On my other blog, I've posted some thoughts on the concept of the Curse of Knowledge as depicted in the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Click here to read those thoughts. The Curse of Knowledge is the inability to remember or imagine what it is like to NOT know something, thereby makig it difficult to communicate that knowledge to an unknowing individual. Here, I'd like to address one other effect of the Curse of Knowledge - the tendency to make simple things complex. The Heath brothers also address this in their book. I want to apply it to our faith.
After two thousand years of Christianity and approximately twenty-five hundred years of organized Judaism before that, we have turned our relationship with God into a pretty complex affair. We have a pretty well thought out system of beliefs. We may not agree on all of them and different groups may emphasize certain nuances, but by and large, there is a set of universally agreed upon beliefs that characterize Orthodox Christianity.
It doesn't take long for the average person to be affected by the Curse of Knowledge once they begin their faith journey. Part of this is the result of being part of the institutional church. Over the last forty-five hundred years, we have reasoned out our theology pretty well. With each new development, we add to the list of requirements necessary to be a church member or even to be a Christian.
I will admit to my impatience and frustration with both the well-meaning person and the self-righteous person who insists on an adherence to a list of requirements in order to be considered a Christian. Over the last two or three years, I have put considerable study, prayer, and thought in boiling down what it means to be a Christian to the most basic core. It has not be an attempt to list the bare minimum for the sake of convenience. It has been an attempt to strip away all the complex baggage so people can be liberated to more fully live in relationship with God.
Many people point to the Apostle's Creed as this core. I'm beginning to wonder if even that is more than is necessary. Jesus said that we need to receive the kingdom of God like a little child. I don't think that meant we needed it to make it more complex.
Here's where the Curse of Knowledge rears its ugly head. As I have tried to identify the core, I always look for the right starting point. I usually start with "God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us." I then begin to identify how the relationship is possible, what impedes it, etc. Soon, it's no longer simple. Maybe the problem is I'm looking for a starting point when I should be looking for an ending point.
I feel myself beginning to get wordy and a well-articulated thesis is trying to escape my brain. So I'll stop here for now. I'll come back and continue later. For now, help me out. What are your thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The past few months I have dedicated myself to daily devotions and prayer - usually first thing in the morning. I did this because I felt for the past few years I have been a "lazy" Christian. I felt I have been a person who claims to be saved but questioned whether my life really reflected that. I felt I was a person who claimed to have a relationship with God but really had very little knowledge of the Bible or my beliefs. I would have never even contemplated "defending" my beliefs because I felt I had no knowledge to use in my defense. I would have never dreamed of trying to talk to a non-Christian about God because I would not have wanted to tell them something wrong or come across as ignorant.
Through my daily devotions and prayers the past few months I have learned this - first and foremost, I will never "know" it all. None of us will ever completely understand God or know his intentions and plans - that's part of having faith. I also have learned that everyone has there "opinion" or "view" or "interpretation" of God's word which makes learning God's word confusing at times. I receive several email devotions, read several different blogs and then there is of course what I hear every Sunday in church. I try to use these things as resources to help me better understand scripture. Simply reading the scripture, I don't always understand the meaning nor am I always able to take it that step further and figure out how to really apply that to myself and my life. It can make it difficult to determine what is really God's will and what is someone's interpretation of God's will. I am having to learn to trust my gut in a way. I am trying to learn to really meditate and focus in my prayers to God and really listen for his answer.
I still don't feel 100% confident in my knowledge. I know if faced with an occasion in which I needed to defend my faith or to disciple to a non-Christian, I would be panicked and terrified. But I hope that I would be calm enough to prayer to God for the words, the wisdom and the knowledge that I need at that moment. In seeking more knowledge and in turn becoming more confused about many issues I feel I can always be confident and sure in this - God loves us, is always there for us and is quick to forgive. I know he sent Jesus Christ, his only son, to die for our sins. I know there will come a day when we will live with God and have eternal life. And I know that as a Christian, God wants me to spread his word and his love. And even as I am typing all of this I am almost confusing myself!! I don't know - is God just complicated? Is it possible to simplify our relationship with God? I can remember growing up and hearing in church all you had to do to get to heaven was to ask God to forgive you of your sins and to accept Jesus as your savior. In doing that you are saved and will make it to heaven. But it seems at times that this approach is over-simplifying it.
I guess I'll end what is probably a very confusing comment. I'm not sure any of this makes any sense to anyone but myself but I just felt lead to post something so there it is.
Anonymous said,
"And even as I am typing all of this I am almost confusing myself!! I don't know - is God just complicated? Is it possible to simplify our relationship with God?"
It doesn't sound like you are confused at all to me. Nor does it sound like you have complicated things. I think you identified much of the core - God loves us, sent his Son for us, and asks us to spread this core.
I would say that God is not complicated at all. We make him complicated. Whether that is a result of sin, our finiteness, a combination of the two, or something else, I'm not 100% sure, though I lean towards the "sin" answer.
Thanks for your well thought out response.
Post a Comment