Absolutely Certain - Maybe

By David Keating

     It seems that every night we're confronted with reports of bird flu, terrorism, and the latest casualties of war and genocide. The economy leaves us wondering if we'll have jobs to support our families, or if we can put gas in the car to get to them. Quiet neighbourhoods whose residents thought themselves safe are the scenes of home invasions and murder.

          In such an uncertain age, is it any wonder that we're drawn to whatever we can find that offers us a feeling of stability?

     The search for certainty is what makes religious creeds and dogma so attractive. Even in cases where we don't agree with a particular statement. It's the certainty with which it's stated that matters to us. Which leads people to support doctrines that forbid same sex marriage, or to condemn something as obviously health-oriented as the use of condoms. And we support those doctrines even when we have friends or family who fall into the category of the "condemned." Remember Dick Cheney's criticism of gays and lesbians even while expressing love for his daughter? We seem to believe that God will make an exception for those we hold dear. At the very least, it's easier to live with the contradiction than it is to give up the certainty.

     In 1998, Chris Levan, then principal of St. Stephen's Theological College in Calgary, Alberta, wrote a book that he titled "Living in the Maybe". Chris made a strong case in that book for learning a new way to understand our relationship with God. One that lets God be revealed to us in the present and future as much as in the past. To live in the "Maybe" is to acknowledge that God is beyond our understanding and is only seen, as Paul says, "through a glass darkly", by any of our religions or attempts to describe the Creator.

     I try to live in the maybe as much as possible. It doesn't trouble me to think of God as beyond my comprehension. In fact, it would be a pretty simple God who could be completely understood by human beings. In which case, Creation would be a much duller place than it is.

     I find it awe-inspiring to see the scope of a Creation that is gradually revealed as astronomers find ways to look a little farther into the universe each year. I find it humbling to read of new discoveries that probe the complexities of Creation on a scale so small that it's described in terms of sub-atomic particles.

     To think that anyone could reduce the Creator of such things to fit within our comprehension is absurd.

     But living in the maybe still requires some foundation. We cannot just cut ourselves completely loose of everything that has guided us this far. The challenge is to keep the guidance without letting our faith be reduced to some dusty words written in stone. Inflexible and unresponsive. To make it, as Jeremiah said, a living faith written on our hearts.

     Grace Davie, chair of Sociology of Religion at the University of Exeter, recently reported on a study of faith and church membership in Europe. She noted that in countries where the organizational church was weakest, people had not lost their faith. They were, in fact, more likely to consider themselves "believers". This was particularly true of young people, who, in countries with a strong institutional church, were more likely to reject faith entirely.

     In other words, the study suggests that people are rejecting the "written in stone" doctrines of the "church", and embracing a living intimate relationship with the Creator.

They are most certainly choosing to live in the maybe.