Does history contribute/bolster faith, or does the past limit faith? This is a question that can only have a very personal answer, where none are right or wrong. When thinking about such difficult questions i always like to dissect the key words, these being contribute/bolster and limit.
Dictionary.com says bolster is to support, reinforce or strengthen. This implies a sense of a base of faith already being in place. So the question is not saying that history defines the faith, it is asking if it reinforces and strengthens it. I will have to look at it critically from both ends of the spectrum.
One can definitely see how the past bolsters ones faith. When we are going through a hard time and feeling discouraged, we open our Bibles to read of Moses and the Jews and their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. This history in the way it is told for us helps reassure our faith in God and in the fact that he has our back and will deliver us from our 'Egypt'.
Limit is defined as a confining or restricting object, agent, or influence (Dictionary.com). Let us now look again at the story of Moses, as I am reading it i see how God spoke to him through the burning bush. In my mind I imagine a audible voice from heaven, which it very well could have been. But i then wonder why have i not heard a clearly audible voice from God, or seen such great signs such as the burning bush or parting of the sea. This makes me question the validity of the texts and sometimes question these acts that have previously bolstered my faith.
In all religions I think there are moments that bolster faith and moments that limit faith. It is very hard to find the truth in this faith, because your truth is different to mine. The way i grew up moulds my truths while your experiences do the same for yours. It seems to me that faith, like life is a bit of a roller coaster experience. When we first start out, our faith my be limited by the simplest of things, but as we create our own history and draw from the history of others over time we see how God has brought us through our 'Egypt's' or spoken to us in our own unique 'burning bushes' and history does indeed bolster our faith overall.
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI like how you looked at things from a more personal perspective. For much of my paper I looked at things from the world's history rather than also incorporating how my personal history can alter my faith. I also agree that looking at biblical texts completely literally can be limiting because such stories are hard to wrap your head around. Sometimes you just have to look at the deeper meaning behind it rather than the actual events being told.