Love this list. As someone who grew up in white Christian America, I would also recommend the works of Robert P. Jones. I just finished "White Too Long" and "The End of White Christian America", and found them both incredibly compelling as I consider my own theological roots.
Kristin, I so appreciate your musings and grateful you have a forum to share!
I've been finding a lot of value in all of the the content the Bible Project is generating, but most recently in their Hope Devotional (https://www.bible.com/is/reading-plans/38843-bibleproject-what-gives-you-hope#!). It's brought me back to basic principles of Christianity, all looked at through a different lens and without an explicit expectation of what it means. I've been particularly mulling over the Kingdom of God and Heaven and Earth. It's grounded me in the mission God gave Jesus and how we have been called into that same mission by virtue of being made in God's image. My capacity to engage in deconstructing my past beliefs is limited these days. I'm finding it much easier to start from the beginning, test new sources of information as I go, and see where it takes me!
Buildling from the ground up makes a lot of sense! So glad The Bible Project has been a good resource for you...I need to branch out to podcasts, websites, videos, etc but for some reason books are where I absorbe information and process best. You'll have to share more about what's energizing you about what you're learning when we see you in person!
Kristin, I am a fellow Christian who has gone through his stages. According to one theory of spiritual development, the first step is where "individuals are unwilling to accept a will greater than their own." Once this has been surpassed, then people can go on and develop and progress onto higher levels of spiritual maturity.
I have had my questions, my doubts, my curiosities, my perplexities. And I am so glad to have had access readily to good pastors who convinced me in my faith and answered my questions in a way that made sense.
C.S. Lewis I think had said that you should address those doubts, those nagging questions, because as James said in James 1:6-8, "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." When a person is unsure in the faith they are like a wave of the sea. Which is why it is so important to have the questions answered, the confusions, to have the perplexities addressed. Which is why conferring with mature Christians who have lived out the faith and who have found the Christian faith to be true, over and over and over again without fail, can be helpful.
As C.S. Lewis had said, sometimes the Christian faith can seem unsure sometimes. Life can be crushing. The world is a harborer of evil, and evil does exist in this world. We are fed lies and deceit by the evil one, and we can get confused. I think faith and mature understanding happens in stages. As we grow, we know more, and understand more, and realize more.
In a world of a lot of shades of grey, in a world of ambiguity and uncertainties, and full of certain people who believe there may be no absolutes, these are the very axioms and the absolute ultimate truths that I harbor onto and which anchor me onto rock solid ground that not even the evil one can shake: there is a God. There truly is a God. Our God is good. Our God has absolute sovereignty. Our God is perfectly good, all-knowing, and all-powerful. God and therefore goodness will win in the end, ultimately and eventually and certainly. There is a God who does truly care deeply about us. God loves us. I fall back on the basics. There is a God who loves. I am a sinner and God loves me. Kristin, you are a sinner and God loves you. These are the basic facts and the axioms of our faith, without which our faith is utterly nothing. Nothing in the world is more important than these simple but utter and absolute truths. Even amongst the questions, the doubts, the whispers and naggings of doubt and double-takes and skepticisms that threaten to rip apart our souls and obfuscate our very mental functioning, let us in the end confess and profess that at the end of the day, there IS a God who is completely and utterly good, and we can rejoice in our confessions and go back to the basics there is a simple truth: there IS a God.
Lastly, from my exam book which I think puts it well, at the final stages of spiritual development, the book says this and I concur: "The individual starts enjoying the mystery and beauty of nature and existence." I wish for your continued faith, strong progress, spiritual vitality, and an unshakeable faith as we journey together in this temporal existence called life.
Steve, thanks so much for your thoughtful reflections on your own journey and what you've been able to cling to as absolute truth in the face of the challenges and storms of life. I'm not sure I'll ever have absolute certainty about anything, but I can choose to live my life based on what I hope to be good and true, and pray for grace to cover all.
I really enjoyed "Tell Me the Dream Again."
It's such a beautiful, contemplative book.
Love this list. As someone who grew up in white Christian America, I would also recommend the works of Robert P. Jones. I just finished "White Too Long" and "The End of White Christian America", and found them both incredibly compelling as I consider my own theological roots.
Ooooh, thanks for those recs. They sound relevant and important - appreciate it.
Kristin, I so appreciate your musings and grateful you have a forum to share!
I've been finding a lot of value in all of the the content the Bible Project is generating, but most recently in their Hope Devotional (https://www.bible.com/is/reading-plans/38843-bibleproject-what-gives-you-hope#!). It's brought me back to basic principles of Christianity, all looked at through a different lens and without an explicit expectation of what it means. I've been particularly mulling over the Kingdom of God and Heaven and Earth. It's grounded me in the mission God gave Jesus and how we have been called into that same mission by virtue of being made in God's image. My capacity to engage in deconstructing my past beliefs is limited these days. I'm finding it much easier to start from the beginning, test new sources of information as I go, and see where it takes me!
Buildling from the ground up makes a lot of sense! So glad The Bible Project has been a good resource for you...I need to branch out to podcasts, websites, videos, etc but for some reason books are where I absorbe information and process best. You'll have to share more about what's energizing you about what you're learning when we see you in person!
Thanks for sharing this!!! Glad to have this in my inbox so I don’t have to go on instagram to read it ❤️
Aww, thank you Lynne!
Kristin, I am a fellow Christian who has gone through his stages. According to one theory of spiritual development, the first step is where "individuals are unwilling to accept a will greater than their own." Once this has been surpassed, then people can go on and develop and progress onto higher levels of spiritual maturity.
I have had my questions, my doubts, my curiosities, my perplexities. And I am so glad to have had access readily to good pastors who convinced me in my faith and answered my questions in a way that made sense.
C.S. Lewis I think had said that you should address those doubts, those nagging questions, because as James said in James 1:6-8, "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." When a person is unsure in the faith they are like a wave of the sea. Which is why it is so important to have the questions answered, the confusions, to have the perplexities addressed. Which is why conferring with mature Christians who have lived out the faith and who have found the Christian faith to be true, over and over and over again without fail, can be helpful.
As C.S. Lewis had said, sometimes the Christian faith can seem unsure sometimes. Life can be crushing. The world is a harborer of evil, and evil does exist in this world. We are fed lies and deceit by the evil one, and we can get confused. I think faith and mature understanding happens in stages. As we grow, we know more, and understand more, and realize more.
In a world of a lot of shades of grey, in a world of ambiguity and uncertainties, and full of certain people who believe there may be no absolutes, these are the very axioms and the absolute ultimate truths that I harbor onto and which anchor me onto rock solid ground that not even the evil one can shake: there is a God. There truly is a God. Our God is good. Our God has absolute sovereignty. Our God is perfectly good, all-knowing, and all-powerful. God and therefore goodness will win in the end, ultimately and eventually and certainly. There is a God who does truly care deeply about us. God loves us. I fall back on the basics. There is a God who loves. I am a sinner and God loves me. Kristin, you are a sinner and God loves you. These are the basic facts and the axioms of our faith, without which our faith is utterly nothing. Nothing in the world is more important than these simple but utter and absolute truths. Even amongst the questions, the doubts, the whispers and naggings of doubt and double-takes and skepticisms that threaten to rip apart our souls and obfuscate our very mental functioning, let us in the end confess and profess that at the end of the day, there IS a God who is completely and utterly good, and we can rejoice in our confessions and go back to the basics there is a simple truth: there IS a God.
Lastly, from my exam book which I think puts it well, at the final stages of spiritual development, the book says this and I concur: "The individual starts enjoying the mystery and beauty of nature and existence." I wish for your continued faith, strong progress, spiritual vitality, and an unshakeable faith as we journey together in this temporal existence called life.
Steve, thanks so much for your thoughtful reflections on your own journey and what you've been able to cling to as absolute truth in the face of the challenges and storms of life. I'm not sure I'll ever have absolute certainty about anything, but I can choose to live my life based on what I hope to be good and true, and pray for grace to cover all.