9/3/24
Have you ever taken the time to reflect on the things you believe and ask yourself why you hold those beliefs?
It wasn’t until I was well into my college years that I started asking myself questions about where my beliefs originated. Did I believe what I did because I came to those conclusions myself? Or was I simply adopting the same beliefs as those around me during my upbringing without realizing it?
I think that a lot of Christians tend to shy away from the practice of analyzing the roots of their beliefs for many reasons. Some might say that doing so is a form of deconstruction, a practice that many Christians fear leads to abandonment of faith. There is also the sentiment that analyzing and questioning the basis of one’s beliefs might be seen as a form of doubt or mistrust of one’s faith. There are probably many more reasons why self-reflection and questioning of one’s personal beliefs doesn’t happen as often as it should in Christianity, but I would argue that the biggest reason is due to a nebulous fear in the outcome of such questioning.
While there may be trepidation in the prospect of digging into the roots of one’s beliefs, I think that there is arguably more danger in not doing so. I don’t really like to use cliches too much, but I think that it’s helpful to compare one’s belief system to the metaphor of a structure or building. Unless you know the foundations that are laid, it’s very difficult to know what your structure (belief system) can practically hold. You have to know the roots and foundations of your beliefs to coherently build them up.
I think that many Christians don’t spend the time in examination and introspection to unearth, evaluate, and either repair or shore up the foundations of their beliefs. And it is this lack of self-examination that does potentially lead to situations where Christians “lose” their faith; if you’re trying to juggle a bunch of beliefs that don’t mesh well with each other or have the support of your core belief tenets, then one’s belief system structure can more easily fold under the weight and mismanagement of poor construction. (I’ll probably go into more detail about how I visualize all of this in other post, but I don’t want to spend too much time on it right now.)
I think we can get rattled for one reason or another when we are confronted with an opposing theology or a new or different theological concept–and there are definitely theologies and concepts that are challenging and difficult to accept even when we feel we have good foundations for our beliefs.
If we don’t take the time to seek out our foundational beliefs and understand them better, we are likely to be unexpectedly confronted with a belief structure that might end up collapsing or have difficulty holding itself up due to a weak assembly.