Reader Questions- Why?

Why did you choose Christianity over the world's 5 kajillion other religions? Do you think Christianity is more legitimate than said other religions?  How do you believe God views those who are good people but believe differently? - Lex

Why put so much faith in the Bible, when it could have easily been corrupted during all this time and forged by humans? Wouldn't any other book with deep meanings and morals do the same trick?  - Andi

Why universalism? - Joseph

I'm going a bit out of order on the queue, here, because these three questions, two answered through the contact form and one over the phone, all resounded together for me yesterday, and I've been trying to sort out my thoughts on these for awhile. They're kind of a big deal, after all, and probably more important to how people see me on here than anything I put on the Questions That I Suspect Might be Frequently Asked section.

For the first two, it may be impossible for me to separate nature from nurture completely. I was born in a society that favors Christianity over other forms of faith to a father who was a pastor in a Christian denomination and a mother whose father did the same. I've lived around the Bible my whole life, grew up seeing it as a favorite toy or puzzle, going through it and trying to separate meaning out of it while trying to keep up with my Parents when they would talk about it at the dinner table. You know the way some kids these days are brought up with Harry Potter as nearly an everyday part of their lives? For me, that book was the Bible. It was interesting, it was challenging, it was fun, and it was ALWAYS there.

So I cannot, with any sort of integrity, pretend that wasn't a part of my upbringing, nor give any assurances that if I had grown up the son of a Rabbi or an Imam, I wouldn't be Jewish or Islamic, respectively. In fact, one of the reasons it took so long for me to finally confront the call I felt to ministry was that it would look like I was just going into the family business, rather than doing it from any place of personal conviction.

All that said, there was a time when I chose Christianity, following a period of personal atheism. I have honestly no idea how to explain it to you. Some would call it an epiphany, others would call it a God Moment, Richard Dawkins would probably call it a mental breakdown. But God spoke to me, invited me back.

I never really questioned if it was Christianity I was being called back to. I can't claim to have done my research at the time. I have done research on many other faiths since, but always from the perspective of a Christian. The Church is where I felt at home, where I was able to see how even the voices in the Bible that seemed to speak for injustice or immorality were a part of an overall vector that pointed to love, respect, and justice. It's a feeling I couldn't reconcile with other holy books, but as I said, I'm not sure I ever really tried.

This will probably make some people crazy. If I didn't do my research, how do I know? But if you've been watching this space, you know that I don't know. That it isn't about knowing. Because it's about faith, not knowledge, and unless I have faith in Islam, all the Qu'ran reading in the world will not resound for me in the same way a simple evening prayer would for a true believer.

Why Christianity over other religions? Because I believed in Christianity, and not the others. I have prayed with them, worked with them, debated with them, marched with them, and while I do respect them, I didn't... umm... let's say resonate with them as I do with my particular brand of Christianity. It's not a matter of legitimacy... if it were, we wouldn't be doing faith.

Why the Bible, even in the face of all it's imperfections and everything that seems off about it sometimes, or all the perfectly human perversions that could have occurred? Because I believe that if an almighty Creator is capable of pulling the universe into existence from nothing, and cares enough to give us a roadmap for how this life is gonna work, then it's really not that big a stretch to say that God would find ways to safeguard that roadmap. Besides, the Bible is only one half of the Word of God equation.

In my Seven Days vlog I talked about how everyone who studies the Bible also interprets it. I believe that God works in that interpretation, so that even if the text was skewed over time, God can use the document as a whole to still point us in the direction we are supposed to be going in.

So that is why I am Christian, and why I read the Bible over other holy texts. But that does mean that I am not a Muslim, or a Jew, or a Wiccan, or UU, or a Pastafarian. Which is where the final question becomes important.

Why am I universalist?

In Christian terms, a Universalist is someone who believes that, in the end, all people of all races and creeds will be gathered back to God. In overly simplistic terms, it means I think everyone goes to Heaven. This isn't just a random thought, or a theological exercise, but a deeply held, and vital, belief. And here is why.

When I was working as a Hospice Chaplain, I sat beside many bedsides. My message, over and over again, was to tell people that God loved them, cared for them, and would keep them safe. This message went to people of many faiths, creeds, races, and ideologies. Likewise, in my time of interacting with Nerdfighters, I have told many of you the same thing. I believe it to be true. And not like how I believe there are probably sentient extraterrestrials out there. I believe with strong feeling and conviction.

In my tradition, the Western Reformed, we have this thing called Predestination, the idea that whether or not someone goes to heaven lies with God, not them. It's the theological basis of my universalism, the idea that God chooses everyone. Now, Reformed Christians are told over and over again to act as if everyone they interact with is chosen. It's sometimes called Functional Universalism. And the idea horrifies me.

Some of you have come to me with your difficulties at some of the most vulnerable times I can imagine. What if I told you that you were loved, cared for, protected, and safe... only for you to find out that, through processes you couldn't control... you weren't? That would be horrible. For you most of all, but for me...

Assuming that I was chosen, I cannot fathom what that eternity would be like, knowing that people I had sat with, prayed with, and comforted would be in torment like that. It would torment me. Heaven would become a punishment. And I would look at the God that put me in that position and there, in Heaven, in the midst of the greatest possible evidence of Christianity... I would walk away from the faith.

That is why I am Universalist. If I wasn't, I couldn't do what I do, couldn't be who I am. And that's why I don't worry about questions like legitimacy of religions. I'm not in this to save your souls. I'm in this to serve the Lord to the best of my ability, and that means, among other things,  being loving and respectful to you, whoever you are, whatever you believe. That is what my faith is about, what my faith means.

So, THAT'S why.