I used to be removed from probably the most conservative pupil at my nondenominational evangelical seminary.
But, I hit a degree the place I noticed that my religion would crumble if I remained rooted in a conservative theological system that emphasised the boundary markers of information, inflexible morality, and a way of obligation or obligation over the life-changing energy of Jesus by means of the Holy Spirit on the heart of our religion.
Maybe the extra easy-going and fluid religion traditions on the Christian left might end in a bunch of lukewarm individuals who diminished their religion to punch card Christianity, however I might see the hazards on the conservative facet that had a type of godliness whereas denying its energy. It will have been all too straightforward to concentrate on theological ideas and controlling facets of the religion that will have let me down in spectacular style.
I as soon as had a pastor who typically quipped about conservative Christians, “You both turn out to be a mystic or an atheist.”
It’s a hyperbole that will make loads of conservative Christians get away in hives. They actually don’t need to turn out to be atheists, however being mystics isn’t any nice shakes for them both.
It’s straightforward to equate conservative Christianity with a colorless Bible church presided over by an indignant, sweating preacher in an affordable go well with screaming about God’s judgment. We are able to additionally make the error of pondering Christian mystics are depressing spiritual fanatics sitting in a stone cell in a burlap sack as they lament their guilt and ponder the crucifixion in gory element.
Neither of these choices sounds interesting!
As fast as we’re to dispel such stereotypes of conservative Christians and mystics, I’ve seen sufficient conservative Christians depart the religion as a result of their theology and practices couldn’t maintain them. A little bit of mysticism wouldn’t have damage.
I’m in a season of life the place I’m serving to my youngsters turn out to be extra conscious of God to allow them to develop their very own relationship with God. I’m very a lot conscious that I would like their religion to be rooted within the thriller and presence of God of their lives that’s primarily based on God’s love and style.
You possibly can say it’s mysticism lite.
Though I’m involved about my youngsters turning their spiritual follow right into a Sunday morning punch card system, I’m maybe extra involved about them being sucked into the foundations and certainty of conservative Christianity that guarantees a whole lot of issues it might’t ship in the event that they undergo its controlling techniques that generate worry and anxiousness.
This anxiousness and disappointment hit me onerous in my 20’s, and it hit fairly a couple of others onerous as nicely. Within the early 2000’s, we have been deconstructing, rising, and endlessly critiquing the spiritual techniques that promised neat and tidy faith within the face of life’s chaos and uncertainty.
I’ll be the primary to confess that I wasn’t all the time deconstructing or critiquing in wholesome methods, however they have been trustworthy and actual primarily based on what I used to be introduced vs. what I skilled.
It’s the temptation of formulaic faith that turns our practices into an equation the place doing sure issues or believing sure issues will result in particular promised outcomes of peace, hope, pleasure, safety, and many others. This overlooks the unpredictable realities of life that defy easy explanations of God ordering every part in our lives to 1 particular function that finally brings us prosperity and peace.
Overly easy beliefs trigger much more issues than they clear up. At first, a seemingly hermetic perception system could also be extraordinarily interesting, however over time, it might’t maintain up within the each day grind of life and the highs and lows that may shake one’s religion free.
Anybody can follow the easy spirituality of the Christian religion, but it surely’s not potential to simply clarify the complexities of life or the mysteries of God. Once we run into thriller, we are able to’t fill within the gaping voids of life with platitudes we might carve right into a hunk of wooden or paint onto a coaster.
I’m certain there are numerous paths to atheism, however the one I’m most aware of is from the delicate certainty of hermetic Christian conservatism to the seeming exhale of turning into an atheist. Curiously, some are capable of turn out to be atheists with a sigh of aid that they’re free from a life-sucking spiritual system. Others undertake a type of fundamentalist/evangelical model atheism that’s certain of itself and desperate to convert others.
No matter form one’s atheism takes, I’ve seen sufficient of individuals getting crushed by guidelines, judgment, worry, and energy struggles within the conservative finish of American Christianity (almost certainly white American Christianity), to know we’ve got an issue on our fingers.
Our seeming energy of conviction and doctrinal rigidity typically makes an attempt to overcompensate for our barren branches that may very well be nourished by the vine and carry the fruits of the Spirit. Christians have Jesus on the heart as our vine that sustains us, however we lose sight of our supply of life once we flip our main consideration to sustaining boundaries like doctrinal particulars.
If Jesus is the middle and we concentrate on him, then we are going to discover new life and renewal that we are able to share with others. If our time is consumed by sustaining the inflexible particulars that make up the boundaries of conservative Christianity, we’ll quickly turn out to be exhausted by its combative, defensive siege mentality the place a fragile religion can’t stand with out our vigilance.
The vine and the branches is diminished to a theological idea, quite than a life-giving lesson from Jesus.
There are numerous different paths towards shedding one’s religion, however I fear probably the most about this one as a result of it’s not understood by these almost certainly to go down it.
I think about somebody tuning a guitar by tightening the strings time and again. Irrespective of excessive the notes go, the answer is to show the knobs tighter. It’s true that strings could must be tightened typically, however there are moments when pressure should be loosened as nicely.
At a sure level, people who find themselves turned tighter and tighter with inflexible doctrines are going to snap. Once they do, the conservatives round them will typically say, “They solely snapped as a result of they weren’t inflexible sufficient!”
And so, they turn out to be extra inflexible as soon as once more, till one other individual snaps.
