The Beauty of Flaws
Every spiritual tradition has em'. Flaws Flaws Flaws. But I'm grateful for them because the flaws make you look deeper. I really don't respect people who write off whole religions because of their flaws. It seems simple minded. You aren't going to find something perfect elsewhere. It's like people who get divorced because their partner is flawed. They get remarried thinking the new partner will be perfect and meet all their needs, but after time the cracks show. Love is only love when you can accept someone warts and all.
And I don't really having a problem practicing a faith with flaws. I think the flaws make your practice more solid. If you can cling to the heart of faith, then you can deal with the flaws that arise. The people who believe their tradition is perfect sometimes fall away hardest when confronted with their faiths imperfection.
I do have a problem with the claim that one faith is better than another. I don't really see what people base that claim on. You can tell people about your faith, and how it has benefited you, but it all gets bogged down when you argue that one way is better than the other. It becomes an intellectual puzzle that cannot be solved (and believe me I've tried). On Adventist conversion method that has been used is to point out all the flaws in the tradition of those you are trying to convert and to show how Adventism is better. (example: Mark Finley's Studying Together) I admire the Adventists who are moving away from that approach but the "Rightness of Adventism and Wrongness of Everyone Else is still a strong undercurrent in the church.
When it comes to faith, we need to admit that faith is all it is. We don't have incontrovertible evidence. We have no proof, and if we think we do, well so do a lot of other belief systems. (i.e. atheism) Again, we get lost in an intellectual argument comparing your proof to my proof.
The difficulty for me comes in deciding what to put my faith in. I have a fairly clear picture of what I need to practice, but when it comes to what I believe I am confused. Since every tradition is flawed, do I just choose the one that works for me? Do I try and search out the best of my Christian faith, as Thich Nhat Hahn might recommend? Do I go to the faith that has had tangible results? (Buddhism) or do I keep a foot in both worlds.
Regardless of the end result, I am thankful that Christianity and Buddhism have shown their flaws to me. It keeps me from getting comfortable and playing it safe. It forces me to stretch and to face myself as I never did before. It can be frightening at times but I wouldn't exchange my experiences for anything. I don't think I would have grown this much in a "play-it-safe" faith.
And I don't really having a problem practicing a faith with flaws. I think the flaws make your practice more solid. If you can cling to the heart of faith, then you can deal with the flaws that arise. The people who believe their tradition is perfect sometimes fall away hardest when confronted with their faiths imperfection.
I do have a problem with the claim that one faith is better than another. I don't really see what people base that claim on. You can tell people about your faith, and how it has benefited you, but it all gets bogged down when you argue that one way is better than the other. It becomes an intellectual puzzle that cannot be solved (and believe me I've tried). On Adventist conversion method that has been used is to point out all the flaws in the tradition of those you are trying to convert and to show how Adventism is better. (example: Mark Finley's Studying Together) I admire the Adventists who are moving away from that approach but the "Rightness of Adventism and Wrongness of Everyone Else is still a strong undercurrent in the church.
When it comes to faith, we need to admit that faith is all it is. We don't have incontrovertible evidence. We have no proof, and if we think we do, well so do a lot of other belief systems. (i.e. atheism) Again, we get lost in an intellectual argument comparing your proof to my proof.
The difficulty for me comes in deciding what to put my faith in. I have a fairly clear picture of what I need to practice, but when it comes to what I believe I am confused. Since every tradition is flawed, do I just choose the one that works for me? Do I try and search out the best of my Christian faith, as Thich Nhat Hahn might recommend? Do I go to the faith that has had tangible results? (Buddhism) or do I keep a foot in both worlds.
Regardless of the end result, I am thankful that Christianity and Buddhism have shown their flaws to me. It keeps me from getting comfortable and playing it safe. It forces me to stretch and to face myself as I never did before. It can be frightening at times but I wouldn't exchange my experiences for anything. I don't think I would have grown this much in a "play-it-safe" faith.
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