A reader, mark, recently asked me how “I know mine is the ‘One and Only True Faith'” I thought I would put my response up here for everyone to comment on.
I don’t really know that. Faith is something that shows me something of God, but not him entirely. There is always the possibility that God is much bigger then my own faith. In fact a God that wasn’t would be very troublesome to me. I personally believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, but what that entails is far beyond me. Jesus Christ could be revealed to someone in a way that I see inconstant with my own faith, but still somehow manages to be consistent from the vantage point of the almighty.
If I didn’t believe in a paradoxical faith I would have a lot of trouble believing in the trinity, the hypostatic union, and even that God is both Just and Merciful. God, it seems, likes to dwell in the tension of ideas more them be confined by the ideas themselves. It’s like music. A note is not beautiful by itself, but the tension created by all the notes together creates the beauty of a piece of music. The same is true in poetry. Rarely does a single word move someone to tears, but the tension of words put together creates something of power. I think God is understood best in a similar tension. What I know of him is simply one note in a symphony that demonstrates his majesty to those who care to listen.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In