One thing Catholicism and Evangelicalism have in common is that they both taught me that faith and belief were synonyms. Within both faith traditions, faith was primarily a mental exercise. Say the proper prayers, believe the right things about God, Jesus, the Trinity, sin, baptism, etc., and you're generally good to go.

As history has demonstrated time and time again, emphasis on faith as belief in general, and "right" belief in particular, often spirals out of control to where Christians divide over issues that Jesus would never have fathomed. For example, in America, why do we have a Southern Baptist Convention along with other Baptist denominations?

A Quick Story from Fairly Recent Church History

Let me briefly tell you a story. In 1845, Southern Baptists didn't like Northern Baptist's anti-slavery stance. As a matter of fact, as a Baptist, you couldn't go on global missions if you were pro-slavery. Maybe I'm alone here, but I feel like it's not a crazy sentiment if you want to take Jesus to the non-Western (read, not white) parts of the world believing the people you are going to 'save' aren't subhumans who should be enslaved is a pretty low ask.

Yet, history tells us that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was founded because Southern Baptists refused to agree on an anti-slavery stance. To keep their slaves and go on global missions (this was a recipe for disaster 🤦🏻‍♂️), they broke away from the Northern Baptists and started the SBC.

Faith as Belief is Inherently Divisive

Here's a fun fact: as of today (January 9th, 2024), there are 45,000 Christian denominations globally.

I'm speculating here, but I'm willing to bet the majority of these denominations were started because of doctrinal differences. If I'm correct, most Christian denominations today exist not because they were running to something God was calling them to but because they were running away from another denomination over differences of opinion.

This is a safe space; we can be honest; a fair amount of our theology and doctrines are really a matter of speculation and best guesses, but we don't know. For example, when taking communion, does the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Jesus (Catholic view)? Or is the bread and wine meant to be purely symbolic (broadly a Protestant view)? Or is it a mystery (Episcopal view)? I don't care how dogmatic your convictions may be. Here's the truth: we...do...not... know, and that's okay.

Here's my point: once you go down the road of faith and belief as synonyms, the result is continuously increased division. Why? Because inherent to this system is the need to define issues and doctrines at a more and more granular scale. It's a modern illustration of trying to stick a camel through the eye of a needle.

Plenty of People Believe the "Right" Dogma and Are Still Assholes

Since before I was Christian, I've had a sensitivity to what I would read or learn about Jesus and how radically different his so-called followers, you know, followed him. As a regular Joe in the pews and a pastor, I can't tell you how many people have read the right books, have memorized all the "clobber" verses that prove their viewpoint correct and yours wrong, and can quote systematic theology like its Shakespeare, yet are still mean to their spouse, short-tempered with their kids, and power-seeking corporate ladder climbers, no different than the majority of folks who have nothing to do with Jesus.

Now, the last thing I want to do here is to come across or sound like some self-righteous, pious person. The issue isn't that people are people; we have great things about us and not-so-great things about us. That's not the issue, that's called being human. The problem is, as Christians, we've been taught believing the right things about God is equivalent to a relationship with God, which it is not. Furthermore, we've been taught holding the correct beliefs makes one a wiser or more mature Christian, which, based on a lot of well-educated Christians and Pastors, for that matter, their actions say otherwise. It is commonplace for Christians who have all the head knowledge and no compassion or tangible trust in God to be seen as Christlike people.

I love how Country Music Star and aspiring philosopher 😉 Jellyroll recently made a similar point on a podcast. Check out this YouTube short of what he said:

Jesus the Sage

My conviction from the four gospels is that Jesus calls us to follow him, not believe the right things about him. Much like today, wisdom often assumed age in the ancient Near East. Here's the thing: Jesus was constantly referred to, by his opponents no less, as a wise teacher, but Jesus was 30-33 years old. He wasn't wise because of his age, so why was he considered wise?

Instead, Jesus, like the Buddha, gained wisdom (or sagacity) through his spiritual experiences. Jesus had mystical experiences in knowing and experiencing God and developed a unique insight. The late New Testament Scholar Marcus Borg explains,

"As a sage whose perception flowed out of his experience of the sacred (or God), Jesus developed a set of teachings about God, the human predicament, and the way of transformation."

At the heart of Jesus's teachings is a path to follow. This path involves trusting radically in the compassion of God and letting go of the self and the finite as a source of security. The path Jesus walked and calls others to follow is a way of transformation from the heart up, not the head down. To live through purity in heart means dying to the finite (taking up a cross to follow Jesus) and living in a radical trust in God.

The journey Jesus calls us to is faith as radical trust on display and demonstrated through our fidelity to God in our actions in everyday life. To help myself remember this, I've started repeating this line to myself regularly:

"Faith is about being, not believing."

John 14:6 Through the Lens of Faith as a Journey

When I talk about faith as a journey, inevitably, someone counters with something like, "Believing the right things matters because it is believing in Jesus that saves us." The verse most often used as a 'gotcha' is John 14:6, which says,

"Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NRSVUE)

Those who believe that faith is believing view this verse as meaning that you must know about Jesus and believe certain things about Jesus to be saved. What they tend to focus on in the verse is the word "truth" and the phrase, "no one comes to the Father except through me."

What is ironic is the verse begins with the phrase, "I am the way..." Jesus's primary point is that he embodies a path to be followed. The truth and life happen through following Jesus on the journey of compassion and radical trust in God.

Again, Marcus Borg explains,

"For John, just as Jesus is the Word of God become flesh, and the wisdom of God become flesh, so he is "the way" become flesh. For John, what we see in Jesus is the way– the incarnation, the embodiment, of a life radically centered in God." (Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary, p. 222)

Conclusion

I've been open about my spiritual journey from an evangelical (read fundamentalist) pastor to a now progressive Christian. What never ceases to amaze me is how I have lost every relationship I developed over almost two decades except for a few faithful friends. The reason I lost so many relationships is that I changed my mind about what I believe. I'm another prime example of faith as belief rearing its ugly, divisive head again.

What I find comfort in is that this is part of the journey. Because a journey naturally assumes movement. I was there, and now I am here. Going from one place to another is part of this crazy thing we call life. A journey involves our whole being. It involves both our hands and feet as well as our minds.

To follow Jesus is to follow a path or, in John's words, a "way." It is not aimless wandering, though sometimes the path takes us through dark valleys. I am learning to find great comfort in the footsteps and breadcrumbs left by those who have taken the journey before me. I'm learning Christianity is about following a path far more than it is about believing anything in my mind. I hope you learn this too.

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