

    Very astute of you, I applaud your awareness and marvel at your abilities. Somewhat like you, I too had to arrive at a place of releasing some sort of “fear” based upon the “herd mentality” of following a “religion” or what others thought and said was “right” for me rather than following my heart in seeking God. I suppose this has some bearing on what Christ said concerning giving up your father, your mother, and all others to follow Him.

    YQ: “In keeping with this, I do not believe the Christian Bible, in any version, is the one, true, inerrant, perfect and complete word of God, or even the best collection of revelation and wisdom available to all humanity.”

    It is amazing to me as I read such documents as the “Books of Adam and Eve”, “The Gospel of Nicodemus”, “The Book of Enoch”, and others, I find significant phrases that are also incorporated in certain passages of the bible so similar in meaning and in context. In many cases explaining more of questionable portions I have pondered without knowing where to go for resolution other than prayer. This, to me, is most fascinating because in a much earlier time in my life I would never have sought anything more than just the bible as the supreme ultimate inerrant conclusive source. Now I find when I bring up these other sources to others there is this remarkable close-mindedness. And I have to fall back and ask the question, “What’s the big secret?” The answer I’ve found seems to be “fear”.

    Gregory pointed out in one other thread something to the effect of if a person is not well founded in their faith then perhaps they should not delve into contemplation. I think this is aptly true in seeking deeper altogether. Despite all of that, I’m still not labeling myself as a mystic or contemplative, ha, lol.

    I think for myself it has become most fruitful to have departed from the physical setting of a church after so many years of blindly going along with the crowds and becoming a follower of a “following”. Now, I find sitting, walking, resting, talking, dreaming, and awakening solitarily with God while the Holy Spirit instructs and guides me has allowed Him to provide the “trust” I so desperately sought. Of course much of my life has been a shambles, but as I reflect back, I am much better for it and able to “having done all, stand.”

    YQ: “Every piece of it is a path back through my psychological inner child to the spiritual child that is a spark of the Divine.”

    I see your statement as an awakening in itself to come to a point of realization of that Divine spark so rightly equated to the Apostle Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill – Acts 17: 19-32.

    YQ: “It is the religion in which I find it most natural to express my spiritual awe, gratitude, and love of life.”

    On this statement I question and nothing in opposition but more of a much deeper than surface reality. I see Christianity “the religion” as a possible means to a much more intimate end so to speak; in that I see the real Christian as someone outside of the religion and more in a personal relationship with the living God. I suppose claiming Christianity as one’s religion if pinned to the carpet does have some merit but I see it more than a religion.

    YQ: Perhaps a different perspective is needed from time to time, but one perspective needs to already be in place in order for another to be different, and I no longer feel that being a Christian prohibits me from seeing differently.”

    I agree with you most whole-kindheartedly even though it is not necessarily a complete equating simply because the ways the Holy Spirit has brought you are different than the ways He has brought me up to this point. Most likely in Heaven when we meet the King of kings, then we may see together as we have been seen. In the meantime, it is good to know we trust Him in His wisdom of what is best for each individual in the drawing and wooing to His love and the expression of it into the lives of others.

    Peace
    Fred

    • Hi Fred,

      Thanks for the kind words and reflections. I think less of myself as being courageous with all of this than someone who finally just got tired of hiding and lying about these things. I also think this has less to do with bravery than with so thoroughly trusting God and my closest loved ones that there isn’t really much to fear anymore. With all of that, I also feel a lot of compassion for my Christian sisters and brothers who are living with the stress of believing that they must deny the voices of Christ and the Holy Spirit in their own hearts, and instead listen to the voices of fear, hatred, and authoritarianism posing as the arbiters of God’s will. I want them to at least know they are not alone.

      On the idea of an eternal opportunity for every soul to welcome its oneness with God, we don’t have to look at apocrypha and other religions (although I recommend it if someone feels led to do so) because there are hints of it in our canonized scriptures as well. As to the threat of eternal hellfire being necessary as a motive to do good, I suppose for some people that would be true, but I suspect it is not nearly as necessary as many of us think it is. Millions of Buddhists manage to be remarkably peaceful, loving, honest, and orderly without any such fear. I suspect that the way we treat people has more to do with our sense of compassion and our rational understanding of the need for things like justice, equality, liberty, and order. So I think it would actually be more sane and spiritual to spend more time educating our children about these things, and less in trying to scare the shit out of them. Right now I recall the adage, “Belief in a cruel God makes for a cruel person.”

      Finally, I completely agree with religion being a means to something more intimate. Actually, the word ‘religion’ means just that, to re-connect, re-tie, re-bind ourselves with the One who is Love, Truth, Beauty. In my own view, the supreme aim of all genuine religious traditions is to lead us to That which is the Source of them, and which speaks to us through them, yet which also transcends them.

      Thanks, again, brother. 🙂

      Agape,
      Chuck

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