Followup to: Crisis of Faith
I thought this comment from "Jo" deserved a bump to the front page:
"So here I am having been raised in the Christian faith and trying not to freak out over the past few weeks because I've finally begun to wonder whether I believe things just because I was raised with them. Our family is surrounded by genuinely wonderful people who have poured their talents into us since we were teenagers, and our social structure and business rests on the tenets of what we believe. I've been trying to work out how I can 'clear the decks' and then rebuild with whatever is worth keeping, yet it's so foundational that it will affect my marriage (to a pretty special man) and my daughters who, of course, have also been raised to walk the Christian path.
Is there anyone who's been in this position - really, really invested in a faith and then walked away?"
I was born to two dedicated Christians, and raised in Church... but never forced to be a "Christian". I became a follower of Christ, and as most would say, a Christian, when I was about 17.
Recently it was put to me that I only beleived what I beleive because I was raised that way.
My response was that being raised to beleive certain things 1.) does not make you beleive them 2.) is not wrong in and of itself... nor does it make the things you beleive false.
A bias is not wrong unless evidence exists to show otherwise.
Furthermore, questioning your faith does not mean you have to abandon it or clean the plate (as if it were possible). Nor does it make you unChristian (or un-whatever you are).
Last, Christianity is commonly thought to be a "don't question God religion" ... this is a distortion and wrong beleif about what God has said through the Old and New Testament. He doesn't say, "beleive without seeing" rather He says... "Come, taste and see and know that the Lord is good." How else would we know what/who to beleive in?
So I say, doubt away, but come and taste and see... and then you'll know that the Lord is Good.