Wonder is Wonderful

I think, if it were not for hell, Christianity would be perfect for many now “doubting” who are not Christians.

Why?

”Doubting,” wondering, is perfect. We should wonder. We should ask every question we have. Wonder is wonderful.

As a religion built on faith, knowledge that is not certain, this is obvious. Oddly, there is, in America, a cult of Christians who get rid of the mystery and trade in certainty, like all cults and tyrants, and so have convinced folk that “faith” is “certainty” that is unjustified.

Instead, all my life, in Bible college, and in church, I was taught that wonder was part of faith. We should read Tillich, Barth, Plato, Russell, Kant, Vlastos. . .everyone. We should listen and learn. That was what I was taught by my mom in Sunday School and so from there to secular graduate school that is what I did.

“Get to the bottom of everything.”  Mom said.

“Ok.” I thought,  but then we discovered, joyfully, the conversation kept going. There was one kind of “bottom,” but not another. This was good news.

What do I mean?

Mom and I loved discussing, all day if needed, to clarify our thoughts, and what God might be saying to us. We had not belief that this discussion was final. Who would want that? Discussion was jolly. We did not need to be sure, just as honest as we could be that day.

That was the “bottom” we sought.

Life, we keep discovering, goes on and on. The general truths we found long ago seem good to us, so far, but applying them creates more wonder. Of course, we are also willing to wonder about the “deep” truths we think we found.

This is, as Plato pointed out in Republic, very human and so very wonderful.Given that the Christian believes that the “just” will live by “faith,” this is just so. So why are so many wobbly about the goodness of God?

Most often, I am told: “We will go to Hell for false beliefs.” Being wrong is not, then, wonderful, but damnable. I don’t believe this and I am a Christian, but I am (then) accused of being a not-really Christian. This is usually by fellow white-male-European-types who have awakened from a dogmatic slumber.

Good.

Wake up.

Yet realize that nobody will go to Hell for being intellectually wrong. We will be damned, if we wish to be damned, for being unfit for joy and refusing to be made fit. We will not be damned for intellectual error, if it is genuine. (Anyone who reflects of self knows how intellectually dishonest we all are!)

God is love. God is just. God lets us consent to His salvation. We can, we cannot.

Don’t “cannot.”

Wondering is not, then, evil or to be avoided. Wonder is wonderful. Wonder, however, must be honest. We must wonder joyfully without predisposition to the “answer.” God is real, Christianity is true, so this wonder will now, or at least at the hour of our death, lead to clarity, enough clarity for consent.

This is good news.