Emptiness

"The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt."

-Paul Tillich

Religious conversion is a peculiar thing. The very mention of "getting saved" most likely triggers lots of ideas, experiences, feelings, and bad memes in your head.

The funny thing is that conversion is not intended to be a spiritual, rapturous, or transcendent experience. It's likewise not about praying a prayer or getting a magic get-out-of-hell-free card.

That would be an exercise in missing the point.

Conversion literally means turning around and embarking on a different path. Yup, that's it. Nothing more or less, yet we have mucked up the entire thing with marketing, spectacle, and scare tactics.

Taking up that different path of Jesus is filled with fear, doubt, and ambiguity. Yet, with conversion, we sell assurance and certainty, which is an utter disservice to the spiritual process and growth. Sorry, but there are no cookie cutters for faith, and those that sell that message of assurance are only parrots, puppets, and posers.

There is a deep mystery in following the ways of Jesus and seeking God in the world around us. There's no way around it.

Churches push that aside as they give us dependable crutches that tickle our spiritual longings with things such as preaching, worship, and dogma. It's almost as if they're trying to prove Karl Marx correct when he said, "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

Jesus did want his followers to be cosplaying Christians. He promised a hard road ahead for his followers filled with sacrifice, trials, trouble, and emptiness.

While the ethics of Christ give us a firm lens to see the world, the praxis of those teachings is anything but certain. We embark into the world armed with ideals, knowing not how they will be contextualized and animated when faced with reality.

There is a gift to that emptiness borne out of not knowing. It forces us to be open and awake in every moment as we continue in our process of becoming. It keeps us searching, changing, and growing.

It's fear that keeps us in place. It's fear that keeps us in church. It's fear that keeps us from change.

Experiencing God is always about the journey to know the unknown, both inwardly and outwardly. It's meant to help us become more of ourselves as we cast off the baggage from the past while bravely learning to humbly love others without stipulation or qualification.

It's not easy, but it is the way of Jesus.

There will be times of emptiness because your path every day is new and being charted by you. There's only one you and no specific guide to your life (sorry, Bible). Sounds scary, but there are others out there embracing new ways of love, growth, kindness, and justice as they seek God.

That process of becoming helps us to view ourselves, others, and God in new ways. So if we were honest about conversion into faith, we'd stop the marketing and lean into the mystery. This process creates a reliance upon God that is essential to the ways of Christ. Without it, we're just smug, pious assholes that dream of heaven as we ignore life in this present reality. Ambiguity and the vacancy of certitude force us to embrace life and others with an open hand and a sense of expectancy.

We'll talk about all that and lots more snark!

This week's Christian Crazy features Robin Bollocks, Hank Kunneman, Kent Christmas, and more!

Show notes

Episode Timestamp:

Ukraine: 02:10

Christian Crazy: 14:40

Main Conversation: 30:30

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:

Right Wing Watch

Christian Nightmares

Friendly Atheist

Books Referenced:

Spiritual Theology - Diogenes Allen

Gifts of the Dark Wood - Eric Elnes

Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world.

www.SnarkyFaith.com