I was browsing YouTube tonight and came across this Francis Chan video, and I really started thinking about some things.
Where exactly have I gotten my beliefs, really? Sure, I read the Bible. But there are so many cultural influences battling for my attention--and that includes Christian culture. Especially Christian culture. If I'm being completely honest, I've been told what to believe about a lot of things and just accepted it. That's not to say I can't learn from people who are older and wiser than I am, but I think I've put too much trust in people like pastors. They may be wise, but they're not God.
Not only have I been fed certain beliefs (and accepted them far too easily), but there are different ways of interpreting scripture and I even feel like my interpretations have been influenced by things other than God.
I've accepted too much of what I've been told and haven't studied things for myself enough. I've allowed pastors and teachers and family and friends to feed me information without me investigating it on my own. Maybe those people are telling me the truth. But the point is, am I willing to accept the word of other humans as the final word in my life? Not really. This is ETERNITY we're talking about. It's not something I (or anyone else) should be willing to risk. I want to be as sure as I can possibly be. The heaviness of that has really been on my mind lately.
I have been realizing lately that I need to take a fresh look at a lot of the things I've been told to believe. I've been finding it extremely difficult to have very strong faith lately, and I think it's because I haven't struggled with a lot of things for myself and I need to. I need to struggle with questions and doubts...to pray and study rather than just accepting what others tell me, no matter how much I trust them.
I really like what Francis Chan says about being on an island and having no influences other than the Bible and God. That's what I want to find out. If I don't accept anything as truth except what's actually in the Bible, what will I believe? It's time for me to find out.
