Having previously highlighted the view of faith I held for many years and which in many ways contributed to my eventual crisis of faith (i.e. faith as belief) – as well as two alternative ways of seeing faith which I later came to discover and which have had a tremendous impact on me ever since (i.e. faith as trust and faith as love), in this post I’d like to touch on one final way of seeing faith that has been incredibly instrumental in reshaping my approach to the Christian faith ever since. Although this way of viewing faith overlaps with the two views already mentioned in many ways, its emphasis is a bit more abstract in many ways as well. Having less to do with specific qualities such as loyalty, trust, commitment, allegiance, love, etc., that one displays towards God in life, this way of seeing faith has more to do with the general quality of how one approaches life itself. As such, unlike seeing “faith as trust” or seeing “faith as love,” I like to view this way of seeing faith as seeing “faith as life.” To summarize this view as succinctly as I can, allow me to suggest that there are three primary ways one can approach life (or reality in general): first, one can approach it negatively; second, one can approach it neutrally; and third, one can approach it positively.

With that in mind, and to unpack things a bit, the first way of approaching life can perhaps best be understood as approaching life negatively in the sense of being something inherently threatening or hostile. Taken to the extreme, this way of approaching life can be understood as being tantamount to paranoia, however one needn’t necessarily be paranoid to approach life in this way. But why would one approach life in this way? Well, perhaps the most pertinent driving force for this approach to life is the simple and yet undeniable fact that we will all eventually die (sorry, quite a downer I know). When it comes to death, it’s not a matter of if, but when – and the same goes not just for me and you, but for everyone we both know and love, and everyone they both know and love, etc. In the end, the salient fact is that death will inevitably come for us all (apologies again, I promise I’m not trying to ruin your day). And if you happen to be up to speed on the latest findings in the field of cosmology and astrophysics, the future appears to be even more bleak, as even our very planet is apparently doomed to be destroyed one day in the distant future whenever our sun inevitably dies out and explodes, essentially taking out Earth and the rest of our solar system along with it – not to mention the eventual heat-death of the entire universe itself (alright, maybe too far so I’ll stop there).

However, one needn’t necessarily approach life in this way simply because of the inevitably of death (whether of me, you, the planet, or the universe as a whole). The reality is that there is much else to life besides death that one may find threatening: whether war, poverty, disease, contemporary American politics, etc. (okay, that last one may be in poor taste, but you get the idea). Life then, even apart from the prospect of death, can easily be approached as hostile or threatening. And the fact is that many people do in fact approach it this way. Indeed, even many Christians approach life this way: only in this case it typically isn’t war, poverty, disease, or (even) death that is ultimately going to get us – but rather God. In fact, this is essentially the way that I used to approach life. I wasn’t afraid of death, per se, but God: unless one offers the right sacrifices, behaves the right way, or (especially in my case) believes the right things, then one is going to be in serious trouble with the “big man upstairs” (one may very well suffer in hell for all eternity!). In short, God will ultimately punish everyone who doesn’t “get it right,” so you better make sure you do and, if so, you just might be able to escape the all-consuming fire of God’s wrath (fingers-crossed). Not a very positive approach to life, I admit, but one which I know both I and millions of other Christians have sincerely held, and one which millions still do today. Approaching life this way, as I came to discover (both from reflection and experience), is in many ways to approach it fearfully. Whether expressed in a secular or religious context, the ultimate goal of such an approach to life is to defend or protect oneself out of fear (whether from the universe, from God, or both). 

Turning now to the second way of approaching life, this way of approaching life is to approach it as something, not necessarily negative in the sense of threatening or hostile, but rather neutral in the sense of indifferent. Although in many ways similar to the previous view – acknowledging both the inevitability of death (both for me, you, the planet, and the universe as a whole) – this way of approaching life doesn’t approach it fearfully as if the universe (or God) is “out to get us.” Rather, this way of approaching life simply takes reality (or God) to be indifferent to us. Although not commonly held within Christian circles (if at all – at least with doctrinal consistency), this is probably the most common way of approaching life from a generally secular outlook. Life may very well be beautiful, elegant, and even magnificent, but (from a purely naturalistic outlook) in the end it all ultimately boils down to a bunch of matter and energy in motion – matter and energy that is essentially indifferent to our lives, let alone our hopes, dreams, cares, or aspirations, etc. Approaching life this way isn’t to approach it with a fear-based sense of anxiety or paranoia (as in the first approach), but it does nevertheless cause one to approach life defensively to some extent, as one attempts to create as much security as one can in an otherwise indifferent world, enjoying the “frills and thrills” as much as one can along the way – let us “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” as the saying goes. Although this way of approaching life may be the predominant way of approaching life from a generally secular point of view, since it doesn’t find much grounding within a specifically Christian worldview (although no doubt many professed Christians do in fact live this way), I will leave this approach as is for now and move on to the next for the sake of space.

Regarding the third way of approaching life, then, this way of approaching life is to approach it, not negatively as life-threatening or even neutrally as life-indifferent, but rather positively as life-giving. As one might expect, it is this way of approaching life that I think best captures the particular way of seeing “faith as life” currently in view. In short, and to describe in semi-theological language, this way of approaching life is to approach life as gracious. The world may in some cases be a scary and dangerous (or even indifferent) place, but it is ultimately a place that creates, nourishes, and sustains life itself. It is truly a place of beauty and wonder, even if at times a very terrible beauty and wonder. To approach life in this way is, in many senses, to approach it with the sort of attitude that Jesus did (e.g. think of the “birds and the lilies”). Indeed, and to turn to an even more specifically Christian expression of this approach, to approach life this way is to approach it on the assumption that God is both loving and generous, “sends rain upon the just and the unjust,” etc. To approach life in this way, then, is to approach it with a genuine sense of trust, where one is freed from any sort of approach that is rooted in the type of fear or indifference mentioned above, and which in many ways coincides precisely with the way of seeing “faith as trust” which I highlighted a couple of posts back. It leads not only to a life marked by a sense of awe and wonder, but also to what has been called the “self-forgetfulness of faith,” where one embraces a willingness to both “spend and be spent” for the sake of something greater than oneself – to live a selfless life marked by “love, joy, peace, kindness, etc.” It is, in yet another sense, the motivation for living within the context of “faith as love” for both “God and neighbor” to which Jesus calls his followers.

Of course, although this approach to life may be much more optimistic than the other two, it needn’t be naïvely optimistic (after all, one needn’t look very hard to find cases where this life does often turn out to be indifferent or terrible for many – just think of those plagued by wars, disease, poverty, etc.). The point here isn’t to ignore the reality of tragedy and suffering in life (to do so would be to ignore the obvious) or even to give a defense or theodicy (i.e. justification or answer) to the notorious “problem of evil”; rather the point here is to emphasize that approaching life as gracious and life-giving profoundly affects how we actually live and experience our lives, despite whatever suffering and tragedy that life may bring. That is, although you may not always be able to control what happens to you, you can control your response towards what happens to you. Similarly, although I don’t think we are necessarily (or at least always) able to choose what we believe (something I hope to get to in more detail later on), I do think we are able to choose how we live, and when it comes to living life in a way that approaches it as either hostile, indifferent, or gracious – I find the latter approach to not only be both theologically/philosophically warranted, but to also be one of the most practically impactful and fruitful ways one can choose to live (whether on religious grounds or otherwise).  

To have faith on such a view, then, is to not live fearfully or defensively in a world that may often be hostile or indifferent, but to live trustingly in a world that is also life-giving and nourishing. To choose to approach life, not negatively or neutrally, but rather positively – not because the negative or neutral aspects of life are to be ignored, but because the positive aspects of life are more than worth pursuing in the end. And, if I may, because I truly believe there is a God who deeply cares about us and wills our ultimate flourishing despite the trials and tribulations this life all too often brings (yet another major claim which I hope to present good reasons for later on down the road). 

That being said, and having now briefly outlined some of the alternative approaches to “faith as belief” that I discovered during my crisis of faith and which I have found incredibly enlightening and helpful on my journey ever since, in my next post I hope to come full-circle by revisiting how I came to better understand what it truly means to see “faith as belief” in the first place. Taking much of what I’ve already said thus far and seeking to bring it all together, my aim in the next post will be to revisit the nature of belief itself in light of the last several posts and explain how I came to discover that “faith” actually can ultimately be expressed in terms of “belief” – with one major caveat.

Until then, thanks again for reading and – as always – stay curious, seek truth, and love well.

Cheers,