Just Believe

I finished reading a book by Sarah Cunningham titled "Dear Church: Letters from a disillusioned generation". She was raised in the church and her father was a pastor.

The book was very good and I liked it. But about halfway through it she said something that hit home for me and I had marked it so that I could go back and find it. I wanted to read the verses she gave and after I went back and read this part, I had to blog about it to see if I could get opinions on it. So here it goes, an excerpt from the book on pages 88-89:

Local congregations, of course, have varied requirements for membership; however, many of them still seem to stand in contrast to Jesus' approach. The only task that Jesus mentioned, when asked what God required of people, is "to believe in the one he has sent."

It was belief that made someone a disciple (John 8:31), belief that deemed them God's children (John 1:12), and belief that qualified them as children of Abraham (Galations 3:7). Belief was also the qualifier that got tax collectors and and prostitutes to the door before religious leaders (Matthew 21:31-32).

Throughout the New Testament, we see this same mode of entry revisited by author after author. Paul reminded people that the Spirit doesn't move because you observe the law, but because you believe what you've heard (Galations 3:5). Peter taught it was only though belief in God that people had hope (1 Peter 1:21). John too passed on a similarly simple command: believe in the name of God's Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us (1 John 3:23). Even the chief priests and Pharisees feared that if Jesus continued to do miracles, more people would believe (John 11:48). In fact, belief was apparently such a central part of Christians' identities that they were referred to as believers (Acts 4:32 is just one example).

Interestingly enough, from Nicodemus (John 3) to Zaccaeus (Luke 19), the Samaritan townspeople (John 4:39-42) to the disciples (Matthew 4, Mark 3, Luke 5, John 1), not one person is asked to sign a list of doctrines.

In fact, there is no "repeat after me." No "raise a hand." No "ask Jesus into your heart."

Just believe.

And you know what is cool about belief? It's something anyone can do. Physically disabled, mentally challenged, young, old, smart, uneducated. Not everyone can understand and recite a list of complex doctrines, not everyone can read and process a manual. But even a child can believe.

I once worked with a homeless man who was both schizophrenic and epileptic. Because of his mental illness, he came to think that men he was once imprisoned with had implanted a homing device in the back of his head and were tracking his every move (it sounds bizarre, but real life is sometimes). Whenever something would go wrong - for example, if a salt shaker would get bumped off the table - this man would chalk it up as evidence that the cons were following him and out to make his life miserable. You can only imagine the chaos and confusion that ruled him.

My husband and I went to all lengths to help this man and his wife. We secured temporary housing for them in a hotel and made a return trip to argue with the staff when they tried to evict him. We searched out an apartment in the city where he and his wife could walk to nearby organizations that could support them. We took him, his wife, and his dog (that he refused to leave behind) to our church on a number of occasions.

Despite all our efforts, I never heard this man engage conversion by the definitions of my childhood. Even if the perfect moment presented itself, he would have never - in my wildest dreams - been able to process the beliefs inherent in most of the creeds and church covenants I'd been raised on. But the longer we talked, the more often my husband and I heard the man say, "I think they are following me, but I know they won't get to me because God is watching out for me" or "When they come near, I just ask God to help me."

Less than a year after coming into our lives, this man died suddenly (his wife claimed paramedics didn't even attempt to resuscitate him after he had a seizure). As I sat at the funeral, looking at the man's body in the coffin, a new spiritual principle dawned on me. I thought to myself: without a doubt, this man is experiencing Christ's fullness right now. Like Abraham, like the centurion, like those who ate and fellowshiped with the early church, this man believed.