Insurrection: To believe is human. To doubt, divine.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been listening to Insurrection by Peter Rollins on audio tape this week and am really enjoying it.

The premise is that we are naturally inclined to belief and that the true Christian experience of being spiritually crucified with Christ and born anew (resurrected) comes through experiencing the profound loss of our religious mythos and crying out “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”

He describes the existential crisis as necessary for allowing us to know God and says that when churches and fellow church goers refuse to allow room for doubt, they actually impede us from experiencing the death and resurrection of Christ in its fullest sense.

I’m not quite done with it and I’m going to have to read it as listening to it at gym amounts to skimming but there have been some very profound bits that I know will appeal to those who have struggled with this “dark night of the soul.”

[Anonymous]

I find the idea in paragraph two fascinating: the idea that you have to lose faith in order to gain it fully.

[Anonymous]

I think it is true for many – and not true for many others. I think it has great meaning and power for those for whom it works.

Having said that, if I were to trying generalizing, I think those who are inclined toward certainty need to lose the need for certainty to gain faith – but I also believe those who inclined toward faith have to lose the acceptance of faith alone to gain certainty. I think, to varying degrees for individuals, faith and certainty both are necessary for balance and lasting stability – to whatever extent lasting balance and stability are even possible.

[Anonymous]

It seems in our church that baptism represents that symbolism of death of the old life of doubt and being lost, and resurrection to a new life of faith and confidence that we are in the right way. Then we must endure in faith, never wavering. With such emphasis on finding the restored truth, we de-value doubt, as if it is a weakness. And yet, continuing revelation presupposes we don’t have all truth now….so why do we so often avoid talking of our doubts?

[Anonymous]

I wanted to update this post with some additional info. I did indeed listen to Insurrection a second time and also visited the author’s website/blog.

There is a video there of a lecture he gave at a theological seminary where he discusses his concept of Christianity beyond existentialism (not even sure how to describe it). The lecture is engaging, entertaining, and also quite intellectually stimulating. About two-thirds into the lecture, he talks about how different people react to finding themselves disillusioned with their faith.

As I mentioned in the opening post, I think some here might relate to his approach.

His site is peterrollins.net and if you click on the “video” tab at the top of the page, then scroll down to the video called “Salvation for Zombies”, you can get an idea of his main thesis.

[Anonymous]

mercyngrace wrote:

I’ve been listening to Insurrection by Peter Rollins on audio tape this week and am really enjoying it.

The premise is that we are naturally inclined to belief and that the true Christian experience of being spiritually crucified with Christ and born anew (resurrected) comes through experiencing the profound loss of our religious mythos and crying out “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”

As a full time missionary, I eventually realized that what M&G said is true. When people immediately accepted everything about the JS story, I was suspicious. In fact, I once even said to an investigator “there should be some doubt about whether this is even true” when they showed what I felt was far too quick acceptance of what we said….I also found people who heard it for the first time and immediately believed it generally did not get baptized, or if they did get baptized, they didn’t stay.

So, to continue with the alteration of famous sayings to suit this situation — just as failure is the precursor to success, I believe that doubt is a precursor to sure knowledge.

I love this couplet from M&G!

[Anonymous]

Interesting.

Hmm, I am currently reading Flunking Sainthood. Good book. Haven’t finished it yet.

But that sounds like a good book. I should find it once I’m done with the other books I have.

[Author]

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