Being a
Pastor - a person who has a personal and emotional connection and investment with you, as someone they care about, care for, and love genuinely. They know who you are and are personally invested in your spirituality and emotional/ spiritual state of being.
Preacher- a man, or woman, who speaks publicly in the church at the pulpit on Sundays (these types of humans are much more common than pastors)
Leader- a person who carries a certain amount of charisma, which attracts others to them. People naturally flock to these people to be directed for a common vision and goal. These people have a clear direction, vision, mission, commission, calling and goal for their life: their lives are this vision.
Evangelist- a person, man or woman, who's main mission in life is to spread the gospel to the far reaches (and close knit) of the earth. They see their job in life as sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those they come into contact with, in a formal way (public speaking, preaching, etc.)
Fisher of Men- these people are a certain type of evangelist, but less formal. Their main form of reaching the earth is through their life style, choices and how they live. In the seemingly mundane ways they shine the light of Jesus Christ.)
The whole doctrinal argument about Science vs. (or and God) has been hammering at my mind lately. Well, this is not entirely true. I do have some vague idea of why I am stuck thinking about the scientific factual evidence of God (despite the very fact that Science cannot prove anything).
Now, please don't get me wrong. This is not necessarily a questioning of the my faith (God does in fact exists; Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God did die on the cross and resurrected himself on the third day after his death; there is no way to the Father (God) except through the Son (Jesus) - this I believe), but rather a questioning and digging deeper into my faith; begging the question. Thinking the harder to think "I don't wanna 'cause my brain will hurt" thoughts. I am reading a book based around the arguments of C.S. Lewis, David Hume and Bertrand Russell, which has thoroughly captured my interest.
The ideas surrounding a non-believers conviction that there cannot be a higher Deity (a. the world is evil, b. there are two Deity's pulling against each other, c. the Deity is quite despondent and non-interested in the human condition), has thoroughly captivated my mind, and for the time being, my heart.
What is the basis behind these accusations?
Do these people have a faith in something?
Do these people have a faith in something?
What do these humans believe?
All three of these men are obviously deeply intellectual, have spent a great deal of time and thought in their convictions and beliefs, and, for the most part, they had to sacrifice something for their beliefs making them that much more believable.
As I read, I find one of my frustrations with the church surfacing: our "pastors," or more appropriately titled "preachers," do not answer the hard questions. The most common answer to the hardest of life's questions, I have seen, felt, heard, and been told myself, are:
"You just need to have faith,"
"Get over it,"
"it could have been worse,"
"at least x didn't happen,"
"it'll be OK in the end."
Ummm... can you please excuse me while I go gag...
*gag, gag, gag* *choke* *cough* *cough* *cough* *gag*
As I am thoroughly fed up, sick of, tired and worn out from, jaded because of, horrified by and embarrassed by my personal incapability to answer some of these hard questions, I happen to have set upon a personal mission to find out why in the world certain things happen, how they happen, and what Christians are called to do besides "stand by, pray, fast and read the Bible."
Alrighty, so perhaps you have picked up on the fact, over various writings, that I'm more of a "DO!" type of person. I cannot stand standing around twiddling my thumbs. If I am ever imprisoned in some small 6x6 (4x4) ft space, you can be certain that I will have a) learned another language b) written a voluminous novel, c) created a new language complete with diphthongs, feminine, masculine and neuter case endings, d) finally mastered higher math to the point of brilliancy e) gone completely and hysterically insane.
Because of this detesting for the simple, easy, basic and nauseatingly heartless.... er... normal answers to the world, I started reading 'God and the Reach of Reason,' by Erik J. Wielenberg, as well as "Dark Night of the Soul," by Thomas Moore.
This morning, pouring over Wielenberg's book, I began feeling highly frustrated, rather agitated and thoroughly malcontent. My mind began running over the various reasons that people don't believe in a Deity (brought to the table by 'God and the Reach of Reason.')
Why can't people simply be quieted with the answer, "you just need enough faith?"
Struck by the stupidity of the question, my mom's constant reminder to my siblings came to mind, "God gave you a brain! You were made to use it!"
So, my question is now,
Is it more displeasing to God for you to actually seek the Truth with all your might, asking the hard questions, begging the question, giving the question the benefit of the doubt,
or...
to not question at all and simply stuff yourself with the negligent answer of "just have faith."
(Yes, I do believe there are many things in life that don't have an answer. Human beings, by design, seem to be cravers of answers. There will be many, many things in life which will never produce an answer; at least, not until we reach the other side of Heaven. And I do believe there is a time and season to "just have faith," but I am also thoroughly convicted that "simply having faith," and doing nothing, seeking nothing, and thinking through nothing is not only slothful, but even spitting in the face of the God who created you to think!)
God richly bless you and keep you,
Miss Elisabeth
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