I am a Christian who believes in the
love and forgiveness of God. I struggle, however, when my church
says Jews, Muslims, and people of other faiths are going to
hell. How can a loving and forgiving God condemn children of
strict Muslim countries to hell, when this is all they have
been taught?
In my opinion, one of Christianity's greatest
failings has been its insistence that only Christians are truly
loved by God. That is triumphalism and hubris, and not a good
interpretation of Scripture or a faithful adherence to what
Jesus said and did. It is the voice of an institution trying
to make its way in a competitive environment, not the voice
of a loving and forgiving God.
In
my opinion, we need to appreciate that there are many pathways
to God, and
that when Jesus said, “I am way, I am truth, I am life,” he probably
was adding himself as another way to God, not declaring all other ways invalid.
I encourage you to reach your own conclusion. For one thing, become familiar
with Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and other faiths, see what they truly proclaim,
see how faithful adherents of those pathways actually live. I think you will
find them very similar to the ways decent Christians live. We make God too
small when we declare that only people like us can know God.
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I
am a Christian woman who never had children. My childhood
was abusive and seemed chaotic so much of the time. Even
though my mind knows about idolatry and that anything
of this earth is temporal, I am struggling with finding
a
balance. I have two beautiful dogs
that are my constant companions. I'm certain I have made "children" of
them in my heart. I recently found a lump
on one of them, and it sent my heart racing down the "what
if" road. I believe God is trying to use this to
make me see that I love my dogs too much.An idol, as I see it, is anything to which we give devotion
that should belong to God. Thus, the Hebrews in the wilderness
made a golden calf and worshiped it as a god. It sounds to
me as if you have chosen to love your dogs as a substitute
for children, not a substitute for God. That doesn't sound
like idolatry to me.
As to your dog's illness, I don't believe God sends pain or disease to teach
us lessons. We might learn from our suffering, but that doesn't mean God was
the cause of our suffering.
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My daughter is 14 years old, has been
raised in church most of her life and has strong beliefs in
God. She has a boyfriend who is, I believe, an atheist. He
is 16 years old, never been raised in church, and hasn't had
much guidance. But he is a good kid. We are going to try to
get him into church. He really knows nothing about God at all.
He doesn't know what it feels like to have faith in things
unseen with your eyes. Is there anything else we can do for
him? He believes once you die life is over, no heaven or hell.
This really concerns me that there are people like this.
I hope you will start by understanding that
faith is a lifelong journey. It starts in childhood for some
and later for others. Whenever the faith journey starts, it
tends to be rocky road with many twists and turns. The fact
that your daughter's boyfriend doesn't have an active faith
at age 16 simply means that it hasn't happened for him yet.
You can help him by inviting him to share your faith community.
Not as a should, but as an invitation. One of the quickest
ways to discourage someone from considering faith is to make
it a heavy-handed matter of judgment.
If he sees your family praying at meals, treating their daughter with dignity
and respect, valuing family cohesion, attending church together, and having healthy
values, he will want to know more about the God who is molding you.
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I am concerned about doubt. The Bible says that to enter heaven
we need to believe that Jesus is the son of God and believe
it in our hearts. Surely, if I doubt, then I don't completely
believe? I very much want to believe, but I don't have a sense
of peace inside me that I am saved. The most that I can seem
to muster is a great hope that it's true. I would also like
to know about speaking in tongues. I have seen people speaking
in tongues, and it has been explained to me as an expression
of love for God when we are filled with the Spirit. I would
very much like to speak in tongues or have some kind of revelation
of God's love, but nothing ever seems to happen for me. This
greatly contributes to my doubt. I am struggling with these
questions.
You are asking important questions. No simple
answers. You could spend a lifetime on these questions. I will
give you some brief answers, but I urge you to keep digging,
perhaps in the company of healthy Christian friends.
First, I think doubt is normal. The claims of faith are enormous and, by any
reasonable standard, should kindle in us confusion, questions, uncertainties
and doubts. Not that God wants to leave us there. But we have to start the faith
journey by being shaken free from old ways. That process of newness happens again
and again.
Second, wanting to know God is far more important than thinking of oneself as
already having arrived. Faith is a journey, not a destination. There is always
more.
Third, speaking in tongues is one of the 25 spiritual gifts that Paul enumerates.
It needs to be paired with another gift, namely, interpretation of tongues. Thus,
tongues is always a community event, not a private accomplishment. It exists
for the good of the community. Over the years, Christians have been tempted to
see spiritual gifts in a hierarchy of value, with some placing tongues at the
top of the list.
This
was the situation in Corinth that led Paul to write his first
letter to the Corinthians. Read chapters 12 and 13. In fact,
all gifts
of the Spirit are necessary for a healthy Christian community. The more exotic
or noticeable are not more valuable than quiet gifts like teaching or hospitality.
Moreover, gifts are given, not achieved. Rather than set out to attain a specific
gift, you should reflect on what gift God seems to have given you. It would
be a shame for you not to exercise your God-given gift while
you pursued something
that wasn't God's intent for you.
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How
can you explain to a person what faith is?
I
think it's like talking about love. Yes, there
are concepts, assertions and definitions. But the
best way to talk about love is to tell about someone
you love, and how loving that person has changed
your life. It's about feelings, experiences, glimmers
of understanding — “soft data,” perhaps,
in comparison with doctrine and definition, but
probably more hearable, more convincing. It's why
Jesus taught
in parables. The kingdom of God, he said, is like
a father whose love was extravagant, or like a
woman who found a pearl, or like a wedding banquet.
To talk about faith, then, you might talk about a moment when God's mercy touched
your life, or a warming of your spirit during prayer or worship, or how you are
making different decisions because of faith. The point is not to define God and
to impose that definition on someone, but to help them see your beloved through
your eyes. Their own language of faith might turn out to be different from yours.
That's okay.
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I have struggled for a long time to
know what exactly my gifts or talents are and how to use
these to serve God and people.
In my experience, discernment of one's gifts
involves both a conversation with God and conversations with
other people. In talking with God, you can ask for guidance,
explore ideas aloud, express your passions, hear yourself,
and ask God to be a light on your path. I believe God does
respond to our prayers, although it isn't always easy to
perceive that response.
In talking with others, you are looking for some confirmation of giftedness.
What gifts do they see in you? It might be artistic, but it might be something
entirely different, such as hospitality or mercy or intercession. God tends to
work through us before we are aware of that happening. By inviting others into
your questioning, you are asking them to hold up a mirror and tell you what God
already seems to be doing in you.
These conversations will help you out of the isolation that can occur when we
are unsure of ourselves.
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What
should a young man do when he wants to get free from
homosexuality?
I suggest that you step back two paces and
approach this matter differently. First, given the volatile
nature of the topic of homosexuality, I urge you to find
a pastor or counselor whom you can trust. These are matters
that require dialog, the kind of searching conversation that
cannot happen in a forum like these questions and answers.
Ultimately, you need to come to your own understandings,
but a wise and trustworthy pastor or counselor can help you.
Second, in that dialog, I urge you to examine homosexuality,
to determine if
it is something that one would want to be “free from,” or a normal
and natural part of human life. In that examination, consider your own sexuality.
Admittedly, not an easy topic to discuss. But before you view yourself negatively
and explore ways to purge something that might be intrinsic to who you are, you
should examine the issues.
To
learn more about Tom Ehrich’s writings, visit www.onajourney.org.
