I have been listening to the Christmas album of Sting, If on a Winter’s Night. It is a mixture of traditional carols, British folk songs, and lyrics about winter, storms and ghosts, written by Sting and others to music by Praetorius, Purcell, Schubert and Bach. Sting declares himself an agnostic, but respects the sacred symbols of the season. He says that he reads books by atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, but he thinks that their assault on religion is like shooting an elephant with a shot-gun. Religion, he thinks, is part of being human, like music and literature. To deny it, would be to deny our humanity. Sting is an interesting phenomenon, and representative of our age. He launched his new album in a concert at Durham Cathedral.
Agnosticism is the position of those who claim that it is not possible to know for certain about God. All of us have a certain amount of doubt. Faith may be possible where scientific knowledge is not. It is logically possible to be both a philosophical agnostic and a religious believer. Leslie Weatherhead, a Methodist preacher, wrote a book entitled, The Christian Agnostic. In it he explored the Christian faith, and discussed what may be believed and what he could not conscientiously endorse.
I have written about faith and doubt in my book, Buried Treasure. Some chapter headings include, “Turning Doubt to Good,” “Reasonable Doubt,: “The Risk of Faith,” and “Questioning Faith.” In the preface I write,
This book is designed to be an aid to someone who would like to consider how and what to believe about the meaning of life, and yet has doubts and questions about faith in God. The first part of the book is the ‘how’ of faith. How do you go about it? What does faith mean? How does it square with the facts as we know them? How can we have faith in an age that requires scientific proof? How do we distinguish faith from superstition and prejudice? Why do we have doubts?
While I respect every person’s right to have reservations about belief in Christ, I want to challenge them to explore where those doubts come from. They may be the result of prejudices from their past, or painful encounters with poor representatives of the Christian church. Some are agnostics because they don’t want to be accountable to anybody beyond themselves. Agnosticism, and atheism can be cover-ups for self-centeredness, and the rejection of any authority figure that might challenge independence.
My English teacher in high school professed to being an agnostic. He came across to me as condescending and cynical. Agnosticism can be a refuge for those who do not want to commit themselves to anything except their own opinions. Sting is a passionate musician and actor. He is enthusiastic about his work, and his environmental activism. I hope that his evolution from rock to more meditative music may be a sign that he is considering a spiritual journey in preparation for the winter of his life. May he follow the star and find the Christ who came to bring us life in all its fullness.
Ted, I can’t tell from what you write here if you are endorsing Weatherhead’s “The Christian Agnostic”. This book was given to me about 40 years ago by my brother (also a Methodist minister), his motivation being to help me come to grips with my many doubts. Since then, I have re-read it many times and now make a point of reading it every January. It’s too bad that it is out of print as it would make a wonderful group study. It seems that many times our doubts are not about Christ but about the many doctrines that pervade Christianity to the point that we sometimes lose sight of what is essential. You are so right – facing and examining our doubts can be the best and most rewarding path to a stronger faith. Faith and proof are not synonymous.
I don’t endorse any book completely, but there is much in Weatherhead’s book which is helpful by being honest. It represents a period of liberal Protestantism that had trouble with the miraculous, and had too much faith in the rational, which reduced faith to that which was based on provable evidence. I would like to see a contemporary Christian have another attempt at the same subject. Let me encourage you to write out your approach to doubt and faith. It could be a help to many people who have similar struggles. I am reading Sting’s memoir of his early life to understand where he is coming from.
The Gift
“Oh, but I don’t have a gift for you?
Don’t you judge on what I do?
What do you mean FREE?
No gift erxchange under the tree?
Receive?
Don’t you come yearly then leave?
How could it be?
Your gift to me?
Have you seen my messed up room?
Filed with anxiety, darkness & gloom!
Why ‘with me’ would You stay?”
Just say O.K.
Pehaps, this is how ‘we’ all feel at times…Especially when confronted with The Living Christ
The Scientific Method consists of observation and repeatable experimentation. Creation, by definition, was not observable by anyone within the bounds of this universe. And it is beyond our power to repeat the experiment. Therefore, the whole debate about origins is a philosophical, not scientific, debate. A basic philosophical axiom is that if your foundational assumptions are wrong, then the conclusions drawn from those assumptions are also wrong. Let’s examine the unprovable, foundational assumptions about each philosophy: Evolution states that in the beginning there was nothing, that became something, got itself organized, gave itself life, and then made itself better. Christianity states that in the beginning there was God, who created the world and everything in it in perfect harmony. Then Adam and Eve rebelled, and sin and death entered the world. But, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 If you bbelieve in evolution based on faith, because the beginning is not verifiable. I believe in the God of the Bible based on faith, because the beginning is not verifiable. Which belief system requires the greater faith? I only know of One who there at the beginning. I choose to believe His first hand, written account, instead of placing my faith in the assumptions made by those who were not there at the beginning.