To understand, one must first take a stand.
Indecision. Much has been said about the Millennials' indecision towards commitment. They marry later than previous generations – if they marry at all; have driven the birthrate to dangerously low levels; are more likely to change jobs; and are less likely to own a home than their older counterparts.
And if we turn from sociology to faith, this same indecision towards commitment is driving younger people away from religion. The most cited reasons for rejecting “organized” religion are doubts about religious teachings and God, dislike of religious organizations, and poor experiences with religious people – all of which are often symptoms of a more basic unwillingness to give oneself to other persons or causes.
They demand mathematical certainty to believe.
The desire for certainty is natural. Jesus Himself acknowledged it: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28)
However, commitment does not function on the level of technical knowledge. It belongs to another field of knowledge: belief. Joseph Ratzinger makes clear that belief “is ordered not to the realm of manufactured things… but to the realm of basic decisions that man cannot avoid making.” Questions like: Whom I should marry, what I ought to do with my life, how many children should I have, where I should live, and what I should worship? The answers are fundamental decisions that defy mathematical certainty or scientific scrutiny.
Belief is entrusting myself to that which has not been made by myself and never could be made … That is, to do and understand anything, I have to first take a stand on some ground, which is what the Hebrew word Amen signifies.
We cannot “make” our own faith but understand it.
The modern world tries to lull us into believing that we can create the meaning of our life, our ground to stand on. The opposite has been proven correct by increases in drug addiction, suicides, and generational dissatisfaction. Surveys show that people are less happy than ever.
Meaning, that is, the purpose of our existence, cannot be made but only perceived. Without the humility to admit that we are not our own gods, our demand for certainty will continue to drown us in uncertainty. Without the courage to take a stand on a ground that is not of our own making, we will make nothing of ourselves. Without the audacity to step outside the cave of technological knowledge, we will not know the love that God wishes to rain down on us.
To understand, we need to stand on it.
The tool we have to find the truth of our existence is not knowledge but understanding: understanding the commitment to which we should entrust ourselves. But, alas, that ‘understanding’ must be preceded by ‘standing on it,’ not apart from it.
If we dare to commit to Christ, all the other commitments acquire meaning in the light of eternity. But this reality we will only understand if we first take a stand.
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