de-conversion

Finding Faith?

I have previously written about whether or not a reasonable faith exists. Today, I’d like to share a few thoughts inspired by the book Finding Faith by Brian McLaren.

In Chapter 1, titled Does It Really Matter What I Believe, McLaren distinguishes between good and bad faith. What I found interesting is that his descriptors for bad faith perfectly label my experience of faith in the churches I’ve attended, while his descriptors for good faith are the things I’ve desired but rarely found. The descriptors for bad faith are as follows:

1. Bad faith is based solely on unquestioned authority.
   A rather wicked use of scripture for this assertion is “touch not God’s anointed”.
2. Bad faith is based on pressure or coercion.
   If you’ve ever been to see the production of Heaven’s Gate Hell’s Flames, you’ll know about this one. That is a terrible dramatic presentation utilizing fear and guilt to coerce people to believe.
3. Bad faith is often the result of a psychological need for belonging.
   This is likely the primary reason why my family came to faith. Churches can be a wonderful place of friendship and potential courtship for singles, particularly given the individualism of our time…

Continue Reading August 17, 2008 at 11:17 pm Gary 35 comments