This week’s reading from Hebrews got me to thinking about faith in general. So many times when we discuss faith, we often muddle the term faith with belief, doctrine and religion. So let’s pull them apart.
- A belief is the acceptance that something exists or is true, even if there is no proof.
- A religion refers to a set of beliefs held by a group of people concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe as the creation of a god.
- A doctrine is a set of beliefs held and taught by a church.
I think that faith should be founded upon some experience of the Spirit of God within us, and not simply the recitation and passing down of religion, beliefs and doctrine.
But faith is a bit more complicated. Some say it is an illogical belief in the improbable (H.L. Mencken). The Bible says it is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen; while the Britannica defines faith as an inner attitude, conviction, or trust relating humans to a supreme God. It stresses divine grace, the certainty of love granted by God himself. (or, perhaps, herself).
I think that faith should be founded upon some experience of the Spirit of God within us, and not simply the recitation and passing down of religion, beliefs and doctrine.
Based on these definitions then, faith appears to be a belief in the set of doctrines held by a specific religion. This allows us to answer what is Christianity; what is Islam; what is Judaism. But wait…didn’t these three begin as one? All three claim their scriptures to be inspired by the same God and all would say their authoritative bodies created doctrine in the context of prayer, good faith and consensus.
In creating doctrine, the early Christian church created creeds. First came the Apostles’ Creed (170AD), a simple statement of Christian belief. The Nicene Creed came later (325AD) as a response to heresy which denied the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Anglican and the Roman Catholic tradition embed the doctrine of the creeds in their prayers and liturgy.
I think it is very important to recognize that these creeds do not mention the example of Jesus or the teachings of Jesus which were guideposts for the followers of the Way –before the label “Christian” was created.
Most denominations have official statements beyond the creeds, statements about grace, salvation, authority of scripture, sacraments etc. Some, such as original sin, are not directly found in scripture.
God in Christianity is conceived as all powerful, all knowing, yet a personal God who can relate to humans on an individual basis. The image of God is a single identifiable entity, yet subject to the doctrine of the Trinity (a subject for another day!) Much of whom the church says God is and what God does is set out in doctrine, but this runs into difficulty with scientific advances. For centuries the church cast aside the teachings of Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Luther and leading theologians who are still speaking out today. These new truths challenged the church’s power and position in the world.
I believe we need to seeking ways to express thoughts about God in language appropriate to the age in which we live – giving us a new perspective on being creations of ‘something’ we might not be able to understand.
If, however, we recognize the validity of the call to a new life following the Way taught by Jesus, we may be able to leave old doctrines and concepts behind and follow that Way where we live, work, play and have our being.