I Believe - the Problem with Belief

Dating back to the early centuries of the church, the followers of Jesus have attempted to identify the right way to believe, i.e., orthodoxy. Those early efforts produced The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, among others. Those early creeds sought to clarify the orthodox position on the nature of Jesus. Note how much of the creed is devoted to statements about Jesus in comparison to statements about God the Father and the Spirit.

The Reformation in the 1500's gave birth to multiple denominations based on belief. Martin Luther founded the church that bears his name on the principles of faith alone (rejecting the Catholic emphasis upon works) and only scripture (rejecting the Catholic emphasis on tradition). Calvin establish a church based on the belief in the absolute sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, and man's complete dependency upon God's grace. Baptists distinguished themselves through believer's baptism (as opposed to infant baptism) and the priesthood of all believers (Jesus is the only mediator one needs in the relationship with God). Obviously, these characterizations are over simplifications.

Since the Reformation, multiple other denominations have been created, each based on different belief that produced a different practice. Local churches today, particularly so-called Bible churches and independent churches, commonly use statements of faith - a list of things they believe - as a way of identifying themselves.

In short, belief has been and is a central part of Christian identity throughout the centuries.

The UMC is embroiled today in a conflict that threatens to divide the church, a conflict about beliefs - belief about the "biblical" position toward homosexuality, belief about the nature of scripture and how to interpret it, belief about the nature of the Christian life, etc. This controversy reflects the problem with belief.

The focus on belief leads us down a dangerous path.

• Belief is about being right - the very meaning of the term orthodoxy.  
• Belief plays to our ego: "I'm right." It becomes an expression of "works righteousness," a way of avoiding our dependency upon God's grace. 
• Being right creates a subtle (or, not-so-subtle) arrogance. It implies "I am better than you." It asserts my superiority over you. 
• Belief polarizes. By its very nature, it demands that we take sides. It creates us-them divisions that destroys the unity of the Spirit in the body of Christ. 
• Belief creates a rigid spirit that is generally unwilling to engage in conversation and unable to hear differing views. 
• Belief appeals to the mind but can leave the heart untouched and unchanged. That is why our defense of our position - the right position, remember - reflects so little of the spirit of Christ. 
• The focus on belief diverts our attention from Jesus. 
• The focus on belief often prevents us from living the ways of Jesus. 

Don't misunderstand what I am saying. Belief is important. And believing the right things is vitally important. But to be healthy, belief needs to be coupled with faith.

Belief is not the same as faith. Belief is a function of the intellect. It is an intellectual embrace of a fact. Faith is an act of the will. Faith is putting into practice what we say we believe.  We place our faith in Jesus. That is, we believe what Jesus revealed about God (an intellectual embrace of a fact). Jesus taught that God is a God of grace and forgiveness who joyfully claims us as beloved children. Our faith frees us to move beyond guilt, shame,and fear. It frees us to come to God with confidence (an act of the will). We believe what Jesus taught about the ways of God (an intellectual embrace of a fact). Our faith leads us to live the ways he taught in glad dependency upon the Spirit (an act of the will).

As the followers of Jesus, how we live is more important that what we believe. If what we believe does not lead us to love as Jesus loved, our belief is of no value. The only way to be "right" is to love as Jesus loved.