Faith isn't about having everything figured out ahead of time; faith is about following the quiet voice of God without having everything figured out ahead of time.
Rachel Held EvansRead
My friend Adele describes fundamentalism as holding so tightly to your beliefs that your fingernails leave imprints on the palm of your hand... I think she's right. I was a fundamentalist not because of the beliefs I held but because of how I held them: with a death grip. It would take God himself to finally pry them out of my hands. (p.17-18)
Interpretation
The quote reflects the struggle between rigid beliefs and the flexibility of faith.
In this quote, Rachel Held Evans discusses how fundamentalism can manifest as an intense grip on beliefs, suggesting that when individuals adhere to their convictions too tightly, it hinders personal growth and understanding. She emphasizes that it's not merely the beliefs themselves that are problematic, but rather the attitude of holding them so fiercely that it becomes painful and restrictive, indicating that true faith may require letting go of such grips.
In practice
In a discussion about faith and belief systems, this quote can illustrate the dangers of rigidity.
Faith isn't about having everything figured out ahead of time; faith is about following the quiet voice of God without having everything figured out ahead of time.
While the word charity connotes a single act of giving, justice speaks to right living, of aligning oneself with the world in a way that sustains rather than exploits the rest of creation. Justice is not a gift; it’s a lifestyle, a commitment to the Jewish concept of tikkun olam—‘repairing the world.’
Evangelicalism is like my religious mother tongue. I revert to it whenever I’m angry or excited or surrounded by other people who understand what I’m saying. And it’s the language in which I most often hear God’s voice on the rare occasion that it rises above the noise.
What grieves me most in my past offenses, O my loving God, is not so much the punishment I have deserved, as the displeasure I have given You, Who are worthy of infinite love.
I took out my watch and listened to it clicking away, not knowing it couldn't even lie
Every star may be a sun to someone.
I have an instinctual distrust of conventional happy endings.
It was sad music. But it waved its sadness like a battle flag. It said the universe had done all it could, but you were still alive.
The significance which is in unity is an eternal wonder.
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