Dark Faith

Last updated on: November 12, 2019 at 10:19 am by Kathleen Mulhern

Dark Faith 2019-11-12T10:19:54-07:00 Kathleen Mulhern

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.

It seems to me at this stage of my life that one of the harder parts of maturing in faith is coming to grips with the fact that all of scripture, all of our experience in Christ, all the core beliefs and convictions of the Christian gospel, all the ancient writings and great teachings and profound ideas of all the saints—all of this put together is still not enough to answer some of the profoundly difficult questions we face.

I believe in the absolute, unwavering, constant goodness of God—God cannot not be good. But that belief, which is slowly becoming a deeper trust, is simply not able to explain certain realities, and an essential incompatibility between painful reality and God’s goodness cannot be denied. I can say it is an apparent contradiction, not a real one, because I clearly do not and cannot have all the facts. Nevertheless, it is a dark faith that clings to truth about God despite the absence of “answers.”

It would be easy to pitch all the faith overboard in light of these incompatibilities if there were better answers to the mysteries and miseries we encounter on this journey, but if I did so, bigger, more daunting problems and enigmas would rear their ugly heads, and still I would be left with essential contradictions and incongruities. Atheism, even agnosticism, is no satisfying answer, only a chosen posture in the face of our common dilemma.

There is also this undefinable awareness that part of the conundrum, part of the tension, is due to the smallness and boundaried nature of our thinking about God. He is greater than our carefully articulated doctrines will allow. But this “greaterness” is more, not less. In this restless awareness that evangelical faith cannot “hold” all the inscrutable twists and turns of knowing God in our midst, some have dissolved (not rejected, just redefined) the historical outlines of faith. Resurrection is not really resurrection, just an inner awakening; holiness is not really holiness, just a sense of wholeness; sin is not really sin, just brokenness; repentance is not really repentance, just accepting yourself; salvation is not really salvation, just awareness of salvation. The real challenge, I think, is that Reality can only be found by plunging ourselves more deeply into revelation. These ancient teachings are, as C.S. Lewis once wrote, bigger on the inside than they are on the outside. We too often live with them on the outside, and out there, they’re just not big enough.

Our thinking gets stuck in the irrigation channels that bring the Living Water to our souls, but those channels connect to wide rivers rushing toward a vast unboundaried ocean. All that Jesus revealed about God is true, but it is the beginning, not the end.

Image by Stefan Keller, Pixabay

Previous Post

October 13, 2019

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it

Next Post

November 15, 2019 Dear Rev. MacArthur, do you think I am just dazzled and muddled?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Ascetical Theology Book Reviews Children and Parenting Easter Epiphany Friends of God Lent Life in the Spirit Ludolph Pascalian Spirituality: a series Politics Prayers Six Neo-Christian Myths Spiritual Formation Tales from My Father Trinitarian Spirituality: a series Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 January 2023 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 April 2022 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 November 2016 June 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 March 2015 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 October 2011 August 2011 July 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book of the Bible is known as the 'Book of Wisdom'?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Psalms Proverbs Job Ecclesiastes