god is not springs or bricks
“when everything gets answered, it’s fake. the mystery is the truth.” ~sean penn
i’ve had “velvet elvis” sitting around for probably six months now - i’m not sure why i put off reading it. i think because i didn’t expect it to be radical enough for me - or maybe because the title was more cryptic than some of my favorites like “everything must change” or “jesus for president.” (both i’ve written about before, here and here.)
but when the author started talking about questioning doctrines like the trinity, literal creationism and the virgin birth, i figured it would be something that was right up my alley. now before i get concerned comments or emails with lightly veiled accusations of heresy, let me explain.
rob bell explains two different ways of looking at everything that isn’t god: bricks and springs.
beliefs and doctrine that are springs stretch and flex. they allow us to do what jesus expects of us as the church: to be continually reinventing our methodology, adjusting to become relevant to our culture and time, and so forth. the example he gives in the book is the trinity. this exact word or concept doesn’t exist in the bible and the church existed for thousands of years without ever articulating it.
“the springs aren’t god. they have emerged over time as people have discussed and studied and experienced and reflected on their growing understanding of who god is. our words aren’t absolutes. only god is absolute.”
in case you haven’t realized by now, i’m a big fan of springs, though i’ve never thought of calling them that. instead, i’ve simply ascribed to the idea for years now that very few things are black and white. the things some people consider black and white now weren’t considered as such in earlier iterations of the church and they likely won’t continue to be so defined at some point in the future.
i always use the example of slavery or oppression of women. not that long ago in western christianity we used the bible to justify these things which now we deem patently absurd and wrong. hanging a faith practice so firmly on certain set of beliefs that have (relatively arbitrarily) been “set in stone” by some pastor or teacher or denomination or certain way of upbringing is dangerous.
these are bricks. although a certain amount of questioning and exploration was encouraged by my family as i was growing up, the church environment in which i was raised was predominately one of bricks. it wasn’t until i got to college that i realized i’d been duped - not so much by a point blank lie, but by little assumptions made by evangelical christianity and indoctrinated into my subconscious: mostly in the vein of you can’t be/do __ and be a christian (fill in the blank: mormon, catholic, gay, etc.). as i actually began investigating and questioning, my bricks started crumbling and being replaced by springs.
rob bell uses a couple examples here, the first being literal creationism. he references a video he watched by one of the leaders of this movement (i am just about certain i know who it is …) who states: “if you deny that god created the world in six literal twenty-four-hour days, then you are denying that jesus ever died on the cross.” this sounds absolutely crazy to me now, but it was just another one of those “assumptions” i was indoctrinated with and to many who believe it (and there are many out there), it doesn’t seem that out of the ordinary.
he then goes on to reference the virgin birth, pointing out that in the first century being “born of a virgin” also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had sex. i’m not looking to get into an argument about literal creationism or the virgin birth - but the reactions to such doctrinal challenges are a good indicator of how faith is supported, either with bricks or springs. bell points out the main problem with a brick support system:
if you pull one out, the whole wall starts to crumble. it appears quite strong and rigid but if you begin to rethink or discuss even one brick. the whole thing is in danger.
i know many people who live this way, but i just can’t. i have too many questions, and bricks don’t like questions. i agree with bell when he says:
central to the christian experience is the art of questioning god. … [it] frees us. frees us from having to have it all figured out. frees us from having answers to everything.
which is good news for me, because i have a lot more questions than answers.
December 02 2009 09:30 am | religion
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