Certainty is the Devil
CMK on July 2nd, 2008
I used to know everything. I had an answer for every question, pre-packaged and ready for sale. Those you who know me personally are aware that I am still quite opinionated. But, not long ago, I began to evolve in the way I thought about the things which I claim to believe and live by. I’ve come now to believe that the certainty I once held may be the very enemy which plagues our world today.
I came from a religious background in which certainty was extremely important. One of the most frequent questions I heard was “If you were to die tonight, are you CERTAIN that you would go to heaven” It was important to know these fundamental beliefs and proclaim them without a doubt, without wavering. In fact, to doubt, question, or wonder was dangerous territory. In this system, Bible studies were incredibly boring because we all knew the “right answers” already, and no one was willing to speak heresy so true dialog could occur.
To be honest, I never really bought all of this, but had no way of expressing my doubt without fear of losing my faith entirely and being sent to eternal hell. The more days I lived, the more I realized that life does seem to fit neatly into the boxes that we have made for it, and God isn’t confined to my interpretation thereof. Fortunately, I began to see chinks in the armor of my fundamentalist faith and glimmers of light from those who saw the world differently than I had be taught. I suddenly lost the confidence that my way was the only way and began to embrace uncertainty, not as backsliding rebellion against God’s truth, but as an essential ingredient to a humble, sustainable, intellectually-honest faith.
At first, this experience was deeply unsettling. It rocked me to the core and made me reevaluate everything that I had based my life upon. But, I must say that learning to embrace uncertainty has been one of the greatest journeys of my life. I stopped having to come up with excuses to make life and God fit into the boxes I had been given. I find that I am increasingly able to discover God is ways and places that I had never dreamed and to engage in a life which gives me hope for the world. Abandoning certainty will open up the doors of imagine, allowing us to dream again for our context.
I suggest that certainty is the enemy. Certainty is the satanic. After all, it is the role of “Satan” which presents such bold-faced certainties in temptations. He tells Eve that “she will not surely die” and Jesus that “all the kingdoms of the world will be yours.” There is an air of arrogant know-it-all in the role of tempter and a beautiful humility in the teachings of Jesus.
Perhaps the greatest temptation we have is to hold the things we believe too tightly. When guarded tight, these beliefs become fundamentals and even idols which separate us, blind us, and isolate us from those who think differently and, I suggest, from God himself/herself. I’m not advocating a wishy-washy situation in which no one holds strong beliefs. Rather, I’m suggesting that we hold our beliefs strongly, but loosely, believing with all our heart but having the humility to admit that we may be wrong after all. Further, I propose that this generosity towards other belief systems allows us to try on ideas or practices which may prove valuable to our own faith journeys.
So, what do you think? Is certainty a source of evil as I suggest, or is certainty essential to strong faith? Must we know something for sure to know it at all?
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July 14th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Ok, this is the last one for tonight, I promise.
Bear in mind that I grew up in the same church, went to a Nazarene school like you did, apparently asked all the same questions, and seem to have come up with all of the same answers. I hate to reinforce the certainty of your hypothesis, but I agree with you.
Certainty in your beliefs is nothing more than stagnation. It sounds harsh, but too bad. I think if you’re not constantly questioning your beliefs, they become rusty and eventually useless. I remember being told the same bizarre things in church, like “tolerance is a sin.” I remember that. God love her, but I think my grandma told me that. I believed crap like that for years, and the sudden realization that I might be wrong about a few things was a pretty violent shock.
Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, question beliefs = good, should be encouraged. Not questioning beliefs = brainwashed, mindless idiots. There’s too many brainwashed, mindless idiots as it is. QUESTION PEOPLE!!
I’m no longer making any sense, and still haven’t accomplished what I meant to when I turned my computer on. So that’s all for now. Hope you’re doing well Chris! Talk to you later…
July 29th, 2008 at 10:39 am
What do you think about Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
July 29th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
That’s a great verse, Steven. Faith is very important. It moves us beyond simply hoping idly into an active pursuit by which our hope will be fulfilled. I see faith as both the means by which we believe our hopes to be fulfilled and a course of action by which our hopes are ultimately achieved.. In this case, we have faith that God will bring our hopes to fruition, and this leads us to live in a certain way by which God works in our world to bring the hope about.
Faith is not synonymous with certainty, however. It is not a blueprint of step-by-step instructions or a crystal ball revealing the future. In fact, if certainty exists, there is no need for faith. After all, “hope that is seen is no hope at all.” Faith remains a mystery, but one which takes us by the hand into the darkness between where we are and where we hope to be. Certainty is a brainwashing designed to drug up the masses.
What do you think?
July 29th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Just to prove to myself that I’m still clever- I have to say that I’ve found that there is a great deal of UN-certainty in faith. Faith is flinging yourself off of a cliff, hoping there’s a net at the bottom, and being surprised when you end up landing in the arms of Johnny Depp! (This hasn’t actually happened to me. It’s just an analogy, but I’m peeking over the edge of every cliff I walk by, just in case!)