I'm Glad You Asked ...

Spirituality Column #249
August 16, 2011
Current in Carmel - Westfield - Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

I’m Glad You Asked …
By Bob Walters

… Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have [in Christ] … – 1 Peter 3:15

When G.K. Chesterton was asked, Orthodoxy was his answer.

In his earlier book Heretics, he had described the spiritual inadequacy of the early 20th century’s burgeoning social and academic inclination away from Christianity and toward Darwinism, socialism and science. When publicly challenged for disparaging “modern thought” without clearly describing his own Christian faith, Chesterton responded in 1908 with Orthodoxy.

Rather than presenting an impenetrable apologetic about scripture or the Trinity, Orthodoxy plainly describes how Chesterton arrived at his faith the same way a secularist arrives at his disbelief … through experience and investigating the facts.

Modernist indictments against Christianity are many. Christianity can’t be right, modernists say, because man is too similar to the beasts. Religion is only the darkness of superstition. The church causes more problems than it solves.

Chesterton looks closely and finds differently, composing a withering yet common-sense return of rhetorical fire. He notices that man is entirely dissimilar to beasts, that Christianity was the only light at both ends of the tunnel known as the Dark Ages, and that the Christian church historically has provided an underappreciated yet perpetual spiritual safety net for Western civilization. His argument is reasonable; his conclusions reassuring.

Chesterton notices that modern philosophy plays fast and loose with spiritual “facts.” Setting God aside, modernism voices contradictory opinions focused on the ultimate sovereignty or non-sovereignty of man.

Chesterton found his faith at the intersection of that contradiction; at the center and the heart of the Cross of Christ.

God may well be eternal and separate from man, but God as Jesus Christ entered time, space and humanity to prove that God – to be truly God – needed to be something even beyond omnipotent; He needed to be courageous, proven in the real courage of the real trial on the Cross. On the honed edges of Christ’s sundering sword we learn that love is an exercise in recognizing differences, not similarities. Astonishingly, we learn that divine power, ultimately, is an exercise of servanthood.

The Cross has a “collision” at its core and “can extend its four arms forever without altering its shape.” As modern society seeks empirical predictability for all phenomena, Chesterton insists that it is Christianity’s wonder, awe and faith that divinely feed all human morality, creativity and hope.

As for Chesterton’s beliefs, I’m glad someone asked.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) writes from the perspective that faith is an intellectual strength, not a weakness.

At a Loss for Words

Spirituality Column #147
September 1, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

At a Loss for Words
By Bob Walters

“I wish I were better at expressing my Christian faith to people …”

Sound familiar? How often we Christians lament our shortcomings in this area.

Thankfully, it is generally not up to us – neither by our courage of engagement nor talents of elocution – to awaken in others the soul-saving stirrings of the Holy Spirit.

Salvation is above our mortal, um, pay grade; it comes from the top – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Salvation is Jesus Christ’s job.

It is, however, very much up to us to “…set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect …”

That’s 1 Peter 3:15. We never know when it will be our words or actions that God will use to begin His work in another person’s heart. All we can do is tell of our own faith, and then see if the sown spiritual seed takes root in productive soil.

So, on the one hand, the pressure’s off. We can’t save anyone with our words or deeds, no matter how dazzling. On the other hand, the pressure seemingly couldn’t be greater … as believers we are called by God to “always give an answer” for our faith; our love demands it.

But is there pressure, really? Pressure comes from fear, and love of God dissolves fear. When fear is gone, what we have left is love’s best companion: freedom.

And when we are free in Christ – not fearful of man – our answers for our hope in Christ flow freely.

Still, it can be tough to describe our faith because our relationship with God is so spiritually personal; very real, but mystical and hard to explain – especially to non-believers. What “did it for me” probably won’t do it for you.

For example, the action that triggered my first trip to church in 30 years – and led to my faith, baptism and study – was my almost-13-year-old son asking at the dinner table, “Why don’t we go to church?” It was an innocent and legitimate question, not a suggestion or trick. He was just curious.

Next thing you know, I’m in the back pew at a church, crying quiet tears as my heart awakened to the Holy Spirit and love of Jesus Christ.

There was my answer, before I’d asked a question.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com) was baptized in 2001.