Real Faith

I would like to recommend the new book, Saving Jesus from the Church, by Robin Meyers, but today there is too much good information to give it a complete review. Therefore, I want to focus specifically on one element he describes in his book: faith.

The traditional view of faith is believing in what we cannot see—a sort of giant leap or blind faith. When a person says to you, “There is no historical evidence of Jesus in history,” you may respond, “I believe because I have faith.”

Is that a weak answer? Does that really convince you? Is that all faith really is?

If so, then we are persuaded too easily and practicing a theological mind game of deceit rather than looking deeply into what Jesus brings to the table beyond his mythology. And, this movement beyond the historical/mythological controversy of Jesus is exactly what Robin Meyers describes in his book.

Meyers describes “faith as fiducia (radical trust in God), as fidelitas (loyalty in one's relationship to God), and as visio (a way of seeing creation as gracious).”

Jesus is personified in these three basic areas, and if we are Christian or not, we should begin looking at the Jesus message within this identity of faith instead of the traditional one.

We have a moral conscience that is God's breath—his perfect image within us. God freely gave this gift, and in return, we should look to this moral conscience (or spirit) for guidance and radically trust in it! We also have free choice, but free choice also means we can look to our God-breathed moral conscience and have radical faith in its power and energy. This idea is no different than the Buddha telling us simply to seek compassion and love through the Eightfold Path. If we are God's breath, then let us allow it to enlighten us, and through its radical enlightenment, we are then moved to radically trust the God in others as a mutual relationship between all human beings. (Did I say radical enough!?)

Next, in Buddhism, meditation is practiced not to look cool or peaceful but to take on the responsibility of the world's suffering. The Mahayana form of Buddhism suggests that we show loyalty to every human being until every grass blade attains enlightenment. The Mahayana Buddhists devote their life to the loyalty of fidelitas, and Christians and other religions should also recognize the power and energy of loyalty. Loyalty seems to suggest a hierarchy, but though Meyers does not describe this concept in great detail (for he has much to do in this book), loyalty represents a cause of devotion not only to God but to others, too. Loyalty is again seeing the image God breathed into us and knowing that he made all of us equally. Loyalty is rejecting the hierarchy of capitalism and, if you are the business owner, helping your customers and employees not fear you but respect you in a mutual reciprocity as described sometimes as love or ren/jen in Confucian terms. Loyalty is walking into a temple, as Jesus may have done, and seeing how the temple abuses the authority of God. Loyalty means speaking out against the status quo and sometimes getting into trouble and other times being thrown in a Lion's Den to serve the greater cause—not you—but your moral conscience—the Yetzer Ra of Judaism.

Finally, the final element of faith is, as Robert Frost suggests, the realization that we all have “miles to go before I sleep” because each mile is a gift—a gracious one. The Garden of Eden may seem like a utopia to take away our suffering, but let's remember that each footstep we place in the snow is a gift from God. Some people cannot walk, others cannot see, and still others live on breathing machines, yet we all metaphorically live within our own perceptive ailments keeping us from the illumination God grants to us daily and each second of our lives. A morning prayer from Judaism is important here: “You, God, existed before the world was created; you exist after the world was created.” Yet, for some reason unknown to our little thoughts, he placed us here to be loyal to him and to it, for there is not much difference between God's loyalty to the entire universe and to our loyalty to God or this environment. So, it is in our best interest to wake up in the morning and be gracious to each other, yet as we pass away from this earth, leave the gracious gift of God with our children, families, and communities to continue on without us. That is the social gospel of Jesus! There is no Garden of Eden here unless we cooperate with each other and bind ourselves to the greater humanity of God sharing love with each other through our works, our words, and our dimensionless abilities to serve, no matter how small, like a bird taking a seed from one tree and planting it elsewhere in God's kingdom.

There is more to faith and Robin Meyer's book, but these elements are only the beginning. I will continue to read more of his book and keep within my Buddha thoughts a greater understanding of faith beyond the counterattack of disbelief. Words are deeds in action!

Thanks you, Dr. Meyers, for helping me understand!

--Jinglett