Crazy Faith.

So lately, I've been reading this book entitled "Know Why You Believe" by Paul Little for a Suncrest Christian Church leadership track assignment. It's basically a book entitled to sort of go through different parts of the Christian faith and talk about rational reasons why we can believe in them. I think there's a lot of worth in books like this, mostly because I think that a lot of people don't understand that there really are some good, rational reasons to believe in the message of the Bible.

But there's also this other part of me that seems to come out when I read books like this that just tries to find loopholes in every bit of reasoning, each idea, all that stuff. I'm discovering that at my core, I can be a pretty skeptical person at times. I'm also discovering that I'm one of those people who leaves no stone unturned; I try to look at stuff from all the different angles that I can. I guess faith is no different. As I read, I can feel part of my mind just doing it's own skeptical thing: "Yeah, you say that, but maybe this happened instead," that sort of thing.

I think that's kind of a weird thing about me, and certainly not necessarily a bad thing (though it can be at times). I think it's really healthy to question and probe and even doubt faith at times. It makes us stronger. Well-rounded. It also puts us in a place where many other believers and pre-believers alike find themselves. But I think another thing it reminds me of is sometimes just how crazy this stuff we believe in is.

Don't misunderstand me; I believe in Jesus and I believe in the authority of Scripture as God's Word and all that stuff. But I think that we as Christians have this unhealthy tendency to just cruise along and forget how mystical and magical some of the stuff we believe really is:

A virgin being with child?

A man who shows up out of nowhere doing miracles and teaching people as they have never been taught before?

People being healed from their lifelong diseases and infirmities?

A guy who dies and then comes back to life three days later?

Folks, these aren't everyday occurences. Yet I think as Christ followers we often just get tunnel-vision and kind of shrug our shoulders and go, "Man, I don't understand how people can't believe in this stuff!" I'm not in any way saying the Bible is any less real, or that these crazy, magical events didn't happen. I'm just saying that it's not everyday people have children without sex, or that people rise from the dead. Maybe if we carried that consideration into the way we shared Christ with the culture and world around us, we might find more success. For some, faith in all of this comes very naturally. But for many, it doesn't. I think that as Christ followers if we truly believe we carry the Truth in what we believe, we won't be scared to embrace others fears, doubts, and questions.

I think it's a good idea to take a step back and realize the radical nature of God's story, Jesus' teaching, and simply the nature of what we believe to be true. It might have an incredible impact on the way that we share Christ with other people.