What Do We Believe? Faith, Truth, and the Power of Witnessing

Around Christmas time, I heard and saw the word “Believe” a lot. Macy’s has used the word in advertisements and has a line of products with the word “Believe” printed on them. And when we watched the movie The Polar Express, I was struck by the boy Chris repeating “I believe” three times in one scene. Presumably, he believes in the magic of Christmas and Santa Claus, but that is not explicitly stated. So while thinking about how Santa has stolen the show from Jesus, the Christ, in popular Christmas traditions, I also started to examine the meaning of and our use of the words “believe” and “belief.”

According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, the verb “believe” means 1) to take as true, real, etc. 2) to have confidence in a statement or promise of (another person) 3) to suppose or think or 4) to have religious faith. Similarly, the noun “belief” means 1) the state of believing, conviction or acceptance that certain things are true or real, 2) faith, especially religious faith, 3) trust or confidence, or 4) anything believed or accepted as true; esp. a creed, doctrine, or tenet, or 5) an opinion; expectation; judgment. The dictionary goes on to explain that “belief … implies mental acceptance of something as true, even though absolute certainty may be absent.” Whereas “faith implies complete unquestioning acceptance of something even in the absence of proof and, esp., of something not supported by reason.”

Belief and believing can mean various things: “I believe you” is different from “I believe in you.” We may believe in our children, their abilities and potential, but we don’t always believe what they are telling us.

The wise men who came to pay homage to Jesus had to be believers: They had to believe in their science, which seems to have been astrology because the Greek word “magi” can be translated as “wise men” or as “astrologers,” and they had to believe in themselves and in what they were doing. Otherwise, they would hardly have set out on their long journey. And once they had visited the child Jesus and his parents and left their gifts, they believed in the power of dreams and did not return to Herod but chose a different route. And then, too, they had to believe that their maps were accurate and would take them back home.

Herod also believed the wise men knew what they were doing. He believed that they had come to see the “King of the Jews.” And he believed what they told him about the time frame when this “King” would have been born. He also believed that he could get rid of the threat of a new “King of the Jews” by having all baby boys under the age of two killed.

Fortunately, Joseph also believed in the power of dreams and took his wife and child to Egypt, where they stayed until Herod had died. They were refugees, Jewish immigrants in Egypt. Did they have the proper documents allowing them to take up residence in Egypt? Were they granted something akin to TPS, Temporary Protected Status because the Egyptians knew what Herod was doing? We don’t know, but I doubt it.

We believe. We believe that an unmarried young woman, Bible translations say a virgin, gave birth to Jesus, the Christ, in a stable in Bethlehem, with the birth being announced by angels to shepherds nearby. We believe the stories in the Bible, about Jesus’ birth and the miracles he performed because most of us have grown up with these stories. They are cultural as well as religious heritage to us. The Apostles’ Creed teaches that Jesus is God’s only son, who, we believe was crucified by the Romans and raised from the dead after three days.

It sounds pretty incredible, unbelievable, doesn’t it? So who is to say that other groups, like Muslims with their Prophet Mohammed have the wrong beliefs? Is one belief more or less exotic than the other?

Remember that “faith implies complete unquestioning acceptance of something even in the absence of proof and, esp., of something not supported by reason.” Can we argue with faith?

I don’t think we can argue with faith. But we can argue with deeds, actions, behaviors that may show us if our belief in or faith in someone or something may be misplaced. For me, some Christians’  support for certain politicians and their policies makes me question their professed “belief in Christ.” What does that mean? For many, it means that they believe that Jesus died to atone for their sins. More generally, for me, believing in someone means that I admire or at least have respect for their actions. I may even want to be like them. So when someone describes himself as the new savior sent by God, but his actions are despicable, mean-spirited, demeaning and worse, I cannot believe him or in him.

I think the Disciples felt similarly when they questioned Jesus (John 6:28-30), “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” In other words, “Believe me. Believe in me.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?” To me it sounds like they are asking Jesus to prove that God has sent him. Jesus asks them to believe in him, but they in turn ask Jesus to do something that shows them that they can believe him and what he says. They want actions.

I am seeking a closer connection to God, the Holy, the Divine, again the label doesn’t matter. I strive to follow Jesus’ teachings because I believe that is important to achieve Peace on Earth, or God’s Kingdom on Earth. Actions matter more to me than beliefs. I have been lucky to know people who were atheists but whose actions were more Christian than those of many who call themselves Christian. And I liked the humor in their wall plaque that read: Maybe God meant for me to be an atheist.

I have found a lot of food for thought in the book Credo by William Sloane Coffin. In the 1960s William Sloane Coffin was leading opposition to the Vietnam War as Chaplain at Yale University. He was also a forceful voice in the Civil Rights Movement and marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. Later he was senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City. He begins the Preface to this book with these words:

“Credo—I believe—best translates “I have given my heart to.” However imperfectly, I have given my heart to the teaching and example of Christ, which, among many other things, informs my understanding of faiths other than Christianity. Certainly religions are different. Still most seek to fulfill the same function; that is they strive to convert people from self-preoccupation to the wholehearted giving of oneself in love for God and for others.”

I believe that is something to strive for: the wholehearted giving of oneself in love for God and for others.

I have been reading the book All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, which is the story of a young American woman, Mildred Harnack, an academic, married to a German, also an academic. They lived in Berlin when Hitler came to power, and they worked in the resistance and also as spies for the Soviet Union. One of her husband’s cousins was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young protestant pastor, who was instrumental in founding and working in and for the Bekennende Kirche, usually translated as “the Confessing Church.” After Hitler came to power, he asked all church leaders to sign papers stating that they would be absolutely loyal to Hitler. Most Protestant and Catholic bishops and pastors did so, but Bonhoeffer and a number of other pastors were never going to sign such a statement, and they started the Confessing Church instead. Bonhoeffer had the chance to stay in England but rather chose to lead the church in Berlin and live and act according to Jesus’ teachings, rather than Hitlers’. In the end, his beliefs and his actions cost him his life. Even though the Bekennende Kirche is usually translated as the Confessing Church, I think there is a better translation. “Confessing” has a strong connotation of admitting guilt or confessing one’s sins. While the German word “bekennen” can have the same meaning, it often is used to mean to “profess one’s faith” or “to bear witness to.” Therefore, I like to think of the Bekennende Kirche as the “Witnessing” Church.

One of the tactics used by Hitler of course, was the scapegoating and vilification of groups in the population: Communists, Socialists, those with mental or physical disabilities, Roma and Sinti (better known as gypsies), gays and lesbian, and Jews, of course. I learned just recently, that at the time of Hitler’s takeover, in the early 1930s, Jews made up only 0.75 % of the population of Germany. There were just under 500,000 Jews living in Germany at that time, and most of them lived in the ten largest cities. What that means is that most Germans didn’t know anyone who was Jewish. So they could be made to believe the propaganda that portrayed Jews as criminals, thieves, baby killers, and rapists. Since most Germans didn’t know any Jews, they believed what they were told about them.

So what can we learn from this? Do most Americans know any refugees or other immigrants? Do they know anyone who identifies as transgender? Most Americans don’t. So unfortunately, certain political propaganda in this country has been able to take hold.

I believe that in the next four years, churches in this country will have to make choices: stay true to our beliefs and act accordingly or cease speaking the truth for fear of reprisals. I hope that we will always live our beliefs and be a “witnessing” church true to the teachings of Jesus, the one we believe and believe in.