After a recent conversation with a friend navigating the deep waters of questioning how a good God can allow bad things to happen, I found myself likewise taking the plunge. I came across some surprising ideas under the surface of the discussion that seemed to want to be explored, and while this brief treatise in no ways attempts to breach the gap between faith and and full-on doubt, it seems worth commenting that there is an indecision that at times coexists with either (faith or doubt), which is a working suspension of both belief and disbelief in order to search out a matter. With that as the springboard, I will launch right in.
There is a quantum leap between the study of theological and spiritual truths, and the working out of a relationship with God. While there is necessary overlap, like an interstate highway and a state route that enjoin for a period as one road, they nevertheless ultimately lead to entirely different places. One is more like the process of unraveling to understand, even if something is undone in the process. The other is more interested in weaving, and in the end, to create something of greater value than just that of the creative act itself, which of course has its own art and place. James 2:17 says that “faith without works is dead.” There is a lackluster aspect to kicking the tires of stories and statements extracted out of context from the Old Testament (or Covenant) that would seem to decry the God of the New. But much like a butterfly with wingspan pinned open in a natural history exhibit is astonishing and beautiful to survey, it is without life.
In contacs, the life of the Spirit (and that which can only be led only by it) is full of life. Its flow promotes healing, reconciliation, and harmony with everyone around us. The goal is LOVE. This flow leads to peace, and ultimately to reconciliation within our own souls and with those around us, even when with there are some doubts bobbing around in the water. It breeds patience, and shockingly, even some enjoyment of the adventure which is going to lead through the snares and toil that John Newton wrote of. The girth and longevity of those doubts is determined by the extent to which we choose one path without considering the other. Of what use is a theology that does not produce and promote love? It is tasteless salt, suitable only for tossing away and trampling.