InterVarsity Press

Conversations: Faith at the Expense of Reason?

Serge:

Why are you having this site? All I can think is that you need to confirm faith at the expense of reason.

I have recently walked away from faith after thirty years of being a born again Christian. My wife and four children are wondering what happened to me, but I feel that I have been born again for real—as in reality. I am free at last from the bondage of mysticism, which I never was able in all those years to confirm in the slightest way.

I feel that I was snoockered in so many ways, and now, at fifty-four, I can hardly repair the damage, and I have lost a big part of my useful purpose, and dreams at this late stage are kind of like playing catch-up.

I will make the best of it, but for a while I must ask my kin in Christ to show me my error before I make a complete break with faith. My friend Dan and I meet once a week for one-on-one talks during Sunday school for the purpose of salvaging my poor soul. I still feel a pull from Christianity, but I also feel a pull from my own natural survival instinct.

Ruth:

Yes, I think you have it at least partly right. I "need to confirm faith at the expense of reason."

I often quote Madeleine L'Engle who wrote, "With my naked intellect, I cannot believe" in God. Those are my words as well. But, thank God, I have more than a naked intellect. I believe in God by grace through faith.

But, "What's so great about faith?" some have asked. I suppose, if nothing else, faith keeps us on the mystical side of outright nihilism.

What if I were to play the devil's advocate (literally, I suppose) and say, for the sake of argument, "Who knows, maybe there is no God"? Yet, I would serve him. I would care for "the least of these," and I would care for creation, and I would find community and tradition in the stories and songs and people of the faith. Nor would I abandon my family and friends in my faith tradition. AND, I would find life far more interesting and engaging and fun and funny.

I have many friends who have struggled with doubt and unbelief, and sometimes we can do no more than laugh at our foibles and hypocrisy—our own and those of the whole Christian establishment. Garrison Keillor, I think it was, said that there is no one more humorless than a confirmed atheist. As it is for you, unbelief is part of my life, but I wouldn't trade this state of faith for a faith that has no questions or doubt—and I know a lot of people who profess such faith.

So, even if the story of God is a myth as you seem to suggest, I would hang on to my Christian faith.

I hope this response to your message is helpful.