Some Ways College Got Me Thinking

I want to take a minute to thank my readers. I’ve loved all your input! Thanks for all your honest thoughts on these complex issues. I love the furthering questions many of you have posed, and I really appreciate the points that some of you have contributed more to or expanded upon. That is exactly what I want this blog to be about. 

I will do my best to answer your comments, but I want to apologize in advance if I don’t have the time to get to something you posted or don’t address them as extensively as you might like. I’m taking a full load this quarter, plus working as a nanny, so I don’t have a ton of free time.

Now, let’s get to the subject of today's post. I thought I’d write a bit more about how being in college has forced me to start asking myself some of those “big questions” about life and faith.

Me (far left) with some cousins at a birthday party.

 

I “asked Jesus into my heart” when was 3 years old, and I have no memory of it. I have, however, been told the story on numerous occasions. It was my older brother, Josh’s, Christian birthday (the date he became a Christian). I don’t remember my family normally having a party or celebration for our Christian birthdays, but I guess that year, Josh was getting cake.  

I liked cake. 

Now, I’ve been told that my parents explained to me the reason why he was getting cake, and I said I understood, but I’ve never been quite sure whether I became a Christian more for Jesus or for cake.

But that’s another point for another post. What I'm saying is, I have considered myself a Christian for a long time. But in my 18 years following Jesus, no stage of my life has involved as much critical question asking as the past three years at college. 

Psychology classes made me ask whether guilt I feel is really God’s spirit inside me, or if I only feel badly because my parents and culture have trained me to feel that way.

Literature classes made me consider if the writings of Apostle Paul (author of much of the New Testament) really align with the teachings of Jesus, or if they are actually in conflict with each other.

Anthropology classes made me wonder if the God of Christianity was a god that could transcend culture, or if he was merely a “rich, white, American” god.

 

Some of these questions, after prayer, research, and much thought, led me to the answers I held all along. Other forced me to change my thinking.

An example a point on which my thinking has changed is about the first chapters of Genesis. (One of the reasons I use this example is to answer a question that was posted in response to my last blog entry).

Four years ago, I would not have tolerated anything but a completely literal interpretation. There was a physical place called Eden, a man and woman named Adam and Eve, and a real snake. 

Then in college, I heard sound, logical, fact based arguments that didn't seem to fit with my understanding of creation. I thought a lot about them. I wondered changing my mind would mean invalidating my faith. I talked with other wise Christians and listened to their views.

Now, I am ok with the Creation Story not being literal. I actually am leaning towards thinking it is most likely not literal.

The author was not an eyewitness. In fact, he lived thousands of years later. I’m ok with Adam being an archetype. In fact, his name is a play on words.  God made Adam out of dirt. In Hebrew “Adam” means mankind, and "adama" means dirt. Adam out of adama.

The writer also used imagery from cultures around him, but changed it in significant ways to show how this God is different. In those days, idols where created in the image of gods and they were believed to have that God’s spirit living in them. Man was made in God’s image, and he breathed the His spirit of life into them. In addition, the Sun was a very common god in many surrounding nations. I don’t think it’s any mistake that God created light and day before he created the sun. It’s like the author is saying, “Our God is so powerful, he doesn’t even need the sun for there to be day.”

 

The man who wrote Genesis was using human words, written in was his current culture would understand it. He was striving to tell the story of an event that no human witnessed and is probably so extraordinary that it is beyond human comprehension. I think his main concern was to establish Yahweh God as the Supreme Being and Creator of All Things, setting him apart from the gods of other nations.

I now believe that that is the important part of the story. The “how” behind creation, while interesting to think about, is not as important to me as the “who.” Too often, I think Christians cling onto one detail, while not looking at the big picture.

Just look at Galileo, almost excommunicated because he challenged the "fact" that the earth was the center of the universe.

What do you think? Are you comfortable with my take on Genesis 1-3?

Do you have any beliefs you’ve had to reconsider after asking yourself some tough questions?

Religious Puppets

I recently stumbled upon a video on youtube that was a part of a young man's video blog.

He began this post by talking about how he was a Christian when he started his blog two years ago, but since then he has left the faith. He said that, looking back at his previous Christianity, he felt like he had been a "religious puppet." He went on to say that he had based many of his decisions about life and morality on his faith, and in this way became its puppet. He believes now that people should decide for themselves what they believe to be right or wrong and live their lives accordingly.

I both agree and disagree with this post. Let me tell you why.

I agree that thinking for yourself and not following something blindly is super important. College has been a great place for me to do this.

When I was a senior in high school and deciding which university to go to, my top two choices were Western Washington University and Whitworth University. Western is a medium sized, state university while Whitworth is a small, private Christian college. They both had good Music and Elementary Education programs (the two things I was interested in), and both were a couple hours away from my home (far enough away for me to feel independent but close enough to make going home not too difficult).

I went back and forth in my mind, struggling to make a decision. Finally, the time came to make up my mind. As you may know, I picked Western, but the reason might surprise you.

It wasn't to be with friends, or to save money, or because I liked Bellingham better than Spokane. The main reason I chose to go to Western was because it wasn't a Christian environment.

I wanted my faith to be challenged.

And it has been.

I'll probably talk about this more fully in a later post, but my time away at university has involved a lot of doubt about my beliefs. My freshman year especially, but throughout all my years here, my faith has been challenged -- I've had to ask myself a lot of tough questions.

Classes like History, Psychology, and Anthropology as well as simply living on my own and meeting new people have led me to think a lot about why I believe what I believe. I have been forced to find out if my beliefs hold water, so to speak. I have had to see if what I thought in theory has a place in reality.

As a Christian, I believe God created everything, and everything has a purpose. So, I don't see why He would make humans with a brain capable of great analytic thinking, but ask us to check it at the door when we think about Him.

One of the pastors at CCF, my college church group, once said that God is big enough to take your questions and doubts. If you earnestly seek answers and He falls short, He isn't worth your time.

But here's where I disagree with that video: I don't think that there is anything wrong with your moral thinking being based on your faith.

Every good parent sets boundaries for their children. Does following those rules make us their puppets?

Perhaps... if we follow them blindly or if we follow when we honestly believe they don't have our best interest at heart.

However, I believe that God not only has my best interest at heart, but he, being the creator of all things, knows what's good for me much better than I.

I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. - God (Jeremiah 29:11)

Just like a parent who tells a young child that they shouldn't have ice cream and jelly beans for dinner, we may feel like God is denying us something we want when He is really just looking out for us because we can't fully understand yet. We can choose to obey, or we can go to bed with a tummy ache.

So, when a teaching of the Bible confuses me, I will never stop trying to understand it, but I will also not consider myself a puppet because I follow it. I trust that God sees things more clearly than I do.

I have a lot more thoughts on the subject, but I think I'll stop here and maybe hear some thoughts from you. I love honesty and I invite disagreement. I your opinion differs from mine, I'd still love to hear from you. But be respectful, please! So, here are some questions to ponder:

• When was a time in your life that you had to question your beliefs?
• Do you think it makes you a puppet if you believe in something you don't always understand?