Confirmed
John 1:29-49[1]
These days the question of whom you believe can be a
controversial one. People line up behind certain news outlets, for example, and
draw a line in the sand to separate themselves from those “on the other side.”
There are a lot of reasons offered up for why we as a people have become so
“polarized” around this question. Some say it’s the influence of social media.
And it’s true to some extent that we may be too quick to believe something we
read on Facebook or someone we hear on YouTube without really checking the
facts. Some say our problems are the result of fundamental differences among us
regarding our attitudes toward education, patriotism, and the very nature of
truth itself. Others trace the problem back to different groupings or “tribes”
among us going back to the very beginnings of our country.
I’m not sure about all of that. Some of it seems like it’s
“above my pay grade.” What I think is that the human family has always had a
tendency to believe whatever confirms what they already suspect to be true. The
phrase “that sounds about right to me” is one that we use to confirm what we
hear. In many ways, that can be just an idiom. But behind that, there may be something
more. For example, the spread of rumor and gossip is nothing new. It’s been
around as long as there have been groups of people. It’s not a new phenomenon
that we’re drawn to those who share our opinions, and we’re suspicious of
anyone who dares to voice something “different.” If anything, I would say that
the technology behind email and the internet and social media has only made
rumor and gossip much more powerful. And it’s made it much harder for us to
sort out fact from fiction. After all, the real question isn’t whether something
“sounds about right to me.” The real question is whether something is true.
That’s a much harder question to answer. Especially when
the truth is inconvenient, or challenges our long-held beliefs, or we simply
don’t like it. Some of us use facts to try to answer the question of truth.
What’s true is what is backed up by facts, by hard data. That sounds
reasonable, but as many of us have learned the hard way, people can “spin” the
facts to prove whatever point they want you to believe. Others rely on common
sense. They trust what makes sense based on their life experience. Again, that
sounds reasonable, but the problem is that our life experience is limited.
That’s true for all of us. Nobody can know the lived experience of every member
of the human family. Others rely on “gut instinct.” Basically, they go with
what “feels right.” Again, that can work sometimes, but we all know that our
feelings can lead us astray.
This problem with discerning truth in our daily lives also
applies to our faith. When you look at the spectrum of churches out there and
the different ways they approach faith, you may wonder why that’s the case. It
has to do with how they answer the question of what is true. For many, the
basis for truth is an authoritative book, the Bible. You might think that’s
obvious for all Christians. But the problem is that the Bible can be difficult
to read, and harder to understand. Between the Bible and every truth claim
based on a Scripture text is the interpretation of the person reading it. And
we’re all flawed and fallible Bible readers. I’m sure we’ve all heard of cult
leaders who twisted the Bible to get people to carry out their bidding. But a
more common problem is how to sort out all the different ways people can “spin”
the Bible.
This issue with interpreting the Bible has been around from
the beginning. That’s why many Christians believe that the basis for the truth
of their faith is an authoritative church. Because we are all fallible Bible
readers, they believe it takes the guidance of the “right” church and its
leaders to know what’s true. Usually, the “right” church is their
church, and other churches are judged to be right or wrong based on how they
line up with their church’s teachings. But the problem is that every church
that has ever been is a human organization, made up of flawed and fallible
people. More than that, because every church is made up of fallible people, the
more attention, the more power, the more influence someone has in a church
organization, the more they are subject to the temptations of their own
self-will. As one famous observer noted, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely.”[2] He was
talking about the church!
In the face of the fallible interpretations of the Bible by
fallible church leaders, some Christians believe that the basis for the truth
of their faith is an authoritative experience. They claim that in order to
truly have faith a person has to have a dramatic spiritual experience, much
like that of the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road. Once again, however,
whether or not one’s spiritual experience is “real,” and therefore a sufficient
basis for faith, depends on how well it conforms to their experience.
Those who insist on a particular spiritual experience tend to make themselves
the yardstick by which they measure the faith of everyone else. And if it
doesn’t match up closely enough with their experience, then it’s not “true”
Christian faith.
If we can’t rely absolutely on an authoritative
book, or an authoritative church, or an authoritative experience, some might be
tempted to think that there’s no way to know whether our faith is true or not.
In fact, I think there are many these days who harbor that thought. But I wouldn’t
say we have to just throw up our hands and give up. As with many things in
life, I would say that the answer lies in finding balance. We rely on the
witness of the Bible as the foundation for our faith, and rightly so. But we
also rely on the tradition of interpreting the Bible that has been handed down
to us by the Church. And our own spiritual experiences serve to reinforce our
personal faith convictions. I think that, at the end of the day, what all of
this means is that it’s more honest to say “I believe” with much of our faith
rather than “I know.” It’s not a matter of uncertainty, but humility, and I
believe there is wisdom in that.
You may be wondering what all of this has to do with the
Scripture readings for today. In John’s Gospel, those who met Jesus expressed
their faith that he was the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,”
the “Messiah … about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote,” and
the “Son of God.” We might wonder what basis they had for making those claims.
I would say it was based on their first-hand experience of Jesus, which they
understood in light of the Bible, as they interpreted it through the faith they
had been taught. I think the same is true for us today. We can affirm our faith
in Jesus based on our spiritual experiences, which we understand in light of
the Bible, as we interpret it through what we have been taught by the Church.
That way of putting it may sound rather ordinary compared to the way other people talk about their faith. It lacks the appeal of a dramatic spiritual experience. It lacks the certainty of those who are supremely confident that their understanding of the Bible is undisputable. It lacks the assurance of those who are convinced that their church is the “true” one. But as it has long been observed, it takes at least three legs to make a sturdy stool. Affirming that our faith is based on our spiritual experiences, which we understand in light of the Bible, as we interpret it through what we have been taught by the Church provides us with a solid foundation for faith. It doesn’t give us absolute certainty. We can’t look down our noses at those who believe differently as if we “know” the truth and they don’t. What we can do is humbly affirm our faith as one that is confirmed not only by our own experience, but also by the Bible, and by the teaching of the church. At the end of the day, I think that’s a faith that can withstand the challenges of life. And after all, that’s what faith is about.
[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 1/14/2024 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Lord John Dahlberg-Acton, Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887.
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