The Certainty of Our Convictions

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

The certainty of our convictions must not be determined solely by...

• the assumptions of history, traditions, etc.

• how long we have believed something

• the level of our academic accomplishments

• the strength of our character

• the degree of our determination

• a position of authority/our ability to just say so

• the intensity of our feelings

• our desire to be right

• our agendas/our underlying ideologies

• the opinions/influence of others

• the sheer number of facts that we assemble

• the number of those who think/feel/believe as we do

• or anything else that individually fails to actually prove our case…

• including multiple elements that, still, even collectively fail to prove our case.

And yet, we often rely on so many of these, and other, ways that fall short of proof, that fail to establish something we believe to be true.

Granted, this does not/might not sit well with many.

It complicates matters.

Why can’t you just let me “prove” things the way I want to and go about my life holding strongly to my convictions?

For this reason.

If everyone takes the same approach to affirming/supporting their case, ...

And if everyone assumes that they are “justified” in their disparate convictions, ...

Then we are faced with a world of convicted souls believing things that are not only at odds with each other ...

But without any way to know anything with certainty.

It’s all in flux. It will always be in flux.

…..

For some, maybe many, that’s okay.

We can’t really know anything, the reasoning goes, not with 100% certainty anyway.

That’s just the way the world is.

And that’s why, in spiritual matters (our primary concern here), the world’s in such a mess.

…..

Not a popular line of thought, but this approach needs to be challenged.

If not we will constantly be fighting—and endlessly disagreeing about—the meaning of every word, every phrase, every sentence, every context ...

Assuming that we can be differently and equally convicted about all of them, ...

And always without ever needing to really/truly/legitimately prove anything.

Do we really think that Jesus, the Son of God, came to support this enterprise?

More to come.

Love,

Jody

…..

“and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” • Jn 6.69, ESV

[We really appreciate Jody’s coming on board to write for “The Scattershot Report.” His work will be a great contribution. If you enjoy it, please help spread the word to others to help grow our list of subscribers. Thanks!—Weylan]