Category: Christian Living

Q. In the movie Conclave, Cardinal Lawrence says (going by memory here, a risky proposition), “The greatest sin facing the Church is certainty.” A good friend of mine, an Episcopal priest, once told me, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, it is certainty.” However, I recently came across Matthew 21:21, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” And also Romans 14:23, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” I consider myself a believer and a follower of Jesus. Help me resolve these seeming contradictions. 


In another post on this blog (linked below) I say, “The capacity for faith and the capacity for doubt are the same. If you did not have any doubts about what you believe, you would not be believing it by faith.” That seems to be what the character of Cardinal Lawrence means in the movie. He goes on to say, “Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore, no need for faith.” In other words, the “certainty” that the cardinal describes as the “one sin which I have come to fear above all else” is a certainty based on something other than faith. It is a doctrinaire dogmatism based on tradition or rationalism.

I believe that the reason why Jesus could say “if you have faith and do not doubt” is not that faith and doubt are opposites, but that we can use one and the same capacity either to believe or to doubt. He means “if you use that capacity to believe rather than to doubt,” your prayers will be answered in the way described. Similarly Paul’s meaning in Romans would be “whoever uses that capacity to doubt is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from using that capacity to believe.”

We can think of many other capacities that we could use in one way or another. We might have an admirable potential capacity for persistence in carrying good projects to completion that we use instead to be stubborn and not open to reasonable persuasion. We might have an admirable capacity to enjoy life and help others find joy in life that we instead use to fool around when we should be working. And so forth. The point in both cases, and in all similar illustrations, is that the person would not be able to persist if they were not also able to be stubborn, and the person would not be able to find and share joy in life if they were not also able to fool around irresponsibly. The goal is to become able to use the capacity in the positive way in which God intends us to use it. And we should not beat ourselves up if we find ourselves in the learning curve. Doubt is evidence of capacity.

How can I fully believe and not doubt?

Q. We hear in the Bible and in sermons that Christians are strangers, foreigners, and aliens in this world and so we need to remain steadfast in our faith in the face of a world that sees us as different. However, I find that more and more I am feeling like a stranger, foreigner, and alien amongst fellow Christians. It seems to me that Christianity is as polarized as the rest of our society and I have trouble seeing Christ in the beliefs of fellow Christians, just as they have trouble seeing Christ in my beliefs. (I will offer one example: how we treat and speak of those who are literally foreigners in our country.) This makes it especially difficult to remain steadfast in our faith if we as the body of Christ are so divided. I would be interested in your thoughts about this. Thank you.

Here is one thought that I hope will be encouraging to you. There is not a complete overlap between the visible church and the invisible church. (There never has been, and there never will be on this earth.) The invisible church consists of all those who are genuine followers of Jesus and of the mystical fellowship that exists between them. If we think of the invisible church by analogy with an oyster (and Jesus did say that the kingdom of God was like a pearl of great price), then the visible church is its shell. The visible church consists of all the arrangements that the invisible church makes to live in this world—tax-exempt organizations with by-laws, denominations that pass resolutions, buildings from cathedrals to storefronts, and so forth.

While the Bible admonishes us to be in the world but not of the world, inevitably, whenever the invisible church makes arrangements to live in this world, something of the world gets worked into those arrangements, so that they are “of” as well as “in.” Similarly, whenever people become part of the invisible church, they bring part of the world in with them.

So you will feel like a stranger, foreigner, and alien whenever you find yourself in the midst of arrangements that are more “of” than “in.” And as you acknowledged, there will be times when other Christians feel that way around you, whenever you might be more “of” than “in” yourself.

Is there anything we can do about this? Do we simply have to feel painfully out of place at times and wait for that glorious moment when Jesus brings his invisible church to the fore and its shell fades into the background? No, I think there is much that we can do. Carefully picking our moments, we can engage people whom we have reason to believe will listen to us, and we can share our concerns with them.

Not everyone will be open to this. Unfortunately we have become a media culture that enables and encourages “bias confirmation,” that is, seeking out and listening to only those sources of information that reinforce what we already believe. It’s hard to have a reasonable conversation with someone when you and they are working with different sets of facts. I’m not recommending that you try to engage people if you discover that to be the case.

But I do think of what Jesus told his disciples when he sent them out: “ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.” You are looking for someone who is a “son of peace” or “daughter of peace” even though the two of you seem to have different perspectives about how Christians should be engaging our culture and world these days. If you recognize in them a genuine openness to listen, learn, and grow in understanding, share your concerns, maintaining that same openness yourself. I have seen that this can and does lead to all participants seeing things in new and better ways. It also makes each of us feel much less like a stranger to the other.

As I said, this must be done carefully and selectively. But it can be done. Each such conversation plants a small seed. And Jesus talked about how great things can grow from small seeds.

Q. May I ask you whether it is all right to visit the Pyramids of Gaza? Because of all other man made things, the pyramids stand in awe of assumed human creation. But if we take this further, it looks as if it is true this was made by the pagans for pagans. So if Scripture says to stay away from unholy things, how do we apply this?

I think the issue you are asking about is equivalent to a question that Paul addresses in his first letter to the Corinthians. They wanted to know whether it was all right to eat food that had been offered to idols. The simplest form of their question was whether they could eat meat they had bought in the market if it had previously been offered to idols. Paul responded, ”Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.’” Paul explains that idols are not real gods. The gods that people worship through the idols do not actually exist. So nothing happens to the meat when it is offered to an idol. The animal that the meat came from is part of God’s creation, and so the meat belongs to God and can be received as a gift from God.

The Bible is creation-affirming and culture-affirming. It teaches and shows that we can enjoy and appreciate God’s creation and the things that humans create. Humans bear the image of God, and so they are creative like God. The pyramids, as you say, are a spectacular human creation, and I believe we can appreciate the accomplishment they represent and their monumental beauty.

But in his letters, Paul does caution believers about two dangers associated with this. The first is that we must not worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. Our love and devotion belong to God alone, and we celebrate his creation and human creations as a way of honoring him as the source of all creativity. The second caution is that supernatural forces of evil actually do exist, and when people worship created things rather than God, those evil forces are lurking in the background. Paul says to be especially careful not to cause anyone who has recently come out of such a background to fall back into it. So if your visit to Egypt were going to cause someone who had recently gotten free of occult practices to get interested in Egyptian spells and charms, then for the sake of that person, you might forego or postpone it. But if you are simply going as an interested tourist, appreciating human history, culture, and architecture, and learning about an ancient civilization, I don’t see a problem with it. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,” and that includes the pyramids.

Q. There are numerous quotes in the New Testament that state that Christ lives in us. But they all seem to predicate this on a belief in Jesus. But if we are all children of God, doesn’t God (and, therefore, Jesus) live in all humans, believers and unbelievers alike?

I would say that in one sense Jesus lives in everyone, but that Jesus lives in another sense only in those who believe in him and trust him for salvation.

Christian theology recognizes that God is paradoxically both transcendent and immanent. That means that while God is a being separate from what he created (Christianity is not pantheistic), God is also present within his creation, including in the people he created. The New Testament affirms this. Paul told the Athenians, for example, “He is not far from any one of us,” and then he quoted the Greek poet Epimenides, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Paul wrote to the Colossians that the church of Christ is “his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” I will comment on the first part of that statement shortly, but in the second part of it, Paul is saying that Christ “fills all in all.” English versions express the meaning of that by saying things such as that he “fills everything in every way” or that he “fills everything everywhere with himself.” So Christ does live in all humans immanently.

However, the New Testament seems to distinguish a different sense in which Christ lives specifically in those who believe in him. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” We see here that Christ living in a person in this sense is the result of that person surrendering his life to Christ. The idea is similar in what Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” The clear implication is that if people are “in the faith,” then Christ lives in them in this sense, but not otherwise.

So what is the sense—different from the immanent sense in which Christ lives in everyone—in which Christ lives in believers? I would say that it is a relational sense. Paul wrote to the Philippians that his goal was “that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, if by any means I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” It seems that Paul equates “being found in Christ” (which I would say is comparable with Christ living in him) with “knowing him.” I think he means close personal fellowship. Jesus himself used this same image for belief in the message he gave John for the Laodicean church: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” I think it is in this sense that Paul tells the Colossians that the church is the “body” and the “fullness” of Christ. It is the human community that he inhabits in the fullest way.

So I would say that while it is true that Christ lives in everyone in an immanent sense, Christ lives only in believers in a relational sense.

Q. How should a Christian repent? What are the steps involved for a Christian to repent? Where does the Bible teach that Christians need to repent? Also, where does the Bible teach what is the purpose of Christians repenting?

In the New Testament, the term for “repent” is the Greek word metanoia. It indicates a change of mind. The English word “repent” comes from a Latin word from the same root as “penalty,” and so it indicates recognizing that something one has done is deserving of a penalty, in other words, that it was wrong. This implicitly suggests a change of mind, since the person presumably did not think the action was wrong before doing it or when doing it. This is a realization that came afterwards. But it would also apply to any future occurrences and hopefully prevent the person from doing it again.

In other words, the “change of mind” is that previously the person would have said, “It’s all right for me to do this.” Afterwards, the person would say, “It was wrong for me to have done that, and I won’t do it again.” So implicitly the idea is not just that the person thinks differently, but that the person also acts differently. This is what John the Baptist meant when he told the crowds who came to hear him preach that they needed to “bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.” Repentance is not credible unless a person’s conduct changes. If a person says, “From now on, I’m going to believe that things are wrong if God says they are wrong and that things are right if God says they are right,” but that person continues to do things that God says are wrong, then we have no evidence that they have actually changed their mind.

To answer your questions specifically, the gospels tell us that John the Baptist came preparing the way for Jesus by “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin” (Mark 1:4, Luke 3:3). John was saying that to get ready for the Messiah, people should repent of their sins (acknowledge that they were wrong and stop doing them) and be baptized to show publicly that they had done this, and God would forgive their sins. In his gospel, Matthew summarizes the teaching of Jesus himself by saying that he preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). Jesus was telling the crowds to do the same thing that John the Baptist was telling them to do. The apostles preached a similar message. Peter told the crowds in Jerusalem, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19).

In all of these places, an initial repentance is in view. It changes people from living for themselves, without regard to God, to living for God, carrying out a commitment to do carefully what God says is right and not do what God says is wrong. But the New Testament also speaks of repentance as an ongoing process for those who have already made this commitment. Paul wrote to the Romans, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). So Christians who are already committed followers of Jesus need to have an ongoing metanoia, an ongoing change of mind, by which they recognize more and more what God considers to be “good and acceptable and perfect.”

In terms of the steps involved in repentance, I would say that they are: an active seeking to understand better and better how God wants us to live; a recognition of those ways in which we have not been living like that; telling God that we are sorry and asking for and receiving God’s forgiveness; and then living more and more in the way that God does want. This should be an ongoing aspect of life for all followers of Jesus. In some Christian traditions, the process also has a more formal component, and it can help ensure that repentance does happen on a regular basis. For example, a person might go to confession, tell a priest about sins, express contrition, and receive absolution. Or in a worship service, there might be a unison prayer of confession, followed by silent individual prayers of confession, and then an assurance of pardon spoken by the minister.

I must say that as a pastor, I always loved to give the assurance of pardon, and even now as a “civilian” in the congregation, I always love to hear it. I believe it represents what God wants us to know about how he receives our sincere repentance. For example, I used to say (and still love to hear) something like this: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in mercy. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In the name of Jesus Christ, I declare, ‘You are forgiven!'”

Q. What should a Christian do if he is feeling bored (and/or unmotivated) of reading the Bible, praying, reading Christian books, going to church, and other Christian activities that he used to enjoy doing and was very motivated to do? Should he force himself to continue doing them, hoping that he will regain his enjoyment and motivation, or should he only do them when he feels motivated and will actually enjoy doing them?

The activities you describe are often referred to as “spiritual disciplines.” That does not mean that they are things we have to do. Rather, they are things that we choose to do in order to invest in our relationship with God with structure and regularity. I think that tithing, giving 10% of our income to God, provides a good example. A Christian wants to be part of what God is doing in the world through giving. But if we simply have that desire without introducing any regular practices into our lives, we may end up giving little or nothing, despite our genuine wishes and intentions. So the discipline of calculating 10% of our income, setting it aside for God’s work, and giving it regularly and intentionally to ministries we believe in can help us ensure that we actually do what we want to do.

It’s the same with the specific disciplines that you describe and with all spiritual disciplines in general. To give another example, we have a sincere desire to understand the story of God’s redemptive work in the world and how we can find our own place within that story, and engaging the Bible helps us do that. But if we have no structured plan to engage the Bible regularly, this may not happen. And so forth.

I think the issue you are encountering may be a relational one. As I said, spiritual disciplines are a means of investing in our relationship with God. But every relationship grows and changes, and the things that feed it at one point may not feed it at other points. Put simply, relationships need variety, since they are growing, living things. So not only do we need to commit to following spiritual disciplines to ensure that our sincere desire to walk closely with God is realized, we need to re-examine our disciplines on a regular basis to make sure that they are still fulfilling their purpose. We can change the way we are pursuing certain ones, and we can stop doing others and start doing new ones. Those who study spiritual disciplines have identified over two dozen of them. (In this post I describe a few beyond the ones you list, such as spending time with God in creation or in silence and solitude.) So one thing I would suggest is “mixing it up.” Engage the Bible at a different time, or in a different way. Explore other kinds of prayers besides the ones you have been praying. Pursue simplicity or service as spiritual disciplines for a while instead of reading Christian books. And so forth.

I believe that you asked this question because you really do have a heartfelt desire to be close to God. I believe that desire reflects the relationship with God that you already have, and the relationship that God already has with you. You are just experiencing some “growing pains” in that relationship, and that is actually a good thing. It shows that the relationship is growing.

One thing that happens to all Christians at various times is that their experience outgrows their understanding. That is, we have a workable framework for our Christian life; we understand and expect that things are going to work in a certain way. But as our faith becomes more mature, we also become more discerning, and we can recognize that things are not necessarily working in that way, not all the time. If we don’t reflect on this, we can actually become secretly disappointed with God. We feel inside, without necessarily articulating it this way to ourselves, that God has somehow let us down. If God hadn’t, things would have happened differently, we feel. This leads to spiritual dryness, a sense that we are not moving forward in the faith, and a lack of motivation to draw close to God.

But all of this, I would say again, is actually a positive sign. It shows that your experience of faith has been growing. Your understanding just needs to catch up with it. So I would invite you to ask yourself some questions. Was there something I was expecting God would do that God apparently didn’t do? Was there something I was expecting God wouldn’t do that God apparently did do? Who can I speak with about this who could help me understand what happened, perhaps in light of another look at the Scriptures and the heritage of Christian experience and a reconsideration of the ways of God? What books or podcasts or blog posts or other resources might also help? Do my expectations of God need to change, and if so, in what ways?

I think the process I have just described needs to begin with a commitment to being realistic. We only understand God and ourselves better in light of the truth. We don’t need to apologize or make excuses for the God we have been believing in. We can say, in a clear-eyed way, “Okay, I’ll admit it, this happened.” From there, we can sort out the implications for what we have been believing, and we can re-examine our beliefs in a fresh light.

Just writing this, I’m excited for the journey that you can take forward into a renewed experience of your faith. May God bless you as you translate your sincere desire into practical steps on that journey.

Q. What does the Bible say about decision-making?

One of the most significant things the Bible says about this is that when we have an important decision to make, we should seek the counsel and advice of wise friends. “In a multitude of counselors there is safety.” The Bible teaches us that all of us, as individual people, are limited in our knowledge, experience, and perspective. We need others to help us see things from further perspectives; to consider things we would not have considered otherwise; and to learn from the experiences, both good and bad, that others have had as a result of the decisions they have made in comparable situations.

I think that if we went to people and said, “I have an important decision to make and I’d like to ask your advice about it,” the kind of people whose counsel would be valuable would be very happy to listen and help. So think about who those people are in your life.

But those whose counsel we are to consider include not only those who are alive with us today but also those who have gone before us. “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

“Ask the former generation
    and find out what their ancestors learned,
for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,
    and our days on earth are but a shadow.
Will they not instruct you and tell you?
    Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?”

The Bible itself is a repository of the ancient wisdom of godly people, and so reading and studying it regularly puts this type of counsel at our disposal.

It is important to stress that our counselors and advisors must be godly people. “Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.” Here and in many similar contexts, the Bible uses the word “fool” to mean not someone who lacks intelligence or education, but someone who lives without regard for God. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The word “fear,” for its part, refers not to being afraid of God, but to not daring to do anything that we know God would disapprove of. “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.”

This all points to a second significant thing that the Bible teaches us about decision-making. Often we face a decision between two courses of action; one of which seems like a shortcut or expedient, but involves some sense of moral compromise, while the other seems longer and more difficult, but also has a clean, honest feel to it. In such cases, we should always choose the latter option. I recall a conversation in which a friend brought up a decision that she needed to make. One person there suggested that she could expedite the process in view by saying a certain thing that didn’t happen to be true. “But that would be lying,” I observed. “Well,” this person responded, “if you’re not prepared to help yourself out like that, then I guess you’ll have to take the long way around.” This friend did take “the long way around,” and she was much better off for doing so.

Sometimes “making a decision” is actually a matter of seeking and receiving guidance from God. We come to a crossroads, and there is a specific road that God wants us to take forward. In such situations, understanding God’s guidance is, as I say in this post, typically the result of a convergence of factors: “the teaching of Scripture, the advice of trusted counselors, the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, what the circumstances permit, the God-given desires of our hearts, etc.” (We might also mention other factors such as whether we have peace about a possible path and whether pursuing it would require faith.)

But at other times, “making a decision” means determining what a wise course of action would be in a situation where God is not necessarily guiding us forward in one direction or another. We just need to make a wise choice about our present circumstances. In such cases, what I have said about cultivating godly wisdom and seeking godly advice would certainly apply.

And there is a third possibility: In many circumstances, we may simply be free to make a choice. I believe that God loves to see his creatures develop into their fullness. Parents, by analogy, don’t want to have to keep telling their children what to do; they want them to develop into mature individuals who can make good choices for themselves. At a certain point, for example, parents stop dressing their children and instead have them decide what to wear each day.

I think it’s the same thing with God. Suppose you are going to host some friends for dinner. I’m not sure that God would ordinarily send you divine guidance from heaven about what to serve. I think God would be delighted to see you plan a great meal and pull it off. I do think that in such circumstances, we could ask God to help us have good ideas. But in the end, we will probably feel, with gratitude to God, that that was just what happened: We had a good idea.

Q. How can I have a closer relationship with God as a Christian?

I think the principles that apply generally to having good relationships with people also apply to having a good relationship with God. You describe yourself as a Christian and so I take it that you are already aware of having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. But you have asked about having a closer relationship, so let me share some thoughts about that.

First, I would say that it is important to spend time with God. Time spent together is the oxygen that relationships need to breathe. Without it, they suffocate. That is why, when spouses, friends, parents and children, etc. are separated temporarily, they make it a priority to speak regularly on the phone or by video chat, to stay in touch by email or text message, etc. People who are in close relationships and who want those relationships to remain close know that they need to invest time in them.

So, think about how you spend time with God. Put another way, when do you feel that you are in God’s presence, or that you are experiencing God? For some people, this happens during times of prayer, meditation, silence, solitude, and simplicity. By quieting all other voices, they hear the voice of God. Something similar happens for other people when they read Scripture or valuable books. For still other people, spending time with God happens when they are out in nature. They experience God in and through his creation. For others, this comes during times of service. Jesus, speaking of helping people in need, caring for the sick, showing hospitality, and visiting people who are lonely, said, “As you have done it for the least of these, you have done it for me.” In such experiences, some people say, “God, I can’t do this for you personally, but I’m going to do it for this other person as if it were you.” And in those circumstances, they feel, experientially, that they are doing something loving directly for God.

Each person’s experience will be different. There may be as many different ways of “spending time with God” as there are people. The key is to recognize what your way is and to be diligent in investing in it. It has been well said that time together with people who are important to us doesn’t happen by accident. We need to be intentional about making it happen.

A second way to invest in having a good relationship with a person is to do what that person likes, not what the person does not like. A simple illustration is this: If you are the person who prepares the meals in your house and you know what meals the others in the house like and do not like, you show your courtesy and appreciation for them by making meals that they do like. By being attentive to their tastes and preferences, you demonstrate that you value them as people. This also shows that, to the extent that it depends on you, you want them to be happy and enjoying life. This is all a very good “ante” for a good relationship with a person.

A specific and important component of this consideration is that if we want to have a good relationship with a person, we will not intentionally do anything that is harmful, hurtful, or demeaning to that person. That actually sends the message that we do not value them and that the quality of our relationship with them is not important to us.

So what are the things that God likes and does not like? We cannot answer this question in terms of favorite meals or pastimes. But we can recall what God said through the prophet Micah: “O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” If we do what we know is right, if we show generosity and compassion, if we cultivate humility, then we are investing in our relationship with God by doing what God likes. There is a wonderful promise in Psalm 25: “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him.” In this context, “fear” refers to not daring to do anything that we know would be displeasing to God. We can see that investing in a relationship with God in this way leads to the “friendship” that we desire.

I would like to mention a third thing as well. It is actually inspired by a line from the movie Chariots of Fire, although I believe there is also a biblical basis for it. In that movie, the character of Eric Liddell is explaining why, though he ultimately intends to become a missionary to China, he has been spending time training for the Olympics. He says, “God made me for China, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.” While the Bible describes our relationship with God in many ways, including child to parent and (as we have just seen) friend to friend, the Bible initially describes the relationship as creature to Creator. And we must recognize how much joy it gives a person who creates something to see it becoming all that it was created to be. A limited analogy might be that of an inventor whose invention finally works, or of a programmer who finally gets some software up and running and discovers that it works better than could have been imagined.

So, my last observation about how to cultivate a good relationship with God would be this: Be yourself. In other words, do all that you can to discern why God put you on this planet, and then fulfill that destiny. I think that when you do that (necessarily starting with an initial understanding and accomplishment, but then to an ever-increasing extent), you will feel God’s pleasure. And that is another sure sign of a good relationship.