The Real Faithful Are Silent?
All the talk about the to-be-aired documentary on the disgraced Rev. Ted Haggard got old Pro to thinking about a comment that appeared below an article on Salon.com questioning the very idea of faith.
Here is a portion of the comment I reference, left Jan. 28:
I admit freely that most of the people who talk loudest about their faith don’t have any. In fact, according to a study on authoritarians, authoritarians who called themselves Evangelical Christians were far more likely to confess, under the protection of anonymity, that they had serious doubts about what they claimed to believe in. These folks are loud not because they have faith but because they don’t. The folks with real faith are the ones mostly keeping their mouths shut. They aren’t afraid that science will disprove the existence of God because they really believe in God, so science is not a threat. When science proves that some passage in the Bible is mistaken, that’s not a threat either; all it means is that that passage is, having been written by human beings, wrong. It doesn’t mean the whole Bible is worthless anymore than the testimony of an eyewitness who was mistaken about the color of a shirt is necessarily worthless. Because the Bible is simply testimony, the writings of some human beings about their experiences.
I found that interesting, in that the authoritarianism the poster describes seems to fit Ted Haggard to a T. And the comment about the Bible being testimony leads me to admit that I’ve long struggled with whether to read the Bible literally or allegorically.
In any case, you might want to check out the entire Salon article and all the comments.
Just Pro’s two cents.
interesting comment Pro, i shall check the Salon article.
Shazza, it will be worth your time.
Comment by Shazza — January 29, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
I don’t want to pass judgment on Haggard as he may have passed it on others, but that comment is pretty true in reference to faith. There’s a passage in the Bible about letting other people praise you instead of you tooting your own horn because it also says your gift will make room for you. In other words, something that just “is” doesn’t need to be proven or defended when YOU know that it “is.”
It’s just like someone who is truly beautiful doesn’t have to tell anyone that s/he is. Others will notice it and comment accordingly when they see it for themselves. Believers are called upon to share their faith, not prove it exists to others, but you can only share something you really have.
A, I praise God I know you. Very well said!! The difference between sharing and proving one’s faith is one I’ve never heard before. Thanks so much!
Comment by A — January 29, 2009 @ 1:42 pm
amen to what A said. the Bible does call us to be humble and let others exalt us, not we ourselves. i don’t feel threatened by people who dispute the accuracy of the Bible (which I wholeheartedly accept as literally the inerrant word of God, cover to cover). i’ve had my fair share of heated discussions with the so-called “enlightened” who claim Christianity to be mental enslavement of blacks. the result was them still being in arrogant darkness and me having heart palpitations. so i hung up my debating clothes long time ago. the Bible even admonishes us to not partake in arguments and disputes over such things. as A said, we are called to share our faith and to be passionate about the salvation of others. BUT none of us can change a person’s heart toward God - only God can draw them. so “religious” debates to try to make a believer out of a nonbeliever are pointless.
i will say though, that i can’t really get with the notion of “silence” or “keeping mouths shut” unless i’m not understanding the point raised above. anything that one is passionate about (i.e. Christ, for any true believer) should be evident in their conversations, which may from time to time involve defending their faith (to a degree) or seeming too loud to some. it may be different from person to person, but i wouldn’t necessarily make the blanket statement that those speaking the loudest doubt their faith at heart. that’s a pretty reckless assumption (though a clearer definition of what involves being too loud with one’s faith could help my understanding of what the writer was saying). “folks with real faith” (using the writer’s words), have a passion to share that with others - the same way that musicians constantly talk music or sports fans talk sports, or artists talk art, etc.-, not necessarily out of fear of our faith being proven wrong, but simply out the excitement birthed from a living relationship with the living Christ. sometimes that passion may raise feelings of “religious indignation” in folks, which i can understand. much in the same way you’d likely “get loud” if someone badmouthed your wife or mom or child or best friend, whom you love, it’s just as easy for someone passionate about God to loudly proclaim their faith to those who always have something to say about God or the Bible’s nonexistence or nonvalidity.
as for Haggard, i, too, will not and cannot pass judgment on the guy. yes, he sinned. but i, too, am a sinner, plain and simple, saved by grace. none of us knows his true salvation/Christian status but him and God.
Amen, Dfly. I had a feeling you’d weigh in big time.
Comment by DflySoul — January 29, 2009 @ 5:13 pm
i mean, i’m just saying
LOL!
Yeah, I feel ya.
Comment by DflySoul — January 29, 2009 @ 5:57 pm
AMEN to the post and to what A said!
“They aren’t afraid that science will disprove the existence of God because they really believe in God, so science is not a threat” SO TRUE!!!!!!! God is the greatest Scientist!! I don’t understand why
people don’t understand??!!!
Thanks, Philly. For me, the belief in the existence of God is a no-brainer. SOMETHING, SOMEONE or SOME FORCE created this universe as we know it, along with us humans. Although I call myself a believer in Jesus, my brain still at times questions the circumstances of His birth and His resurrection. I know it shouldn’t but it does.
Comment by onefromphilly — January 30, 2009 @ 11:36 am
i see your point
Thanks, Dawg.
Comment by rawdawgbuffalo — January 30, 2009 @ 12:20 pm