The unbelieving believer (1)

Well known is the following story of the man who came to Jesus and asked Him for help.

“Teacher, I brought my son to You, for he has a speechless spirit; and wherever he takes hold of it, it tears him down; then he foams and gnashes his teeth and collapses. Then I asked Your disciples that they might cast him out, but they failed.”
He answered them: “O unbelieving generation! How long shall I be with you, how long shall I endure you? Bring him to Me!” And they brought him to Him.
When the spirit saw him, he immediately shook him violently in convulsions, and he fell to the ground, rolling and foaming. Then He asked his father, “How long has it been since this happened to him?” He answered, “Since he was a child; many times he threw him into the fire and into the water to kill him. However, if you can at all, help us and have mercy on us!”
But Jesus says to him, “Why this if? You can believe! Everything is possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out aloud with tears, “I believe! Help my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that the crowd was gathering, He scolded the unclean spirit and said to him, “You speechless and deaf spirit, I command you, depart from him and enter no more into Him!” Crying out and shaking him very much in convulsions, he went out, and the lad lay there as dead, so that most said, “He died.” But Jesus, grasping his hand, raised him up, and he got up.
Mark 9:17-27

The father here is the unbelieving believer – or believing unbeliever. Jesus told him that faith is able to do everything, but the Father obviously has not been able to do it out of his faith so far. Help did not come from the disciples either. So the Father stood before Jesus at the last with his request. Jesus spoke to him about his faith, but he answered “aloud with tears: I believe! Help my unbelief!

This answer testified to self-knowledge and trust in God in equal measure. Thus, this statement appears human, understandable, honest, direct. No pious phrases, nor pious effort, just very direct and honest feedback. He sought mercy, deliverance, for his son. He not only admitted his own inadequacy, but also handed it over to Jesus with the words “I believe! Help my unbelief!

In this story we see a sense of reality coupled with trust in God. The two are close together. Both should also seem understandable to everyone. We must not confuse faith with certainty, with unwaveringness, without doubt and error. Faith is trust. Trust is alive. What is alive must prove itself again and again, with mistakes and new attempts.

In this sense, all of us who believe are, in a sense, “believing unbelievers.”

The unbelieving believer (2)

Has it ever happened to you that you were denied faith? Last week it happened to me once again. Someone called me an unbeliever and immediately branded me as “lost” and destined for “hell.” I would be the “unbelieving believer” in this second variant. It is not me who sees myself this way, but someone else who tries to brand me this way and thereby – in a figurative sense – push me off the playing field of an argument.

Those who call others “infidels” may have two reasons for doing so:

1. Uncertainty
   One is very insecure in one’s own beliefs and compensates for that by condemning others in order to increase one’s own ego and worth. But those who condemn others first show what drives them. On the other hand, those who rest in their understanding of God no longer need to judge anyone. Believing in Jesus is not a license to condemn others. Believing in God is not a license to condemn. Those who act in this way have not yet experienced the undeserved favor of God.
2. Security
   The opposite can also be the case. Self-righteous arrogance comes into play when one mistakenly thinks that one has the truth and that anyone who sees it differently is in the wrong. This is like the song “Ein fester Burg ist unser Gott”, where this should then be “Ein fester Burg ist meine Ansicht”. The problem is obvious.

The reaction behind such “demonization of other people” has nothing to do with a real argument. Most of the time it is just an expression of a refusal to talk. You seal yourself off, demonize the other person so that you don’t have to question yourself. Fear is likely to be a driver, as is great insecurity, especially if it is done from an arrogant position.

The unbelieving believer (3)

There is a third variant. This concerns believers who say they believe the Bible, but then are very selective in it. Here we must now speak of the following initial situation:

1. One states that the Bible is the basis for life and faith
2. Some statements of the Bible are believed
3. People distrust other statements of the Bible because their own community sees it differently.

Since most Christians never learn to engage constructively with different views, it is especially difficult to approach issues of Scripture neutrally. However, this is precisely what would be important for a healthy faith. This, on the other hand, I have often experienced: opinions about the Bible are present in the mind. These thoughts have never been tested. It was accepted because everyone in the community felt that way about it. One often does not know what is written in the Scriptures, but has internalized a certain image about the Bible and its statements. This is, in a way, a tragic testimony about faith building in the communities. One has never seen that one can soberly approach the statements of Scripture to examine for oneself what is important. However, you can. That changes everything.

Only when one can meet with the other on an equal footing, without judgment, in order to search together for what is important (Phil 1:9-10), will fruitful exchange take place. This is not about doctrines, dogmas and the like, but about getting to know God and His Son.

Maturity comes from confrontation.

Example: Proponents of a doctrine of hell often do not want to hear that there is not a single word in the Bible that corresponds to the ideas of a hell. What is written against it demonstrably speaks of other things. They believe without foundation. On the other hand, these same people like to heresy other believers who have read Colossians 1:20 and read there with joy that God reconciles with everything by making peace through the blood of the cross.

So here’s the question: if you believe something that is not in the Bible, but reject something that is clearly stated, how would you describe that? I call it the “unbelieving believer.”

In my opinion, the only way to move away from rigid viewing is through an active learning culture. There you can discover (together) what is worth believing from the heart.