Seekism

At the end of the day…. December 31, 2005

I will concede that it’s impossible for me to provide you the proof that you ask for. Jesus said it best … that the works that he did are sufficient proof that he came from God. And I’ve found that the works he’s done in my life are proof enough.
– Novato

And there we have it. I believe that as Christians, we have to admit that many of our beliefs are experiential. There is no way to prove many of the things we hold to as reality. In fact, we have to give similar credibility to the scholars and their conclusions even though there is no way to substantiate all of their theories either.

I was taught our faith is not a “blind faith.” That it is based on actual facts and reality. However, the reality is, all we have to back up our beliefs are our own experiences. Some of us, have more experiences than others, and there are some who do not have any.

We also have to face the fact that there are many in other belief systems who have similar experiences. Why are our experiences any more credible than theirs? We have beliefs that we believe by faith and so do they. We have experiences to back up our beliefs, but so do they. As a result, I believe we should not be dogmatic about our beliefs.

I believe this is a healthy outlook to have on our faith. I believe it is with this viewpoint we can teach the principles that we believe can and will change lives. I believe it’s impossible to teach a message of love, compassion, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, and tolerance when we believe that we have the only truth. In fact, this is the root cause of a culture of intolerance and spiritual abuse.

My beliefs work for me. They bring peace to my life. I can face myself when I wake up in the middle of the night. I do my best to have a positive impact on those around me, to not judge, to not sit in the seat of a scoffer, and to not be intolerant of others, their beliefs or their faith. Are my beliefs right? Well, from my perspective they are, but who knows?