EVIDENCE BASED FAITH? (a guest post by Saskia Scott)

Today on the blog, we feature a guest post by Saskia Scott...enjoy!

An Evidence Based Faith?

by Saskia Scott

http://saskiamscott7.wix.com/sassytales

I've heard faith defined as belief despite a lack of evidence – or perhaps even despite evidence to the contrary. I suppose some faith is like that, but it is not the only kind of faith. For example, what would it mean to have faith in science? Does it mean that science doesn't really work, but scientists continue to believe it does anyway? Clearly not. Whatever view you take on the nature of knowledge itself, no one can deny that science does work. That's why it is so  powerful as a tool for understanding and influencing our world.

We can trust science, even when it reveals things that we cannot directly observe  –  like black holes, quarks, and the big bang. We have faith that these things are real because we have evidence that points towards them.

So what about religious faith? I was having a conversation with a Christian friend a few years ago, and the subject of evolution came up. I said that I believed in evolution for the same reasons that I believe in the resurrection of  Jesus of Nazareth – because I have evidence.

I can't directly observe evolution, because it happens too slowly; and I can't observe Christ's resurrection, because it happened too long ago.  Neither are these events obvious or easy to believe. Everyone knows people don't come back to life (except in zombie films), and the idea that a slow, building-block style process could result in so much complexity is mind-boggling at best.

But the amount of evidence for evolution is very convincing. I have faith that the evidence has been interpreted correctly, and that the experts know what they are talking about. And – here's the kicker – the amount of evidence for Jesus' resurrection is pretty convincing too. It's mostly historical, rather than scientific, but that makes it no less compelling.

We all must choose how to engage with evidence that does not fit our worldview. It does not have to be believed, but it cannot be ignored.

The Idolatry of Certainty

Greg Boyd speaks about the idolatry of certainty here. 
He says, "They call faith "faith" for a reason."
Greg Boyd speaks on faith and embracing doubt!

Peace,
PMP

Zombie Drive (w/ Peter Rollins)

Find out more about Peter Rollins HERE!

Interrogating Your Beliefs (w/ Peter Rollins)

Over the next week or so, we'll be posting a new series of videos/thoughts/challenges from Peter Rollins. 

{You can read more on Peter Rollins HERE}

The Parish is Perishing (PART IV)

The Parish: A Spider in Disguise   
Because St. Louis is predominately made up of Catholic and mainline churches built in parish-style fashion over 100 years ago, the way of the typical St. Louis parish was to attract and serve its surrounding community (consisting of several blocks or miles).  They served the influx of German, Irish, and Scandinavian immigrants that were calling St. Louis home.  The churches simply built their parish and the community attended.  This went on for years.  The members came to hear from the Priest or Pastor, and understood that he was the spiritual authority of their given Parish.  This mentality of outsourcing their faith experience meshed within Modernism.

This Modernist-Outsourcing mentality fully embodies itself within St. Louis by what Shenk names in his lecture, “The Long Shadow of Christendom,” as: the common belonging, belief, and behavior paradigm, as it puts the onus on the shoulders of the paid professionals and spiritual elites (Shenk 2011, lecture at Fuller Theological Seminary).  Over time, the paid professional’s faith became the faith of its congregants.  The highly traditional styles, preference, and liturgical setting of the early 1900’s, which was determined by the paid professional, now was the future setting of the community.  Likewise, the kids programs, education, and discipleship that worked in the early 1900’s became the standard for the future of the St. Louis church.


The Pastor and Priest as the Spider’s Head
Shenk discusses the common belonging was that of the paid professional’s dictation.  The pastor determined the leadership model, the initiation of citizen to members, and the overall size of the congregation (Shenk 2011, lecture at Fuller Theological Seminary).  He would control all methods and models that worked with or, conversely, threatened his understanding of what “church” should look like.

Shenk argues that the common belief determined what was to be believed of all things – civil, state, and religious.  The notion of a common belief created a rudimentary approach to what was understood – that we all knew it to be true (Shenk 2011, lecture at Fuller Theological Seminary).  Because churches in St. Louis had placed this role of determining these sets of rudimentary knowledge on the paid professionals, it is now up to them to define the belief of all of it’s congregants, and also to protect it, by calling whatever belief’s that threaten his rudimentary belief as heresy.

Shenk also argues that a common belief deems what is both appropriate and enforced.  The church can act much like a civil court when disciplining behavior (Shenk 2011, lecture at Fuller Theological Seminary).  When the Catholic and mainline churches decided to outsource its local influence to the paid professionals, the Priest and Pastor is now the chief enforcer for all things behavioral.  

In The Starfish and the Spider, entrepreneurs Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom show how traditional organizations, which have rigid hierarchy and top-down organizational structures, are fading in the new post-modern world.  They analyze a number of organizations and corporations that have resisted changing into more “starfish,” or networks-based and user-generated structures, and find that the traditional model is ending and is no longer efficient.  Just like the spider, once the head is removed from the body, the organism perishes (Beckstrom and Brafman 2006, 6-74).  So it goes with the traditionally structured church.  When the paid professionals no longer are in congruence with their communities, the belief, behavior, and belonging also dies.  This is the diagnosis of the typical church in St. Louis.

A Commentary on the Boston Marathon Bombings (1 week later)

Peace,
Ross

What? / How? / Why?

What is the postmodern priesthood?
How do I get involved?
Why should I contribute?



**Please leave a note in the comments section if you want to contribute to Postmodern Priesthood.

Peace,
Ross

Confronting Our Beliefs.

What do you believe?
How do you believe?

Peter Rollins speaks to how we must confront our beliefs...



Peace,
Ross

Domestication.

I've often felt that our faith has been domesticated. But more recently, many of the artists I run around with have shared that one of the major reasons they have "left organized religion" is the fact that the faith they once held dear has been watered down, ripped of its danger, and made vanilla.

CNN ran THIS ARTICLE.

"it seems like Christians are uncomfortable with how earthy the Bible really is. They feel the need to tidy up God...God’s message was not meant to be run through some arbitrary, holier-than-thou politeness filter. He intended the Bible to speak to people where they’re at, caught up in the stark reality of life on a fractured planet."

I couldn't agree more!

We attempt to expose a life-altering faith with our peers, but often times all that's experienced is a temperate, mundane, safe, far-from-revolutionary, nominal, set of beliefs that aren't much more than ideals we don't ever really expect to fully-believe, critically examine, or stand for in the face of any kind of scrutiny.

We've overcome the grit of broken lives with our choir robes and 3 chord praise songs; concealed the pain and doubt of life with freshly produced 1 hour services that tell us what we want to hear, so that we sleep better at night knowing we're right and they're wrong; and push us to dream only as big as we have left overs for.

I'm sorry, but when I open the pages of the scriptures, I just don't find a rationale for this domestication that's become the gold standard of church. I'm beginning to believe my friends that have walked away from faith were onto something, and the Church needs to reclaim what's withered.

Peace,
Ross