Journey's Idiom

Welcome to yet another thrilling addition to my posted thoughts. I can easily see that there are a bunch of you who read and anonymously look at my thoughts. I don't know if they impact your life or if you even disagree with what I say... mostly because so few of you comment or leave any indication that you were here save adding to the counter at the bottom of the page. If you would, read this post with the intent to comment or share a thought. I'd appreciate it!

This week's thought is nested in a tiny bit of frustration. This isn't your normal, every day, got cut off in traffic variety frustration, no, this is the "I'm calling your bluff because you're full of crap but won't admit it" type of frustration. 

I've been a Christian for many, many years. That fact alone has allowed me many opportunities to discuss faith with people of various backgrounds and beliefs. My favorite kind of conversation is when I find someone with similar beliefs and faith and can expand each others' understanding of spiritual truths. Those conversations are most satisfying and overall pleasant. Kind of like discovering a garden of wildflowers just off the beaten path you've travelled often. I treasure those conversations.

But, inevitably, the conversations do occur when someone who hates religion, doesn't believe in God (or any deity), and has a personal vendetta against anyone who happens to express even the tiniest degree of faith. I treasure these conversations too even though they are about as gratifying as a root canal. They are usually intense, filled with venom, misunderstandings (on both sides), and I'm positive they more closely resemble something off of Animal Planet than they do an intellectual debate. 

It's out of these less pleasant conversations that my frustrations spring forth. For the longest while it's been difficult for me to pinpoint exactly WHY someone else's position on denying the spiritual or divine drives me completely nuts. But here's what I think. 

Atheists, agnostics, and people who claim to be "seeking the truth" all share one thing in common (well at least the first and last of that list do... agnostics don't care either way...); they desire the real truth. Atheists believe the truth is that there is no God, nothing divine, nothing outside what can be readily seen or sensed. "Seekers" are searching without a compass and looking everywhere for answers. 

I become easily irritated by both of these truth seekers because their path takes the far, far away from anything resembling truth. The atheist avoids church like the plague and spits on any religious person (but the phlegm in their throat seems particularly reserved for Christians... as opposed to Buddhists) who suggests they come and experience truth for themselves. The wandering truth seeker refuses to make up their mind, much like the agnostic. They just haven't fallen off the log yet. Ugh... indecision is the worst decision a person can make. 

What frustrates me to no end is the sheer reluctance to go where the answers are! To the person who truly wants to KNOW whether or not something is real, you CANNOT make heads or tails without actually experiencing it, or seeking it out. Atheists who say "Christianity is fake. They're ALL hypocrites and put on a facade." Has either had a terrible experience at a church that has failed its mission or has never been to a church that is full of real Christians.

Look, I know people aren't perfect. But if you base your assumptions of whether or not God is real just by the experience that people fail... all you've proven is that people are fallible, not that the whole God thing must be a lie. Sadly, this is what pushes people away and leaves a bad taste in people's mouths.

But, if someone is honestly seeking truth, they won't find it by sticking in their intellectual bubble pondering their assumptions and conjecture on what Truth really is. If you want truth, go to where it's expressed. If you want to see whether or not something is legitimate, don't go to the church that has a reputation for failure. All you'll find there is the proven point that people fail. No, go to the church where things are happening, lives are being changed. Focus on finding God, the Truth, and forget that people can fail. Expect people to fail. 

(Kinda odd how the people who do not hold to the belief that there is a Almighty God who has expressed his desire for our perfection tend to hold Christians more stringently to that standard of perfection than even Church leadership does...) Atheists usually have higher standards and expectations for Christians than God himself... Just odd. 

I've been through doubt and periods of testing my faith. I've wrestled with the questions of "is this real? Can I trust what I've been taught?" And I've found answers to my questions. The trick to seeking truth is to actually seek it! You cannot find what you do not seek. If you seek only the answers you want to see, that's all you'll find. If you honestly seek Truth without reservation or risistance to what it really is, you will find it. 

Athesists... they tend to only see what they want. They've convinced themselves of an philosophical negative. No amount of persuasive arguments or mountains of evidence will ever convince them there is a God. They do not seek, they will not find truth. 

Agnostics and seekers. If they refuse to seek, they will never find. "I haven't made my mind up yet..." Then they never will. 

Matthew 7:7 says "Ask and it will be given to you; SEEK and you WILL FIND; knock and the door will be opened to you."

What truth are you still seeking? Are you really seeking truth, or just the answers you want?