Fascinating, absolutely fascinating conversation with a lady on our plane ride from Atlanta to San Diego. My attention was caught when I saw her reading a copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls...not the whole thing, but a rather thick informational piece that you would pick up from a museum or something. Out of curiosity I asked her what she was reading and why. I was suprised at her answer. She was reading just for history's sake, to learn about the Scrolls as she has been to Israel a few times. She was planning on going to see the display of the Scrolls which is now in her hometown of San Diego. This woman worked in Foreign Service and with the US government, sitting with top senators such as John McCain. We had a fascinating discussion about God and politics. Funny enough I'm sitting there reading Gregory Boyd's book, The Myth of a Christian Nation: Why the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church. She herself was raised a Mormon but was adamate about her newfound freedom away from religion. So here begins a series of posts regarding our conversation.
From the beginning she was very upfront that the freedom came from not being a part of a judgmental, constricted religion. Being raised Mormon she was very exposed to the rigidness of what much of religion is. Of course she found freedom in it. I actually find freedom in it as well, but in the context of being a part of the Christian faith without buying into, and being vocal and active against, any sort of religion that dictates peoples lives. A word on this...
My faith guides every part of my life, but it is God who guides me. He does it out of love, and many times He lets me fall on my face to expose the destructive nature of the way I'm choosing to go. He doesn't domineer me, but He loves me through (after all, it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance). Reading Boyd has helped greatly in this insight of religions (including our own) that attempt to exert power over others. Perhaps because of lack of faith in the guidance of God and the conviction and guidance of the Spirit we who are a part of religion feel it's necessary to shape people into our mold. They must look and act like us. They must believe the same doctrine. Religion then becomes about conformity and less about service.
I realize some may then say there is a slippery slope you go down if you don't have the mold to live by. Perhaps. But are we taking too much responsibility trying to shape people into it rather than teaching them how to be shaped by God's Spirit? I think we place so much emphasis on our exertion of what we think is right that we don't allow people the freedom to explore faith the way the disciples did...over a period of years walking with God in the flesh.
So as I sit there listening to Caroline I'm thinking, "We're not really that far apart." Both of us see the constriction religion places upon its followers. As I shared with her, I've found freedom in following the Jesus of the gospels, who was very anti-establishment and very organic in loving people. If we did more of the loving and left the timing and formation up more up to the work of the Holy Spirit I believe there would be fresh hope for our faith and a newfound appreciation of the teachings of Jesus.
