Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Certainty vs. Doubt When Not Seeing Is Believing: Andrew Sullivan on the rise of fundamentalism and why embracing spiritual doubt is the key to defusing the tension between East and West. Here's an article that's worth discussing for a week. Andrew Sullivan, writing in Time Magazine, serves up a thoughtful, balanced warning concerning the "blasphemy" of being absolutely certain of one's religious faith. He begins by citing the calm smile of peace on the face of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he spoke to the U.N. recently. It was the "utterly serene" smile of the fundamental believer who knows the world is in his God's hands. From there Sullivan contrasts two different kinds of faiths. The faith of the fundamentalist who is sure of things, and the faith of the ambiguously inclined. As I read the tone of my writing, I'm surprised that it would seem my allegiance lies with the fundamentalist, but in truth, I am of the ambiguous ilk. This balance between what we can know and what we can't has been a tension in my life for a long time. Sullivan appeals to the enormity of God, being assuredly out of our reach, as evidence that we ought not to hold up our banner of belief with the certainty of the medievals, for that kind of certain faith threatens our very civilization. He points to the crusades and invites us to imagine them with nuclear weapons. It isn't hard to see his point. The disciples would have said, "We know." In fact, that is exactly what John says in the first chapter of I John. So doubt as Sullivan is arguing for would not have played well with him. But then Sullivan argues that even Jesus doubted. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I think Sullivan is absolutely right about the humility that we have to bring to our knowing. There is no question that the older I get, the less I know. Humility and the heart of the Christ is first about love, and less about persuasion about ideas. And I know that Dallas Willard and Schaeffer and everyone else says that ideas are paramount, and they are. But ideas must be enfleshed, incarnated, if they are ever to be taken as possible truths. How do you negotiate the certainty of your faith with the humility of doubt? Speaking ideas without incarnation is just pretending... Sadly...I speak from experience... 7:14:06 AM    comment []

Fasting, Scones, and 200 Hundred Decisions a Day Someday soon there will be a blog entry entitled "The Month I Ate Scones." In early August, I decided I had to curb my habit of running to the local coffee shop for my usual (amazing) scone. So I thought I would learn to make scones and in the process, save myself a bit of money. Well, I became a master scone maker, saved a few bucks, and gained about ten pounds in six weeks. So much for wisdom. My relationship to food is not one I think about much. Or at least, I never used to. As age creeps up on me though, my body is changing, and I think to myself, "Does it really have to be this way?" So I think, "be more healthy, exercise more, show great restraint, and be spiritual in your consumption of food" and all the while, I'm scarfing down scones and grape jelly. Days of fasting are especially ridiculous, battles growing to war-like proportion. I'm not exactly reduced to gnashing of teeth, but the gritting of said teeth is not unusual. So I take some comfort in this article. Seduced by Snacks? No, Not You. According to Prof. Brian Wansink's research, people make over 200 food decisions a day--and are outwitted at every turn. By KIM SEVERSON. [NYT > Health] Turns out, I'm being cued right and left by packaging, by visual cues, by others eating around me. Once again--thank the Lord--it's not my fault. In all seriousness, my attachment to food as comfort startles me. It seems such a simple thing. But the fact that our need for sustenance and energy gets laced with our desire for comfort and pleasure to the point where we can hardly tell the difference between "need" and "want" should be a warning. All the vices of life are a bit this way, having their origin in legitimate human need, yet somehow grow into something extreme for reasons as varied as people are unique. If we make 200 food decisions a day, think of the hundreds of other decisions we make as we regulate our behavior concerning other needs and wants. It's easy to see why we all bow before the power of habit. Let's see...breakfast...oatmeal or scones? 5:20:08 AM    comment []

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