Faith. Substance or Scam?

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your  ways my  ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts".

As I read the words of Isaiah 55:8-9 this morning,  a snippet of courage welled up in me to share a few lingering contrarian thoughts about the nature of faith. Briefly, I expect no self-respecting Christian to agree, but maybe some simple followers of Christ will.

First look at the orthodox position on faith. The Bible unceasingly stresses that faith is the fuel that makes the motor run. Without it, there is nothing but empty blather about theology, and in extreme cases, cynicism about God Himself.  Faith is said to be the one thing that moves God to forgive us, and it alone generates the power necessary to move God to indwell us with His Spirit.  All the great heroes were faith people and all of their victories are attributed to faith that God would be good to His word.

No faith?  No experience. No experience? No faith?

So far I agree, except those last two clever lines, which I just coined. It's the experience piece that seems to baffle me. I hear people speak about their experience with God all the time, and I see it plastered all over Facebook, as if making public statements about one's faith will influence others to: 1) Convert or  2) Congratulate them on their amazing faith.  It seems that wearing faith badges for everyone to see is a good way to passively "witness",  but if not judiciously done , it's also a subtle way to elicit much needed admiration.

Since my first book, Praying When Prayer Doesn't Work (See link on this blog), I have operated on the premise that much of what we hear others say about Christianity is more about dogma than experience. I have said for years that I seemed to have missed the boat when it comes to receiving all the spiritual kickbacks that others so readily claim they have in abundance. "The Lord said to me" is a classic, as is all that about Jesus being our best friend and constant companion. I grew up wondering why He didn't walk and talk with me and tell me I was His own.  It seemed like people heard voices all the time, that I missed hearing. I know one sane man who said He heard God's audible voice call him to ministry. I have another very sane friend who sees angels and auras around people. I can't doubt them because I am not them, but I can wonder why on the Faith-Experience continuum, I seem to be stuck at one end.  Funny enough, it's the faith end.

Now, I already know most , if not all the easy knee-jerk fundamentalist answers to my statements. They include, "You need to get saved, boy!"; "You need to spend more time seeking God"; "You need a good baptism of the Holly Gost!" (Phonetic writing).

All sound answers I'm sure, but it's odd the time I was the lowest spiritually and weakest carnally, I spent hours daily in prayer and Scripture reading, weeping and seeking something from above.   I was excepting a kick back, but got more silence.

The great ones say silence is not a sign that God is absent. Take Mother Teresa who says she spent six years hearing nothing from God. How about St. John the Divine, Brother Lawrence, Corrie Ten Boom and Jesus, all who witnessed to feeling forsaken at times? I guess C. S. Lewis also fits that category as well. His conversion was a logical choice, not a Damascus Road experience.

In my book I quote Ken Gire,  holding tightly to his words that "God is not indiscriminately intimate". Okay, I can understand that.  It's at least reasonable, and it doesn't  accuse me of spiritual sloth or ignorance because Jesus doesn't blow in my ear every twenty minutes, or "Mysteriously" show up when I  yield to the manipulations of public worship.  It makes sense that God's ways are not my ways, and when He's ready to speak or show me some angels, He will.

Until then? "Faith, boy, you need more faith".

The notion of faith being a scam relates to the underlying assumption of how so many speak of their faith.  Follow this trail of circular logic: The Bible says in order to find God, I must have faith.  How do I get faith? Believe the Bible is true when it speaks about getting faith. How do I know I can believe the Bible? Because it says it's true.

This reminds me of a Far Side cartoon that shows a Viking ship.  On one side there are four muscle bound brutes, on the other, three skinny wimps. While all are rowing hard, one of the brilliant leaders observes: “I’ve got it too Omar...a strange feeling like we’ve just been going in circles”.  

Obviously, faith is not something one can prove with words or equations. Faith is only proved in experience and told through personal witness. The faith of others may inspire us, but only our own faith experience carries the weight of credibility when it comes to what we say to others. That's why I have trouble with the "He walks with me and talks with me" saints. He doesn't do that with me, at least not that I'm aware of.  I think God is mostly silent, not warm and fuzzy. After all, if He lives in my pocket, I have no need for faith. Faith is only necessary when we can not see, not when we a BF's with the Almighty.

Remember, Paul teaches that faith and hope do not abide, only love. Why? What need is there for faith and hope in heaven where we will see completely all that is dark to us now.

The ubiquitous (and glib) promises of prayer coupled with all the amazing nuggets of pedantic or easy wisdom that I see flowing around Facebook from the super saints,  calls me to question my faith. Those people so easily create a dogma that explains God's silence and absence by saying that's the best part of being a believer – nothing happens. You know, that's when faith grows.

Again, why do we need faith? Top believe God is there, even when He doesn't appear to be active today with little hope for anything new tomorrow.

Isn't that circular logic?  Don't most of us believe the foundational tenet of my old teacher's college training that positive behavior needs to be rewarded with positive feedback?  So why doesn't God reward our positive demeanor with more holy vibes from above? Some say He does, every single time they pray, and even when they don't.  But I have both read the Bible and prayed and got the ever-inspiring silence that I'm suppose to regard as God's best reward. That's okay for awhile, but six years, Mother T?

I guess God's ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are much higher than mine. I admit, by Facebook standards,  I have no faith at all.  Maybe we all need to limit our super-saint faith talk to only that which comes from experience, not what we ought to be saying. Keep it real, and the millions who have wandered from the "faith of their fathers" will take notice.  

I may have more to say about this later. What do you say?