What do I believe?

Many people wrestle with some type of: “What do I actually believe?” question as they progress in their spiritual lives.

Religious questioning may be more prominent in Americans. The First Amendment of our Constitution expressly forbids establishing a national religion, and it does not limit our free practice of any religion that we may choose. With so many choices available, I actually find it interesting that I never questioned my own position as a Christian until well into adulthood. I stayed faithfully connected to the Christian message, and raised my own children as Christians, almost without thinking. Perhaps the lack of questioning, and the lack of actively choosing Christianity over other faith traditions, is what causes so many people to become disengaged from that religion. Has Christianity become so common-place in Western societies, that it has lost its value?

Christianity was originally a very shocking and radical religion. People — and the founder Himself– were literally killed because this new “Christian” religion went against the established cultural norms of the day. Jesus and his followers were killed because their belief in Jesus as “the Son of God” was seen to be extreme blasphemy by the Jewish people in Palestine. Romans, in civilized early Europe, felt that the Christians believed “a foreign and deadly superstition,” that had “degraded and shameful practices,” according to historian Bruce Eastwood. How did this provocative religious movement become so commonplace that modern people hardly give it a second thought?

I believe modern people have become disengaged from Christianity because we don’t actually read our own scriptures, nor do we pay attention to the words of our own liturgical prayers. Christianity, by its own text, is full of mysticism and spiritual wonderment.

The Gospel of Mark is the oldest written account of Jesus and his life, which was written by and for his first followers. It opens with mystical language, “he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8). In the Gospel of John (10:34), Jesus said, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods?’” quoting Psalm 82:6. The original text in the Psalm states, “I declare: “Gods though you be, offspring of the Most High all of you.” In addition, King David wrote in Psalm 8:5–6, “What is man that you [God] are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god; crowned him with glory and honor.” These are powerful words in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible that point to a belief in the Divine nature of human beings.

When questioning, “What do I believe?” it is important to go to the source of any faith tradition and make a conscious and heart-felt choice of where you want to put your spiritual energy.

In the Old Testament, Moses proposed a choice to the Israeli people, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then” (Deut. 30:19). The profit Joshua also said the the Israelites, “choose today whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). In the New Testament, “Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’” (John 6:67–68). The Apostle Paul said, “For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love” (Galatians 5:13).

Be curious. Be conscious. Be courageous to seek your own understanding of God by looking into the foundational texts of faith.