Boxing God In Until He Disappears...

One thing that is becoming clearer to me as I have been daring to venture out of the box of evangelical certainty is that God is trustworthy and He is all love. This is liberating because it means that it's safe in Him to ask questions and to doubt things that I've been taught - He is not threatened by my questions and even welcomes them; I don't need to fear His reaction if I doubt some of the many tight doctrines that I was raised with; I can trust that He will never abandon me and will lovingly lead me as I lean on Him.

Dr. Curt Thompson, a follower of Jesus who is a psychiatrist, has studied the human brain and writes fascinating material about the integration of the disciplines of psychiatry and Christian spirituality. He writes the following about how our brains are actually designed for trust, not for absolute certainty:

"Not certain about God?...You mean we can’t know that we know that we know…for certain? Well…no, you can’t. Your brain won’t let you.  Imagine what it is like to have a mind that not only can’t be certain, but was intentionally created not to be.  Rather, it was created to trust.  Confidence, yes.  Certainty? Certainly not. 

Our full-bodied minds were created for movement. At times so subtle that we barely notice it, at times rapid and furious.  But movement is the ground (though sometimes perceived as shifting, as it were) on which trust is constructed...And without trust—or perhaps in other words, with absolute certainty—we die.  Did you know that your eye is constantly moving, even within nanometers, in order to more clearly perceive an object?  Some researchers wonder that if the eye were literally perfectly still, the object would become blurred or perhaps even disappear.  Cool, huh?  But also a bit frightening.  It is when we attempt to get God to be perfectly motionless, to perfectly fit the mold we construct for him within which to fit, that he tends to eventually disappear.

In those moments when you fear that you have lost your certainty, and then, perhaps your sanity, or even your god, know that you are now ready to enter relationship with the God, not of certainty, but of Movement, the God of Trust, the God of Justice."

In light of this, I am very thankful for parents who modeled for their children the willingness to keep changing and growing in their understanding of God. They were ever moving with what He was showing them of His character and His ways. This empowered and continues to empower me to do the same, and I'm loving the discoveries of Him that continue to come as a result of this!

For those who may want to read the entire article by Curt Thompson, you can find it here:
http://www.beingknown.com/2010/12/certainty-is-an-illusion/