{"id":62870,"date":"2026-10-30T11:28:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kernbeisser.ch\/?p=62870"},"modified":"2026-10-30T12:21:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T10:21:44","slug":"courageously-stumbling-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kernbeisser.ch\/en\/courageously-stumbling-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Courageously stumbling forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h3″ text_size=”h3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”204984″]Every person is limited [\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”792538″]It may unsettle some, but I think that every person \u2013 and therefore their faith \u2013 is limited. This affects everything. Everyone tries to live their life and, so to speak, stumbles forward while doing so. We have no idea what the next minute will bring, and can only take one step forward at a time, courageously. That one step is unknown until we dare to take it. There are, accordingly, adventures of life and adventures of faith.<\/p>\n

Moreover, everyone believes for themselves. Just as everyone walks on their own legs and needs their own body, so everyone can only believe for themselves. Paul stresses this explicitly (Rom 14:22).<\/p>\n

Human limitation is a given. Standing within it, accepting it and taking responsibility for it is the mark of an adult. At the same time, it points to two further things:<\/p>\n

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  1. We choose our own position.<\/li>\n
  2. Ideas of faith are not absolute.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h3″ text_size=”h3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”329001″]We stumble through life [\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”169191″]When it comes to the ideas we live by, faith is part of them. People can and will believe, and the Bible can play a valuable role in that. We can reflect on what that role is, as well as on the way we believe and why we do so. That we take certain ideas for granted does not mean that these ideas are \u201cright\u201d. Moreover, as limited human beings we cannot have an absolute understanding of \u201ccorrectness\u201d \u2013 unless we were God himself.<\/p>\n

    Ideas of faith always exist in a field of tension. That is where their task lies. Ideas of faith look beyond ourselves. Proclamation fosters faith because it points beyond ourselves. We stand in the tension between the \u201climited self\u201d and \u201cwhat goes beyond myself\u201d. That is also where trust in God grows. Ideas of faith speak of things that are greater than ourselves, that reach further than we can see, and that can therefore light up like a lighthouse in our own lives. So I do not mean a particular \u201cright\u201d view or doctrine, but the function of faith in everyday life.<\/p>\n

    We stumble through our lives and try to make the best of it. I can grant that to every person, even if I do not adopt their solution. People get hurt and often respond with strange solutions: self-righteousness, narcissism, low self-esteem, hatred and self-hatred, and much more. One does not have to agree with these just because one sees behind them a person who is trying to make something good of their life. I see that everyone stumbles through life in their own way. We cannot do otherwise. [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h3″ text_size=”h3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”166355″]Choosing a direction [\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”107365″]We can give our stumbling a direction. In doing so, we take responsibility for our humanity and our well-being, and shape our understanding of God, the world and other people. Whoever takes responsibility has grown up. This is especially important where our own insights and questions differ from those of the community. That will inevitably happen.<\/p>\n

    As far as we ourselves are concerned, it involves a process of individuation. One gains insight into one\u2019s own thought patterns and ideas, and perhaps struggles through to new understanding. Everyone goes through such a process if they allow it. Nevertheless, the tension between the \u201cviews of one\u2019s surroundings\u201d and \u201cone\u2019s own insights\u201d is real. It is precisely there that personal responsibility proves itself and that our own decisions emerge.<\/p>\n

    We can come to terms with our own life story and try to say goodbye to unhealthy patterns. Positively, we can also try to practise better ones. What we think becomes what we do. Patterns of thinking lead to patterns of action. That is roughly what proclamation also contributes to. Paul describes it as follows:<\/p>\n

    \u201cI appeal to you now, brothers, \u2026 to make your bodies available as a living, holy sacrifice pleasing to God, \u2026 (and) to let yourselves be transformed by the renewal of your mind.\u201d<\/em>
    \nRom 12:1-2<\/p>\n

    Reshaping, renewal, transformation \u2013 these are the terms that matter in everyday life. This does not mean that one has not been good so far, or has not tried to do good; it is about examining what currently is. In the same verses the apostle says: \u201cso that you may be able to examine what the will of God is \u2013 the good, pleasing and perfect.\u201d Being able to examine is a skill that one can develop. It arises from the two preceding things:<\/p>\n

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    1. Making oneself available.<\/li>\n
    2. Letting oneself be transformed through the renewal of thinking.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n