Faith Musings

I just finished reading Sara Miles' memoir Take This Bread. In it, she documents her conversion to Christianity (she came from an atheistic background). The book took awhile to finish, partly because of time (or lack thereof) to read it, partly because of her writing style, and partly because of the content itself. After all, though this recounts her conversion, her background is very different from mine, so some of what she says was actually difficult for me to read. (For instance, she's often almost hateful of conservative Christians, and seems to [almost] perpetuate the common liberal misconception that conservative Christians are ignorant and unintelligent.)

Still, I was curious as to her story, especially since it varies so much from mine. Though we still differ on some aspects of faith, reading her memoir has made me think about issues of faith, a topic that divides even Christians. Below are some glimpses into what I've been contemplating. I'm not promising cohesion or earth-shattering revelations; rather, these are musings on faith itself.

*Who is a true Christian?
"As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead" James 2:10
I firmly believe that a Christian is one who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, believing that He died for our sins. The Bible is clear on this. And I also believe that the true believer will manifest that faith through her actions. It's kind of like the saying, "If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, then it must be a duck." After all, if the Holy Spirit resides within us at the point of our conversion, and we are actively growing in our love and knowledge of Christ, then it's only natural that our personalities would demonstrate that change.

But the caveat to all this is can I, a sinful person, really judge if another person's conversion is true? After all, only God truly knows our hearts (Luke 16:15), so only He can be certain of someone else's relationship with Him. This thought came to me while reading due to the fundamental differences between me and the author. She believes in moral relativism, I don't. She's a liberal, I'm conservative (I'm not trying to imply that all conservatives are Christians and all liberals are not; I'm just establishing a profound difference of opinion). We live very different lives. If I were to examine some of her choices, I would question her conversion. After all, how could a Christian use such language, especially in the house of God? Yet, some of her actions reveal a conversion. The gist of her memoir is how she coupled coming to faith with opening a (very successful) food pantry. Isn't that a manifestation of her faith?

So, how do I answer the question? A Christian is one who has accepted Christ as Savior, believing that He sacrificed Himself for our sins. I'm not at liberty to judge a person's conversion. We are all sinners, and thus we all have sins that are particularly trying. Being saved doesn't mean that we're free from temptation; we have to recognize the temptation, though, and ask God for wisdom to resist it. If the truth of Christ is what makes someone a Christian, then who am I to question if someone calls herself one?

Upon voicing that question, though, I feel as though we ARE called to encourage and even confront (in love) fellow believers. Christianity doesn't exist in a vacuum, and neither can we. As part of a fellowship, a community, we should help one another grow, and sometimes that means confronting each other about our sins. Of course, this becomes more difficult when we factor in various denominations. The author comes from a very liberal church (she even calls it that). Thus, there are certain actions that neither she nor her church condemn. These are some of the same actions that the Bible specifically addresses as being abominable to God. So... as a fellow believer, would I be responsible for confronting someone for an action that we regard differently? Overall, I think we're called to act in love, so that includes any sort of intervention we might undertake (and that only by God's prompting, and much prayer).

I don't have all the answers, but I don't think we're supposed to. After all, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). All I can do is meditate on His Truth, and seek Him always.