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Most adults tend to believe that there are only two options when it comes to religion: contorting the mind trying to maintain a literal understanding of the Bible or having no faith at all.

Yikes!

John Shelby Spong in his book, Liberating the Gospels explains this ubiquitous dichotomy and its ramifications so well:

We
must either close our minds to the world of reason and assert that we
will believe in the literal … or we will
reject possibility… The first answer will produce a
fundamentalism that is hysterical, irrational, and defensive and that
will frequently erupt in life-threatening anger whenever it is
challenged… The second answer will, however, move us beyond the edges
of faith into citizenship in the secular city. Neither of these answers
will help us walk into the mystery and wonder of God, nor will they
long satisfy the deep spiritual yearnings that continue to burn inside
the hearts of those hopelessly religious creatures we call Homo
sapiens. So we must seek some other alternative, some other
understanding…

Thankfully there are more options than
the childish (but very human) tendency to see things only as this or
that, black or white, and good or bad.

Here are a few:

• You can read or download the article that I wrote on paradoxicality.
• Buy a copy of John Shelby Spong’s newest book Jesus for the Non-Religious.
  (Note: it’s more a book for Christians struggling with trying to
  maintain their faith than it’s a book for the
  spiritual-but-not-religious.)
• Survey other religious adults you respect and ask them how they balance faith and reason.
• Sign-up for spiritual-direction.
• E-mail me a quick question. (Hey, that’s why I’m here.)
• Pretend that you don’t need any adult understanding of spiritual-religious issues.
• Buy a copy of my book.
• Meditate.
• Keep gleening spiritual-religious truths from The 77% Weekly.

I wholeheartedly encourage you to find some satisfactory answers so that you can, in Spong’s words, “walk into the mystery and wonder of God.”

With love,



Rabbi Brian