Christians... What are we afraid of?

I remember the last time I visited a fundamentalist church. I went to the altar for prayer and explained that I had been studying Bible history and needed clarity as some of the things I learned were controversially opposed to traditional evangelical Christianity. The lay minister began to pray: "Dear Heavenly Father... Please protect your child from false beliefs that come from lies and high sounding arguments- and help her to stop reading material that might be toxic to her faith."

It was then that I knew my path was going to be a lonely one. It seemed the lay minister wanted me to be afraid of what I might see in a book at a library somewhere, even if what I found was true. However, I knew God wouldn't want me to be afraid of the truth- even it if was different from the current traditions found in Christendom. I left church that day with a stronger sense of curiosity and a burning question about my Christian brethren: What are we afraid of?

The truth is that if there is a God (and I believe there is one), He is more intelligent than we could ever know or understand. With intelligence comes an inquisitive Spirit. If His Spirit is in us and we are truly created in His image, then we are inquisitive by nature. This could explain why Eve was so enthralled with the tree of knowledge. It would also explain Solomon's request for wisdom when he could have had anything else in the world. It would explain why Christ inquired in the temple with educated men at such a young age and why Job pondered the plan of God so deeply in his moment of tragedy. If God is an omniscient entity who wants His creations to follow Christ, then He must know that a large number of His beings will ponder the whos, whats, whens, wheres, and whys of this tradition.

Yet, rather than embracing the natural tendency to be curious about the mysterious, we quiver in fear that our dogmas may be challenged if we turn over too many stones. We reject the possibility that truth could exist outside our faith bubble and are scared to consider that another tradition may have the answer. We seek to protect ourselves and one another, and we often reject our opportunity to embrace the possibility that God may exist inside the realm of reason.

Our fears are simple. We're afraid of losing our faith in God and very much afraid of finding new ways to understand the world. We're afraid that the God story may be bigger than our creeds have captured, afraid that the wars we've historically waged in the name of God may have been fought in vain, and afraid that our politics may be based on a fallible faith in God. We're afraid that truth may carry a definition we don't recognize. We're afraid of being wrong.

We continue to base our faith on the belief that we have a monopoly on the truth, and reject proven truths that hurt the arguments of our forefathers.

We would do well as a group to reject fear and embrace possibilities. After all, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind."