(no subject)
I read this at GCN and it applies A LOT to me, I've been thinking these things for a long time but haven't thought enough into articulating them:
"But for me, it is enough to assure myself that whatever questions I have and intellectual quandaries I think myself into, a thread of faith that binds me to the IDEA of Christ (don't ask me exactly what that is...) will always persevere somewhere, deep down in my heart and "soul". For now, I still believe in Christ as Savior and Redeemer of the world (and as God), but - as in most cases of the tenets of the Apostles' or Nicene Creed(s) - what that belief really entails or what it "should" mean is rather fluid, nuanced, and rarely settled. In essence, my faith is an aspiration of sorts - when I do read the Bible (most particularly the Gospels, then the Old Testaments prophets and the Psalms) I feel great spiritual stimulation, and in the same way, reading the words of and singing traditional hymns awakens an emotional swelling from, it seems, the depths of my soul. It is in aspiration, and the relative uncertainty of such, that I find genuine expressions of my spirituality - enough of it resonant that I believe I can still call myself a "Christian." "
"But for me, it is enough to assure myself that whatever questions I have and intellectual quandaries I think myself into, a thread of faith that binds me to the IDEA of Christ (don't ask me exactly what that is...) will always persevere somewhere, deep down in my heart and "soul". For now, I still believe in Christ as Savior and Redeemer of the world (and as God), but - as in most cases of the tenets of the Apostles' or Nicene Creed(s) - what that belief really entails or what it "should" mean is rather fluid, nuanced, and rarely settled. In essence, my faith is an aspiration of sorts - when I do read the Bible (most particularly the Gospels, then the Old Testaments prophets and the Psalms) I feel great spiritual stimulation, and in the same way, reading the words of and singing traditional hymns awakens an emotional swelling from, it seems, the depths of my soul. It is in aspiration, and the relative uncertainty of such, that I find genuine expressions of my spirituality - enough of it resonant that I believe I can still call myself a "Christian." "