Discussion About Survey

I’m not very articulate and not great at expressing my faith in words but I’ll give it a shot. Taking the belief survey had me think and answer questions that I haven’t been asked by someone else. It was kind of an eye opener and gave me a chance to be honest with myself and what I now believe. The one question that stands out the most to me right now, is about if I believe in hell and the answer is no. I’m not sure in heaven either but I tend to believe more in heaven.

This morning during the time we talked about our beliefs, I was telling Vanessa and Ross about an interesting question I was asked yesterday. Someone I’ve been chatting to online asked me, “If you are in the position to help some one from dieing will you save the soul?” I told him that I think that it’s in God’s hands and that it’s up to him when someone is ready to go and that everyone’s soul lives on no matter what kind of life they led. Because I think that no matter whether you have lived a very sinful life or a somewhat sinful life, that to someone, your soul will always be around.

I think our beliefs shape who we are, where we are going and our level of happiness with our lives. I feel that it’s up there with our morals and that how we are everyday is a reflection of who we are. I hope I made sense. :-P

I am out here for you. You don’t know what it’s like to be me out here for you.
A positive anything is better than a negative nothing.
I’ve failed as much as I’ve succeeded.

It would have been good to capture:
- a question about God along the lines of do you believe in the living God, a higher power, spoons…
- a question about the holy spirit and its involvement in your life (or not)
- a question about the role of the church in society

Mostly because we just went over the nicene crede this morning and its fresh in my head. I personally feel the creed is one of the best summaries of the Christian faith and a good baseline for your own faith.

hmm.. im new and im not really good at putting what i think into words but anyways, here it goes. The survey was actually really hard for me, and i made me very sad to take it. Lately, ive been questioning my beliefs a lot. Being in college is very hard because it seems like nobody believe in God and those people seem to fuel my doubts. Like my humanities teacher treating the bible like a history book and pointing out what is wrong with it and what doesnt make sense. Also, students that i make friends with in class share their beliefs with me all the time and im in a state where i kinda think “well, okay, that kinda makes sense.” Anyways.. its just been hard lately kinda not knowing where i stand on things and taking the survey really made me ask myself “what do i really believe?” Sometimes on the survey i had to make my own little box to say that i wasnt sure, because right now in my life i really dont know where i stand. I wish i did. I really wish i could stand up and proudly say the apostles creed without any doubt in my heart, but i cant yet. Realizing this made me sad.

Liu[ZER]

Some quick observations:

The survey we took is different from the Apostle’s Creed. Which, in turn, is different from the Nicene Creed. I think this shows that each has a distinct purpose in mind. The ancient creeds in particular were created to identify false teaching — in the Christian church, not in the world at large. There’s a lot they don’t say because those were not the questions of their day. There’s a lot they don’t say because it’s assumed that, hey, if you’re in this Jesus thing, there are a few givens. In particular: Jesus is Lord. As Jeff said, they clung to this even at spear-point. That’s a stronger statement than any list.

So is the survey a good “short list” of the essentials of the Christian faith? I don’t think so. If Jesus is so important, why is so little said about the Kingdom of God? We don’t have Romans challenging us at spear-point. Instead, we have a seductive system that goes unnoticed, getting us to believe that power is the most important thing, and that to gain power you must demonstrate that you are wealthy, sexy, and offer easy solutions.

No. I will not bow to the gods of our age. Jesus is Lord.

(Recommended reading: The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin. Also, a book I am currently reading has a lot to say about living in our “host empire” while promoting an alternative vision of reality: Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost.)

I had the questions a week ahead of time and have had discussions about this topic (particularly with Jeff) a few months ago. I had a hard time with the questions initially. Even in school, I hated multiple choice type questions because I never could explain myself. But in thinking about why I had a hard time with the quetions, I ended up going back this past week and thinking about why I do believe what I do. What’s the point of quantifying people’s beliefs? or What’s the point in me believing at all? With a some conversations with friends, and the help of a book I had picked up, I went back and looked at what the Bible was revealing about God and Jesus. Looking at the big picture, I could see the evidence of the central beliefs (most particularly Jesus’ role in sharing God’s love in a way that could transform us where laws and mirales had not in the old testament.). Looking at the stories again reinforced the WHY when the survey questions just left me asking what’s the point. It’s not that a survey is wrong, I know it helps some people. But I think I particularly like look at the evidence first (the Bible, life ect) and come to the conclusions (and agree or disagree with the creeds, beliefs, missions of churches) vs being told what the conclusions should be. A survey won’t shape my life and who I am, but knowing the story of God showing his love, most importantly though his son Jesus, and discussing that with other Christians AND non-christians alike is what changes me. It makes me realize the depth of God’s love for humans and keeps me accountable to loving him back and finding reasons to love others even when I don’t.

Shannon B.

For me the biggest challenge in communicating about my beliefs is that I don’t want to look foolish—who does, right? But even after about 4 years of embarking on a faith journey, I am still more concerned with what other people think of me rather than knowing that God loves me no matter what. Coming from a negative family of origin experience with religion, and then focusing on a liberal arts, “rational” education, I really believed that I had better answers for my life than any “phony” God.

I have since come to discover a much bigger God—not really sure if I’ve found/embraced the all powerful, huge God that is bigger than everything else. I do know that God is there, somewhere, and I do want my life to be transformed by Him. I still worry about doing it “the right way”. The only message that has consistently made sense to me, in the face of these self-imposed doubts, is that if I keep my heart open and have a true desire to have a relationship with Christ, He will meet me where I am and accept me where I am. It actually is ok if I do it “wrong” (or at least not perfectly). And knowing that through Christ I AM FORGIVEN, no matter what, eases my mind and heart enough to keep trying—one day at a time, as some groups say.

Here’s a question—for the part of me that still clings to the worldly, inadequate notion of understanding just WHO/WHAT God is. If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why do so many terrible things happen in the world—human created atrocities and natural disasters?

So—that’s just my two cents worth. I do, however, believe that there is tremendous value in just having the opportunity to express our own feelings—no matter how muddled they might be. It just eases the burden being able to get some of these heavy thoughts out of the brain.

Maureen

This survey isn’t going to instantly change a person. It also isn’t meant to pigeon hole people. And there is no way it could cover everything. However, what I liked about the survey was that it got me, and hopefully others, to process through what are our beliefs. Does our life reflect those beliefs, do our daily actions coincide with them? Part of the reason I desire people to challenge themselves in developing beliefs is to get out of the modern day mentality of “I think…” or the more common one “I feel….” (Which I am guilty of using way too often). I want to know what you believe. More importantly, I need to know what I BELIEVE.

I think (see there I used it) it is important for our church…its leaders…to have a sense of where people are. So often I hear people say they are confused or wandering and just don’t know what direction to go. Hopefully, by having our church point out starting points, evidence (as mentioned above), truths, etc. can be helpful. This won’t happen in just a few Sunday services…this continues with coming alongside someone in their walk.

I guess I can relate it to my work. In order to help my students in their learning struggles, I have to do testings and evaluations when I start. I don’t use them to ‘pigeon hole’ or ‘define’ my students but it gives me enough information to know where to start—without going on a wild goose chase of ‘the latest’ learning trends. I start where the testing indicates I should but as I work with them, I develop a much better understanding of their needs and then address each puzzle piece within the big picture as it is revealed to me.

This helps it make sense to me.

I have to say that I liked the survey and it was really easy for me because over the last few years I have grown tremendously in my faith. I believe FAITH is believing in JESUS and knowing he is there for you no matter what. It is trusting him no matter what and knowing that when you pray he not only hears you, he is interacting with you. I sometimes joke around with people when I tell them I feel like I can hear GOD talking back to me, I say “Mabey it’s just because I’m crazy!” I say this because to some people it does sound crazy but it’s true. I get answers when I pray. I especially like to ask GOD to guide my spirit and my mind of thought so I can get his answeres. I don’t always listen and that gets me into trouble but my FAITH and my praying and talking to GOD helps me get through my crazy life- without him I wouldn’t survive. Asking others to pray for you as well works when you are in a difficult situation and that is always why I use the prayer card because it seems I am always in a difficult situation but It keeps me on the edge- always praying! :)

DAWN E. WORSWICK
RESCUEACHILD