Music has been monumental in my life, my faithful assistant while I sort out, wrestle with and clarify all of life’s mysteries. Because of my heavily spiritual makeup I confess that I often listen to music through bias lenses and project into songs spiritual meanings that were probably never the intention of the songwriter. Whether listening to Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android”, Coldplay’s “Fix You” or almost anything by Arcade Fire, I regularly interpret lyrics with some sort of spiritual bent to it.
In our spiritual lives, just as in music, we often misinterpret the lyrics. Whether we are confusing aspects of Gods character, reading our own agendas into scripture or building theology through what feels right to us. Just as it’s difficult to listen to music through a neutral filter without prejudiced from our life experiences it is near impossible to read scripture or view God through unbiased eyes.
The truth is that men, women and people from various social backgrounds, upbringings and ethnicities all digest their relationships with God and their understanding of the scriptures differently. The way we live out our faith or perceive the character of God is effected by so many variables, which is why I believe that it’s okay to have questions, to doubt and at times, to even be wrong!
I have always admired Mother Teresa as an incredibly amazing, selfless person who dedicated her life to serving the rejected and forgotten people that God so dearly loves. Therefore I was stunned by the revelations from her personal writings unearthed after her death in the book Come Be My Light that she struggled through periods of great doubt and spiritual dryness which caused her to question her very faith and mission.
Martin Luther is another revered name within the faith who also struggled throughout his life to get faith “right”. Long before he supposedly nailed his Ninety-Five Thesis to the door of Castle Church in opposition to clerical abuses within the church thus setting off the Protestant Reformation, Luther’s early life was one filled with spiritual turmoil. Luther toiled tirelessly to earn Gods favor through prayer, fasting and other “spiritual” acts. He was often so incredibly overcome with the guilt of his sins that he made many attempts to atone for them such as self-flagellation or laying out in the snow throughout the night.
Both Mother Teresa and Martin Luther served God whole-heatedly yet at times in their spiritual journey they got it wrong. They heard the song, but misinterpreted the lyrics. We all do this, from the greatest theologians down to the lowliest pew dweller.
In fact, the Biblical Scholars of Jesus’ day along with His very disciples misinterpreted the scriptures, believing them to prophesy a messiah that would arise in political power and overthrow the oppression of the Romans. What they never foresaw was that their deliverer would die a shameful death of execution upon a cross. These were a highly educated people immersed in the scriptures from a very young age and yet despite their scholastic fortitude they still got it wrong.
Throughout church history, right to this very day our understanding of God and thus our very faith continues to grow, be reproved and evolve. For instance experts in ancient languages and archaeologists continually make discoveries that help us better understand the culture and background of various Bible passages. Such “scientific” probing of our Holy Book doesn’t cast shadows of doubt, but actually enriches the scriptures, allowing us to better understanding what we are reading.
Despite this fact, many people and church denominations fervently protect their doctrines and theologies often to the point that their beliefs must never be questioned, doubted or put to the test. It makes me wonder if we are really that insecure about what we believe. If a certain creed or belief cannot hold up to scrutiny than perhaps it should not be held in such esteem in the first place.
This country is filled with hundreds of different denominations and thousands of different churches that believe in the same God and the same redemption story yet practice that faith in very different ways. Despite each of our sincerest declarations of beliefs, every one of us cannot be completely right. In fact, a lot of us must be wrong, therefore we must remain flexible, receptive and honest enough to confront our misgivings and embrace the truth.
Pride and fear are the obstacles that hinder us from questioning, testing and approving our beliefs. Our understanding of God is forever being revealed to us. Can we really comprehend the vastness of our creator who holds the edgeless universe in his hands? If you were to combine all of our knowledge of God it still would only amount to a grain of sand on a vast shore. As the Apostle Paul wrote “we know in part and we prophesy in part” or as Tony Campolo summarizes it, “what you believe might be partly correct, but it is certainly not completely correct”.
Case in point are the Biblical teachers and authors throughout church history that have written and lectured quite convincingly with the support of tons of scripture on every hot topic and theological question (whether they are proponents of Predestination or Free Will, Creation or Evolution, a worldwide or local flood, traditional or same sex marriage, etc.) and actually fall on either side of the debate. Apparently not everything is as “black and white” as we would like to believe it is.
Although it is extremely important to us, I don’t believe that God is as concerned with our different ideas (insecurities) about how to “properly” pray, worship and live as long as we don’t use those beliefs to abuse anyone or attempt to force it on others.
As in all things, we must extend grace and understanding to those whose beliefs might differ from our own. They might be wrong, however they might be onto something or God forbid they could possibly even be right.
Let me be clear, I believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God, however, man is not. Frighteningly, with very mixed and sometimes even devastating results God has left his word in our hands to interpret and instruct. It has been used to subjugate woman, races and classes of people. Its sacred passages have been used to defend horrific acts of ungrace and even hate. I don’t need to go into a history lesson of such atrocities, because we know our history is a checkered past of men behaving badly, evidence of the fall at its worst. We need to be careful that we don’t grip too tightly to our beliefs and doctrines that we are unable to serve, to greet, and to show compassion. A clenched fist screams of selfishness and is only good for striking out in anger and violence.
I am thankful for those authors, pastors, speakers, script-writers and bloggers who ask tough and sometimes troubling questions about our faith that many of us are afraid to admit to thinking ourselves. They confront the oftentimes weak, misinterpreted and often times skewed things we believe. We are then forced to think, evaluate and question what it is that we believe in and why. The truth is that if God is who He is then we will arrive at a pretty secure and safe place. If we dig for answers and pray for clarification our faith will become only that much stronger.
So embrace the possibility that while striving to get a nicely sanitized and picture perfect faith that somewhere along the way it will get messy. While working so hard to get it right, keep in mind that some things will go wrong. I have faith that our mistakes won’t change who God is. He remains the same no matter how badly we butcher the song…uh, I mean the message.
