Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
Beliefs Don’t Matter (But They Also Do Matter)

Beliefs Don’t Matter (But They Also Do Matter)

Last updated on: December 29, 2020 at 10:55 am by Matthew Distefano

Beliefs Don’t Matter (But They Also Do Matter) 2020-12-29T10:55:29-06:00 Matthew Distefano

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Beliefs don’t matter.

However, they also do matter.

Confusing, right? Well, perhaps only at first glance. It’ll all make sense by the end of this piece. I promise.

When I say that beliefs don’t matter, what I mean is, contrary to what we learned in the Protestant tradition, our beliefs about God, or Jesus, or atonement, or the Bible, or so-called “sound doctrine,” aren’t our primary source of salvation. They aren’t our identity. We are more than our beliefs. Some people don’t believe that, though, which is one reason why they get so up in arms any time someone comes along and challenges their beliefs. We think our identity is at stake, and that scares the bejesus out of us.

On the flipside, when I say that beliefs do matter, what I mean is that they will impact how we approach this beautiful, present moment. If we believe God is gonna get us, that he’s gonna send us to hell and punish us for time everlasting if we don’t put together the magic doctrinal puzzle that unlocks the gates of heaven, then we are gonna have a hell of a time enjoying what Richard Rohr would call the naked now. That is to say, our present moment is going to be shrouded in existential angst and anxiety.

This fact – that beliefs don’t matter but that they do – is just one of those paradoxical truths of the universe. Like light, which behaves both as a wave and a particle, beliefs function in the same way. But to understand this, we must not get caught up in the dualism that typically governs our lives.

Honestly, dualism is all fine and dandy. In fact, to reject dualism completely is, in and of itself, dualistic. We need dualism for lots of things: binary computer code, getting from one place to another, learning our colors, describing the world around us, etc. As my best-friend Michael Machuga once told me, “everything in moderation, including moderation.” But too often, our dualism infects the parts of life that need to be more nuanced: our faith traditions, our politics, how we approach issues of justice, how we raise our kids, etc. To that end, in order to shed dualistic thinking, we need to include it in our daily lives and make sure it is put in its proper place. It’s like the ego. It belongs, but it needs to be in its proper place in order to function “properly.”

Again, this will be tough for religious folks to grasp, especially folks who believe that it is our “faith IN Christ” that saves us. For these folks, our salvation rests upon what we think about Christ. If we don’t have faith IN him, we are doomed. However, what if it is not our faith IN Christ that saves us, but trusting in the fact that Christ had faith? That’s what I believe Paul meant by “pistis Christou,” or what some translate as “faith in Christ.” The better translation, however, and the one endorsed by folks like Ben Witherington, N.T. Wright, David Bentley Hart, J. Louis Martyn, and Douglas Campbell, is that the “faithfulness/faith of Christ” is what is primary, and that trusting in that is what follows.

Both our trust and Christ’s faith are important, but all I’m suggesting is that we don’t put the cart before the horse. Religious dogmatists have things backwards. They think it’s our beliefs, our faith, our affirmations, our doctrines, our dogmas that save us. What they fail to understand is that what we do is secondary to what God/Christ has already done in the world. Think of it like this: both repentance and forgiveness are vitally important to living in right relationship to God and each other. Many Christians emphasize repentance, which then “unlocks” God’s forgiveness. I’m just suggesting the opposite: God’s forgiveness is preemptive, it’s primary, and secondary to that is repentance. Both are crucial, but God’s act is first.

Going back to beliefs…

Beliefs are important, but God’s belief about us is primary to our beliefs about ourselves or God. Put in their proper place, then, the present moment opens up before us. Why? Because God’s posture toward us is always grace, mercy, love, compassion, and empathy. As Ephesians 3:18 teaches us, Christ’s love is wider, longer, higher, and deeper than we could ever fathom. So, if we trust this, then what do we have to worry about? Not God. Not what happens when we die. Not going to some horrible corner of the universe called hell. Our doctrines, our dogmas, our theologies, all sort of melt away and become more derivative, which allows us to see the present moment for what it is – imbued with beauty, love, and light.

So, are you more confused than ever? I hope not. I promised that this would make sense, so if it didn’t, feel free to comment below and tell me that I’m full of it. But remember, that’s just, like, your belief maaaaan. It’s not truly who you are 😉

If you wanna get to know me better, please follow me on social media. I’m pretty active on all platforms:

Also, if you’ve been digging my work on here, and want to see me be able to continue writing as close to full-time as humanly possible, please take a look at my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/mjdistefano. Even $1 a month helps bigly!!!

Previous Post

December 28, 2020

Getting Friendly With The Friendly Atheist

Next Post

December 30, 2020 So, You Wanna Be A Christian?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atonement Book Review Early Church Eschatology eternal torment Hell Hermeneutics LGBTQ+ Mimetic Theory Mysticism News Old Testament Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Religion Sacrifice Satire Soteriology Theology Uncategorized Violence

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 June 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 June 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many loaves in the feeding miracle?

Select your answer to see how you score.

12 7 5 3

Books by This Author Books by All Set Free

See All Titles »