The Evangelical Universalist Forum

An Ideal Uncertainty

Practices Christian Living
#1

One of the greatest challenges I’ve faced as a Christian is dealing with the reality that uncertainty is inevitable. A while ago, I jotted down some reasons why uncertainty is actually ideal for the Christian, and I’d love to hear everyone’s additions to this list. (Certainly none of us are strangers to feeling uncertain, after all!)

Here are my thoughts…

Uncertainty forces us to look into the true nature of God.

Confronting humans with mysteries we can never solve, uncertainty forces us to look beyond our own reasoning and place our sight on God.  While the Bible does not include detailed answers to every conceivable question, it provides us with the fundamentals of God’s being and nature.  Our Lord is patient and merciful, and most importantly, “God is love” (1 John 4:8).  If an individual truly accepts the most basic components of God’s character, than the specifics of eternity become inconsequential.  God is love, so how can His plan for creation be anything different?

When a soul learns to live with doubt, uncertainty loses its power to instill fear, angst, and anxiety.

For some Christians, it seems “ignorance is bliss.”  Rather than acknowledge their inner doubts—facing uncertainty and questions head on—they squelch those thoughts in favor of sitting complacently in their church pew.

In life, however, turmoil unfailingly strikes, and the doubts and questions, which usually rest on the mind’s back burner, burst forward.  Individuals who have learned to tolerate and even embrace uncertainty can more adeptly navigate life’s unexpected trials.  Because they have already accepted that only God knows the mysteries of eternity, those familiar with doubt will feel more comfortable in giving the Lord control over life’s everyday uncertainties.

A questioning mind compels us to learn more scripture and discover more about God’s true nature.
This is a practical benefit to uncertainty. While God does not want anyone to be a “Doubting Thomas,” He welcomes sincerely inquisitive children.

Feelings can be faux. Both certainty and doubt, in excess, pose major threats to spiritual wellness.

In a series of letters to an American friend, great Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, advises, “The presence of God is not the same thing as the sense of the presence of God” (Lewis, 36).  He continues, elaborating his point through a clever analogy, saying:

“The act which engenders a child ought to be, and usually is attended by pleasure. But it is not the pleasure that produces the child. Where there is pleasure, there may be sterility; where there is no pleasure, the act may be fertile. And in the spiritual marriage of God and the soul it is the same. It is the actual presence, not the sensation of the presence, of the Holy Ghost which begets Christ in us” (Lewis, 37).

Many Christians may assume that they are following God’s will, because their feelings—the “warm and fuzzies” of prayer groups and worship songs—tell them so.  They presume they are righteous, while God is perhaps frantically trying to call them to a different, better way of life.  Similarly, many of those who struggle to sense God’s love may be carrying out His will, nonetheless.  Upon their entrance into Heaven, the Lord will say, “Blessed are you, poor in spirit... [yet] pure of heart, for you shall see God” (Matthew 5:3-8).

**Uncertainty discourages us from erroneously placing ourselves on God’s level.
**
The Bible tells us to “Trust the Lord God with all [our] hearts and lean not on [our] own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). If the Lord made us privy to the inner workings of His will for humanity, we would soon see ourselves as demi-gods, equal overseers of God’s divine eternal plan.
Doubt is better than certainty, for insecurity has a refining influence on man.

Ecclesiastes 7:3 states, “Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.” The same holds true for insecurity. It forces us to rely solely on God, leaving us no option other than to take the Lord’s word that “[He] is love” (1 John 4:8). As a result, following the advice of Saint John the Baptist, we realize that “[Christ] must increase and [we] must decrease” (John 3:30).

I’d love to hear more, as I’ve been feeling rather inquisitive lately.:slight_smile:

In Christ our Hen,

Kate

#2

There are some good things on this page:
frederickbuechner.com/page-group … pite-doubt

Kate, I admire your inquisitiveness and your ability to express yourself so well. It’s always good to know that we are not on the good ship “Uncertainty” all alone. :wink:

My life turned around after reading and re-reading “Does God Exist?” by Hans Kung. He gives full weight to doubt and uncertainty, all the way to nihilism, and then works back to hope and affirmation.

This should be a good thread!

#3

Hi Kate,

I was made more deeply aware of this phenomena, too, by reading about the experience of the christian mystics. I good book on this subject is: When the Well Runs Dry: Prayer Beyond the Beginnings, by Thomas H. Greene.

There are many practical examples of how we might feel that God is not there, or not listening, or not caring. What do we do when we lack that confirmation? A common response is to “doubt”. Greene points out that this is a necessary part of our christian experience; for as God grows us, we must be capable of standing on our feet, solid and trusting, with or without God holding our hand at every junction. This is part of the natural cycle of development. Unfortunately, in this somber period, many have fallen by the way-side and explored alternative humanistic philosophies to replace the ‘God-experience’. That is also natural enough.

Peace
S.

#4

Thanks for sharing your thoughts here, Kate, really good stuff :slight_smile:

I am certainly (ironic, yes? :wink:) familiar with uncertainty.
I grew up as an agnostic, and it’s funny how, after trying for a time to accept and embrace the comparative certainty of fundamental Christianity, in many ways I’ve come back to my roots, and am trying to embrace them rather than deny them.
I do believe, believe in God, believe in Jesus, at least in some way and on some level, but I need help with my doubts, like the father who asked Jesus, along with all his mixed feelings and all of his desperation, to heal his son in that story.

Though I still have certain beliefs and convictions that I hold to, or try to hold to, they are fairly vague and ambiguous for the most part, and couldn’t easily be written out in a concise doctrinal statement.
I try to express my beliefs and convictions about things at times, but I often feel that I’m in flux, and will think back on something I said or read back over something I wrote, even recently, and find myself wondering if that’s where I really stand on things, or if that’s just kind of what sounded good at the time, or if I really thought it through, if I was just throwing out a bunch of words that don’t adequately express where I’m really at.

I like something one of my favorite poets, Walt Whitman, said in his poem Song Of Myself:

I can definitely relate to that. Everything that I have been is still somewhere inside of me, and a part of me still.
There is the agnostic, and the atheist, the lonely boy talking to himself in his room, and the victim of bullies, the sex addict, and the angry loner, the social outcast, and the poet, the fundamentalist, and the mentally and emotionally and spiritually distressed trainwreck, the weary soul and the hopeful stargazer, among other things…
In a way, we have a whole world inside of each of us, and sometimes not knowing how to fit all the pieces of that inner world together can bring about more uncertainty… but as you said, uncertainty can be a good thing.

I think I have learned a little here and there from all of the experiences and phases in my life. Some good has come even from the bad, if nothing else than to give me a little more perspective, and more understanding of those who have gone through or are going through similar experiences and phases.

Anyways, I’d like to comment more, but I gotta get ready for work. I’ll try to come back to this later though.

Thanks for bringing this up, Kate :slight_smile:

Blessings to you :slight_smile:

Matt

#5

You are very good at expressing yourself, Matt, you must reflect a lot.

As I have also gone through the urban mundaneness of tragedy and hope, and I have now grown a little older, I believe that people will generally make progress over the course of their lives, and the contradictions of our tragic poetry becomes absorbed into the person we are to be. We are not so much an amalgam as we are a synthesis. We become something new, not just an accumulation of disjointed parts. When we reflect too much on our tragedy or confusion, we can often become locked into a model of ourselves that prevents this development and synthesis that comes with maturity.

The admixture of our different parts has a wisdom inherent within it. We need to trust this wisdom, too, as it comes from God as a required pattern. Doubt will inevitably prevent many things in our lives - from spiritual growth to physical and emotional growth. I am sorry if I had made you feel oppressed in any way; because this negative experience can also stifle progress and sponsor doubt. We should not wish that upon anyone.

Kate, An Ideal Uncertainty? That’s a very clever phrase. Are they your words?

Peace
S.

#6

Thanks Stefui - calm and insightful writing.
One of your points is akin to something I wrote in another thread - psychological polytheism being the term I borrowed from Thomas Moore (“Care of the Soul”) - that we become a synthesis of otherwise disparate parts, over time.

Martin Buber made a similar point when he discussed when the ‘moments gods’ - our experience of God in different ways at different times - fuse into the One.

#7

Wow, how many Thomas Moore’s are there? That was a popular name…

Yes, that says much the same thing. It is an optimistic view of otherwise depressing parts of our history that we might struggle with. Life is a struggle to become physically, mentally and spiritually congruent. We generally die from one of these areas becoming alpha issue. It is almost humorous; except that it can be riddled with painful encounters. My father is dying from a similar issue. He was not able to integrate his own painful experiences as a child, and he turned to alcohol abuse to self-medicate. That is very unfortunate, yet also common. What doesn’t make us stronger will kill us.

Peace
S.

#8

Matt:

I’m so glad you mentioned the story of the unbelieving father. I’ve come to take that passage as not so much about healing in itself, but about God’s patience and understanding with our unbelief. How interesting that “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief’” (Mark 9:24).

Perhaps I’m misreading something, but this passage seems to suggest that belief and unbelief can exist simultaneously. And the mere* desire* for belief is belief in itself. This leads me to surmise that many people who think that having uncertainties render them unacceptable in God’s sight are actually believers without realizing it!

Also, Matt, I watched an interesting video about agnosticism on YouTube once (I can’t find it anymore, but I think it may have been from author John Green). Anyway, it basically discussed how agnosticism is simply the recognition that we do not know – and it can, and usually does, exist among all belief groups. The video argued that it is possible to be an “agnostic atheist,” for example. An agnostic atheist does not espouse belief in the divine, but he admits that he* could* be wrong. Similarly, one can be classified as an “agnostic Christian,” believing in God as Creator, Christ as Savior, etc., but he, too, would acknowledge that this belief is by faith rather than tangibility.

I’m not sure if I am entirely comfortable with this classification, because I feel labeling faith – a divine gift, I believe – as agnosticism risks undermining faith. Ack – I wish I could find that video, because it explained things so much clearer than I ever can!

Hang in there, Matt. God has wonderful plans for you – I can sense it in your openness and willingness to confront your fears both past and present.

Dave:

I will definitely take a look at your link tomorrow. I still have homework to complete for tomorrow – and “tomorrow” is now technically “today!” :astonished: Procrastination. :confused:

**
Stefcui:**

Interesting points, Stef, and I will be praying for your father as he struggles with alcohol abuse.

Haha, thanks – that’s just me trying to sound philosophical. :ugeek:

Blessings, everyone – and good-night, :slight_smile:

Kate

#9

Matt, you forgot prophet. And Child of God. :smiley:

#10

Thanks for the reminder, mate :slight_smile:

#11

Thanks Stef, I appreciate that :slight_smile:

Agreed, makes sense to me :slight_smile:

This makes sense too :slight_smile: And no worries, all is forgiven, if there was ever anything to forgive :wink:

Blessings to you :slight_smile:

Matt

#12

Yeah, Matt! Don’t go forgetting these anymore, okay? :slight_smile:

#13

Yeah, that’s always been one of the stories in the Bible I’ve resonated with the most.
And even though Jesus challenged the guy a bit in that, he didn’t reject him or his request either, which is very encouraging to me. :slight_smile:
As I’ve said in other places, I’ve had a lot of trouble with the Bible, as it’s filled me with a lot of uncertainty (which is interesting now that I think about it, if we’re talking about uncertainty as a positive thing :wink:), but there are parts of it that speak to me in a positive way. :slight_smile:

And I agree that faith and doubt can co-exist. I like how Frederick Buechner, one of my favorite writers, once said: ‘If there’s no room for doubt, then there’s no room for me.’ I can relate to that.
And I wonder if even Jesus himself experienced doubt, or the tension between faith and doubt.
When he cried out on the cross ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’, I wonder if in that moment he was experiencing doubt… but then in another place he says ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit’, which was obviously a sign of faith.
If Jesus himself experienced the tension between doubt and faith, then maybe that means it’s okay, or at least normal, for us to experience it too, it’s something common to humanity and, for all we knew, that tension, that struggle, may be a sacred place where God meets us, as Jesus met the distraught father who was caught somewhere between faith and doubt.
It’s an encouraging thought anyway. :slight_smile:

I actually consider myself an agnostic believer, and could identify myself with that label.
I’m not sure if you read it, but Richard Beck actually put up a post on this aways back that relates to this, let me see if I can find it…
Oh for shame, I can’t find my link either :unamused: Oh well…

Anyways, thank you for your encouragement and your kind words, Kate :slight_smile:
As our resident professor Sobernost would say, you are a good egg :wink:

Blessings to you :slight_smile:

Matt

#14

I’ll try not to :wink:

#15

Hi Kate

Good topic. Resonates with me, oh yes :smiley: . Matt calls himself an “agnostic believer”, and let’s face it, that’s what we all are, really. Only a madman is certain about such things :smiley: . I sometimes like to classify myself as a failed agnostic :smiley: . What I will say, though, is that if God exists, Universalism is certainly true.

Two thoughts from the great GMac on the subject of doubt:

And one from Woody Allen:

All the best

Johnny

#16

It’s been a while so i might misquote it, but as i remember Homer Simpson saying

:laughing:

#17

That’s exactly what John Green (if it was actually John Green – wish I could find the link!) was saying. Whoever it was, they must have read GMac. And I think, if George were still around, he’s warm up to that nickname. :laughing:

From the always-profound Homer Simpson. :laughing: Honestly, I can thank Spongebob Squarepants for some of my greatest childhood lessons. Deep stuff, right there, deep stuff. :laughing:

Blessings,

Kate