Faith in God and its consequences
So you are person of religious faith – do you ever wonder what that means – I do. For starters, what faith? Do you believe in one of the many orthodox religions? Or is your faith a generalization about life and God in general? If so, I must confess that seems pretty vague to me.
In the assorted definitions of faith you find in various dictionaries, Merriam-Webster has one that intrigues me: “Faith: a firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust.” Wow, that’s pretty strong. Do you know anyone who does this?
I can hear the answers now – “Of course, I do, not only do I know people like this; I am a person of faith myself.” This of course begs the same question, what does that mean?
It seems that to feel that strongly about “your faith” you should have a very clear and concise concept of what your faith is about. We are not talking about vague generalities here; I mean a concept that can be stated simply and clearly understood.
Most of us will, sooner or later, survive this first step. The next step may be more difficult. Faith bestows on us some benefit. It gives us something we need and want. This is why so many atheists accuse us, who proclaim a faith in a loving God, as something we made up to suit our personal needs.
If we leave it at that, they would have a strong point. However, there is another part of faith that we all need to embrace and that is the necessary, deeply personal obligation that faith asks us to accept as our calling. This can bring with it some troubling revelations.
For one it requires sacrifice, a word that forces us to accept many uncomfortable contradictions about ourselves that have to be confronted and resolved. This is a troubling process because it tends to reveal our hypocrisy.
Most of us do not see ourselves as hypocrites, and in the general sense, we are not. However, when we deal with the deepest meaning of our faith and the personal sacrifice it requires, we are forced to reflect and accept a much deeper course of action than we may have anticipated.
For those of you who have achieved this level of commitment and understanding there is little to offer you from this point, but for the rest of us who still struggle with this dilemma, the problem is real and the contradictions that we are forced to reconcile deeply felt.
What level of sacrifice are we willing to accept? Is there a more telling question than this to test the real level of our faith commitment? When asked in the abstract, it is an easy question. However, it is the very nature of religious faith to eventually present the existential situation or crises that will tell you where you stand.
For most of us we will then learn if our belief in God is an implied contract or a covenant. As you know, a contract has conditions; a covenant is unconditional - without conditions. The distinction between these two realities is so vast it defies description.
For Christians, it is inevitable to realize your God is asking for a convent – love and with sacrifice without conditions. Perhaps this is what divides the rest of us from the saints. They accepted the covenant as an act of love. The rest of us will always have to depend to mercy as our last resort.
Again, this still begs the last question. Is the acceptance of divine mercy nothing more than a last resort, a rationalization that allows us to continue to live a life of “cheap grace” - a term Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave us that will never allow the truth to be anything else but the authentic path we are all called to follow?
Brother Giovanni
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