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There\u2019s a reason Kierkegaard thought of himself as a missionary to Christians. He saw them, much like we do today, sitting comfortably in pews, nodding along to feel-good sermons, and mistaking their rote recitations of doctrine for actual faith. If faith was supposed to be a struggle, an existential crisis, a leap into the absurd\u2014then what most Christians practice today is anything but.<\/span><\/p>\n Faith, real faith, is supposed to make you sweat. It should haunt your nights and challenge your days. But modern American Christianity? It\u2019s a warm, cozy blanket of certainty, where believers are spoon-fed pre-packaged answers to life\u2019s hardest questions, ensuring they never have to think too much or (God forbid) doubt.<\/span><\/p>\n Churches love to tell the story of Abraham and Isaac. \u201cLook at Abraham\u2019s great faith!\u201d they proclaim. But if any Christian dad today pulled an Abraham and started sharpening a knife over his kid, he\u2019d be locked up faster than you can say <\/span>binding of Isaac<\/span><\/i>. And rightly so. Because let\u2019s be real\u2014this isn\u2019t just faith, it\u2019s also deeply unsettling.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s the part most sermons skip: this story isn\u2019t a feel-good lesson about trust. It\u2019s terrifying. It forces us to wrestle with the difference between faith and madness, obedience and blind fanaticism. Kierkegaard called it a <\/span>leap into the absurd<\/span><\/i> for a reason\u2014because if faith is truly faith, it can\u2019t always make sense. It can\u2019t always be safe. And yet, Abraham still believed. Not just in God\u2019s existence but in the utterly irrational idea that somehow, some way, this would work out. That\u2019s what real faith is\u2014standing on the cliff\u2019s edge, staring into the abyss, and leaping anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n Now compare that to the average modern Christian experience. No leaps into the abyss, no crises of belief\u2014just Sunday sermons about how Jesus loves you, followed by lunch at Applebee\u2019s. American Christianity has become a religion of comfort, where faith means believing in God <\/span>just enough<\/span><\/i> to secure a sense of security, but not so much that it actually disrupts life.<\/span><\/p>\n Faith is supposed to be hard. It\u2019s supposed to demand everything from you. Kierkegaard argued that most people claiming to be Christians were just coasting on routine, mistaking tradition for transformation. Today, that looks like:<\/span><\/p>\n When I told my father I felt called into ministry, his response wasn\u2019t excitement or even caution\u2014it was, \u201cYou\u2019ll never make any money.\u201d This was a man who had me in church every Sunday morning, evening, and Wednesday night. But when faith stopped being a routine and started looking like real risk, suddenly it was impractical. That moment made it clear: faith was fine as long as it didn\u2019t <\/span>cost<\/span><\/i> anything.<\/span><\/p>\n A lot of Christians think a \u201cleap of faith\u201d means some big, public gesture\u2014selling all your belongings, moving to another country, or loudly standing up for Jesus in a Starbucks. But that\u2019s just a performance, a self-congratulatory stunt that keeps believers feeling radical without actually confronting anything difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n A real leap of faith isn\u2019t about theatrics. It\u2019s about stepping into the unknown, leaving behind certainty, and embracing the discomfort of real transformation. It\u2019s not a moment\u2014it\u2019s a journey, a trek into the desert, away from the safety of religious groupthink and into something raw and uncharted.<\/span><\/p>\n I used to think a leap of faith meant big, dramatic moves\u2014I changed careers, worked full-time, unpaid for a church for two years, moved across the country, even became a missionary. And maybe those swings were necessary. They set me up for the real, terrifying leaps\u2014deconstruction, therapy, being defrocked (for supporting my LGBTQ brothers and sisters), and walking my own path. The first leaps were about <\/span>doing<\/span><\/i>; the later ones were about <\/span>being<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n Faith isn\u2019t about grandstanding. It\u2019s about the quiet, grueling, daily choices to live with integrity when it costs you. It\u2019s leaving a toxic religious family to find a healthier community. It\u2019s questioning bad theology even when it isolates you. It\u2019s standing up for marginalized people when your \u201cChristian\u201d friends tell you you\u2019re being divisive.<\/span><\/p>\n And here\u2019s the part most Christians miss: <\/span>faith isn\u2019t about waiting for heaven to fix everything.<\/b> Kierkegaard wasn\u2019t peddling some celestial reward system. He didn\u2019t see faith as a way to endure life just so you could cash in your eternal winnings later. No, faith is for now\u2014a radical, often painful, reorientation of your life toward something deeper than comfort. If your faith doesn\u2019t demand anything of you <\/span>right now<\/span><\/i>, it\u2019s probably not faith. It\u2019s just a crutch to avoid dealing with reality.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s be honest\u2014most people don\u2019t want faith. They want certainty. They want the illusion of faith without the existential crisis that comes with it. But faith isn\u2019t about comfort. It\u2019s not about safety. It\u2019s about standing in the darkness, not knowing what\u2019s ahead, and still trusting in something greater.<\/span><\/p>\n And let\u2019s not pretend that\u2019s easy. The story of Abraham and Isaac isn\u2019t just a lesson in trust\u2014it\u2019s deeply unsettling. It forces us to ask: <\/span>When does faith become madness?<\/span><\/i> When does obedience become fanaticism? And if faith is supposed to make sense, was Abraham wrong for believing in something so absurd? That\u2019s the real struggle\u2014faith isn\u2019t supposed to be neat, logical, or convenient. It\u2019s supposed to tear at you. To demand something unreasonable.<\/span><\/p>\n I know this because I lived it. I once had certainty. I had the answers, the plan, the mission. But certainty isn\u2019t faith. Real faith is what came later, when I lost everything I thought made me a Christian and had to keep going anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n And if that sounds exhausting, good. Maybe it\u2019s time to stop pretending that what passes for faith today is anything more than comfort wrapped in religious language. Kierkegaard was right\u2014most Christians aren\u2019t people of faith. They\u2019re people of habit. And that\u2019s not a leap; that\u2019s just standing still.<\/span><\/p>\nAbraham: The Guy You Don\u2019t Want to Be<\/b><\/h2>\n
Christianity Has a Faith Problem<\/b><\/h2>\n
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A Trek into the Desert<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Leap You\u2019ll Never Take<\/b><\/h2>\n
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For more Snarky Faith, check out the podcast and more:<\/h3>\n
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