Marilynne Robinson, Gilead. New York: Picador, 2004, p. 179.
So my advice is this – don’t look for proofs. Don’t bother with them at all. They are never sufficient to the question, and they’re always a little impertinent, I think, because they claim for God a place within our conceptual grasp. And they will likely sound wrong to you even if you convince someone else with them. That is very unsettling over the long term. “Let your works so shine before men,” etc. It was Coleridge who said Christianity is a life, not a doctrine, words to that effect. I’m not saying never doubt or question. The Lord gave you a mind so that you would make honest use of it. I’m saying you must be sure that the doubts and questions are your own, not, so to speak, the mustache and walking stick that happen to be the fashion of any particular moment.
1 comment:
Be with your own doubts and questions, not someone else’s. Sometimes it’s as if someone is looking over your shoulder and you are defending yourself against their accusations. That voice questioning and provoking you is your own. When you remember that, it becomes easier to find the answers. Perhaps you don’t even need any answers. It is enough to be intimate with God, living the life that you feel God asking you to live, responding only to God and not to those other voices.
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