Mark 9: Faith

After the scene of the mystical transfiguration, Mark 9 continues with another exorcism scene. This same scene is duplicated in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but there are some striking differences. For one things, the authors of Matthew and Luke do not include the father's famous quip, "I believe; help my unbelief." Perhaps an even more obvious omission is the apparent disagreement between authors about why Jesus was able to do something that his disciples were unable to do. The author of Mark has Jesus say that the kind of demon he exorcised from the boy can only be cast out by prayer (even though the story doesn't say anything about Jesus praying in this scene). The scene is truncated a bit in the gospel of Matthew, but when it comes to this question of why the disciples were unable to help the boy, the author takes the opportunity to have Jesus criticize the disciples' lack of faith. It is such an obviously different answer than the original version of the story recorded in the gospel of Mark that some scribe(s) at some point inserted the bit about prayer and fasting into the Matthew version. (In most translations, this inserted verse is omitted and relegated to a footnote). The author of Luke leaves out the question altogether, choosing not to include anything about the disciples' inability to help the epileptic boy, which makes it a bit awkward when the Jesus character bemoans putting up with the "faithless and perverse generation."

Some "perverse" people in the twenty-first century still consider demonic possession to be an actual thing. Considering the vast amount of research and evidence on the subject, as well as our previous critique on the abusive and manipulative practice of exorcism, we can leave that aside. It is reasonable for us to forgive people living so many centuries ago for thinking that some neurological disorders were caused by supernatural forces. Instead, there is a theme that emerges from the versions of this story in the gospels of Mark and Matthew that seems worthy of a bit of attention, namely the father's plea, "I believe; help my unbelief," and the line about a mustard seed of faith being enough to make a mountain move (which is also duplicated in Luke 17:5-6, just not in connection to this exorcism scene).

Faith is a tricky subject. It essentially means believing something that cannot be proven by available data. Faith isn't intelligent, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful. It's important to realize that a statement of faith is necessarily a claim without any empirical foundation. This trips some people up. They want to believe that their statement of faith is absolutely true, that they can prove it to other people, that they can make other people agree with them, even though there is no actual evidence for the claim. If there were ample evidence to demonstrate the validity of a claim, it wouldn't need to be taken on faith.

Faith can work for us or against us. Some people flatly reject cold, hard data in order to maintain a faith-based perspective; other people manage to incorporate the available facts into a fluid faith that grows and changes as their knowledge grows and changes. There are people in the Creationist (or Intelligent Design) camp that fall into the first category, blatantly disagreeing with scientific evidence in favor of the text of an ancient religious document. Others revise their version of faith in a creator so that it remains compatible with scientific conclusions.

It isn't so dangerous when people are just engaging in fruitless arguments about the age of the planet (although it is dangerous to teach children that they can ignore actual facts in order to keep believing what they want to believe). Thoughtless faith can put people in serious danger, though. Some people have faith that their supernatural will protect them from the venom of poisonous snakes, even if they antagonize said snakes. Some people have faith that their supernatural will heal their child, provided they don't give in and seek competent medical assistance. A recent outbreak of measles within a religious community in Texas that opposes vaccination in favor of "faith healing" is just one more senseless piece of evidence that it's dangerous to rely on a supernatural to do the work of a doctor. Faith that refuses to incorporate verifiable evidence is, frankly, abusive and evil.

Blaming faith isn't really helpful. Intelligent faith helps us create meaningful lives. Insightful faith helps us connect with people and build incredible communities. Faith isn't the problem. Human egoism is. Why in the world would a spiritual leader advise his flock not to get vaccinations or professional medical attention? My guess would be either hubris or stupidity. What do you say to the parents of a 4-month-old infant who contracts measles because a spiritual community refused to take appropriate health precautions? Was the faith of the parents faulty? Or perhaps the 4-month-old had faith that was too weak? I try not to be critical of other people's beliefs, but I get angry about children suffering needlessly because of adults with nonsensical religious convictions.

Still, it's the people who are responsible for the consequences of their actions, not whatever they had faith in. The father who brought his son to Jesus' disciples in the story was looking for a solution. He wasn't committed to pursuing some tenacious assertion about the supernatural, he was trying to get help for his son wherever it might be found. By the time Jesus questioned the father's faith, the poor man was probably exasperated from trying to find someone who could do some genuine good for his boy. And yet, he couldn't just confess blind faith. Even Jesus' disciples had failed him. He had hope, but he wasn't an idiot. His son was seriously afflicted. He believed in the possibility of his son's healing enough to get him to a healer. Whatever he lacked in faith, he certainly expressed a willingness to be persuaded.

We can approach faith like that. We can stake our claim and say, "based on available evidence right now, I believe this." When further evidence presents itself, we have the freedom to adapt our statements of faith. By "evidence," I mean falsifiable data, information that can be verified by outside sources, not just another person's opinion or a slippery thread of logic. For instance, believe in God if you like, but don't ignore scientific data about vaccinations or geology in order to cling to a primitive version of that belief in God. We can allow our God to be as vast or impressive or intelligent or insightful or loving as s/he needs to be in order to accommodate the actual knowledge we have about our natural world. We cannot restrict verifiable data based on our personal beliefs. If we try to do so, we wind up with things like measles outbreaks that could easily have been prevented.

So, since our beliefs don't have the power to modify actual scientific evidence, it only makes sense to allow actual scientific evidence to modify our beliefs. This doesn't diminish our faith in any way; it makes our faith more credible. This doesn't weaken our faith; it strengthens our connection to reality, and thus increases the value of our faith. Digging in our heels and refusing to reconcile our beliefs with cold, hard facts is just another way of refusing to grow. When we refuse to grow, we stagnate. Life is not stagnant. If we are going to have faith, doesn't it make sense to have faith that is alive and able to grow?

Exodus 34: The Fear of Being Weak Makes Everyone Look Threatening

It's no wonder that some modern-day Christians seem so militantly closed-minded about any ideas that didn't come straight from their home church's pulpit.  The words of Exodus 34 are directed exclusively to the Israelites and refer specifically to groups of people who existed thousands of years ago, so if one is inclined to take the Bible completely literally, it would seem that at least some of the information is obsolete.  Still, the passage reveals something about the nature of the Israelite god, and it grants some insight into how beliefs about our essential nature impacts how we see the world around us.

As a brief tangent, there is one little phrase in this passage that bears pointing out to those who want to take the entirety of Christian scripture as accurate and infallible.  The Israelite god commands, "No one is to appear before me empty-handed."  It's one of those things that Jesus never directly contradicts in the New Testament.  How many Christians take this to heart, I wonder?  And how many of them justify their empty-handedness by claiming that their devotion is worth more than anything else they could bring before God?  How many people believe that they're not appearing before God empty-handed if they've contributed to a radio station or a pregnancy crisis center or an organization that delivers Bibles to China?  The meaning is pretty clear here: God expects your wealth.  If you want to take the Bible as perfectly literal and true, you don't get to decide how he uses it.

Alright, now take a look at the image of God established by the Israelites.  After Moses spends a long time chiseling new stone tablets (since he broke the first ones in a fit of rage), God is described as being compassionate and gracious, "slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness," and although he forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin, "he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation."  This is the perfect description of a scapegoat god, the kind of deity that can be blamed for any misfortune, because he's just punishing some wickedness.  Some wickedness that he has presumably also forgiven.  It's a bit odd, come to think of it. 

Taking this belief to its ultimate corollaries, if something bad happens in life, God may just be punishing you for what you've done.  Or he may be punishing you for what your father or mother did.  Or your grandparent or great-grandparent.  For anyone who buys into this completely, there is no reason to try to help the poor, the sick, the abused, or anyone else who is suffering.  They are just getting their punishment from God for something someone did, and why would a believer get in the way of God's just consequences.  It's also a great belief for those who are wealthy, healthy, and happy in every way.  God is obviously blessing them because their family has managed to go four generations without doing anything wicked or sinful.  Right?

If that strikes you as slightly off, it's because our minds reject the nihilism of the concept that God is punishing everyone and there's nothing that can be done, because he punishes even those he has forgiven.  No one can go through their lives without doing something worth being punished for, and our definition of forgiveness conflicts with the idea of punishing a person for what her father's mother's mother did.  Fortunately, Jesus came along and turned a lot of this business on its head, but then, how can one claim that the entire Bible is true?  What people believe about the character and behavior of God becomes filtered through what makes sense to them, and how we think God should treat us personally is often very different from how we think God should treat other people.  It's fine for God to punish that other person, but we want forgiveness for ourselves to be absolute and pain-free.

The Israelites in the Exodus story wanted the same thing.  Their god promised to wipe out the neighboring cultures (whom the exiled Israelites were technically invading), provided the Israelites had nothing to do with them.  Don't even entertain the thought of learning about their beliefs or culture, and don't even consider the concept of a treaty with them.  Why?  They'll corrupt you.  In fact, the Israelite god is named Jealousy in this passage.  Jealousy is the same thing as "envy," right?  So their god is defined as being one of the seven deadly sins, but they consider themselves to be the righteous people in this situation.

Unfortunately, they also consider themselves to be the weak people in the situation.  They are afraid to make treaties with people, to participate in the culture or religious observance of the Other, because they believe they will be turned from their own faith.  That level of small-mindedness isn't actually faith, though.  It's ignorance.  Why in the world would God suggest that his people remain ignorant about every other belief system around them?  In order for those alternate beliefs to be a threat, the commitment of the Israelites would have to be pretty insubstantial.  I've heard about many different cultures and religious belief systems over the course of my life, and I've only rarely been tempted to adopt any of them into my own perspective.  My beliefs are strong enough to come into contact with other people's beliefs and remain intact.  What was wrong with the Israelites that they would be so threatened by other cultures that their god would warn them not to even make treaties with those other people?

This type of passage from the Old Testament still informs the Conservative Christian worldview in the twenty-first century to some extent.  There is no interest in learning about other cultures or faith systems.  We just need to send our troops and wipe them out.  We need to crack down on how many of Them are allowed into our country.  They are out to kill us, and we need to kill them first.  Even with regard to other belief systems in America, there is hostility based on assumption.  Fear.  Small-mindedness.  Ignorance.  These are not healthy lenses through which one should look at the world.  I know there are Christians who sincerely believe that they are under constant threat from people with different beliefs, but it is simply not true.  The only way it can be true is if the Christian in question is so weak in his or her faith that any other suggestion is going to create some crisis of belief, and I would suggest that that isn't faith at all.

Whatever we believe about ourselves, we are simply not that weak.  People are not so vulnerable to external ideas that they cannot establish a set of criteria for themselves to determine what they are and aren't willing to believe.  Different ideas are not a threat, they are simply other people's ways of viewing the world.  We are capable of deciding what makes sense to us, regardless of our chosen belief system, and we are capable of interacting with other people without being "corrupted" or "led astray."  When we encounter a belief that seems to be a challenge, it's just possible that we are experiencing growth at a certain level.  We don't necessarily figure out all that there is to figure out about the world and human spirituality in grade school Sunday school classes. 

There may be ideas that make a great deal of sense to us that we don't have a chance to explore until after we have traveled a bit down a particular belief path.  If we view those other ideas as threats, we are essentially stagnating our own growth.  We are claiming a desire to remain immature and ignorant in our beliefs.  We would find it somewhat disturbing for a child to determine at age 10 that he isn't going to grow any taller and force his body to remain stunted.  And yet, we are comfortable doing that with our own spiritual selves.  If a belief is worth maintaining and nurturing, it will stand up to scrutiny.  If our beliefs are shattered the moment they come into contact with a different way of seeing the world, what good were those beliefs really doing us?  The only way our beliefs can be altered is for us to encounter a perspective that makes more sense than what we previously held to be true.  This is growth, plain and simple.  And there is nothing really threatening about growth, even though it may seem a little bit scary and unsettling.

Whether it is in the realm of politics, religion, personal relationships, business practices, or whatever, encountering new ideas is beneficial.  When our beliefs are challenged by a new perspective, we either walk away from that with our old beliefs strengthened or we walk away with beliefs that make more sense to us.  It may be a radical change, or it may be a subtle refinement, but either way we grow.  We are strong enough to accept that other people will believe different things from us.  They aren't a threat to us at all.  They are simply different.  Let's stop worshiping Jealousy and Ignorance and Fear as if they had any true power.  The only thing those gods do is lie to us about ourselves and other people.  And we are strong enough to let go of those lies.