They think they have built their houses on a rock – a rock of biblical certainty, when in fact they have built them on the sand that IS certainty.
Usually, people come to religion looking for certainty. Looking for answers. Looking for assurances and comfort in a world full of chaos and uncertainty.
And they usually “find it.” Or at least end up feeling like they’ve found it.
An examination of religion reveals that it rejects uncertainty in all its forms. Religion names definitively what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. You might think that there is a contradiction between religion’s rejection of science and its rejection of certainty. Isn’t science revealing facts and religion is rejecting those facts – thus rejecting certainty?
The mistake we make is to think there are scientific certainties. If we zoom out and look back over the course of scientific exploration, we see that most things that were accepted as scientific certainties, were later rejected as false. The earth is not flat but round. The atom is NOT the smallest particle of matter. Gravity does not behave as we thought and disease is not from demon possession, bad humors, bathing or fresh air.
This kind of ever-moving, ever-changing understanding is frustrating and maybe even a little bit terrifying to the person who is looking for certainty. Most recently we’ve been witnessing this frustration and fear centered around COVID and how the science has unfolded. Each time information about COVID and vaccines was given to the public, it changed. Of course, it changed because that is the nature of science, one piece of information leads to another and the body of knowledge changes continuously. But, nevertheless, this has led to widespread distrust of the science around it all. How can it be true if they keep changing the information? To be clear, much of the information that was put out there was stated to the public as though it were certain. Maybe this was done to try to calm people’s fears, like when we tell someone, “it’ll all be OK” when in fact we know no such thing. Or maybe just out of ego – who knows. It was a mistake. When we tell people something is a fact, then change that fact – especially when the “fact” may have life and death implications for them – we risk losing their trust. And so, religious folk have rejected science at least in part because it does not provide them with the certainty they seek. It contradicts the certainty they believe they have based on their religion. They think they have built their houses on a rock – a rock of biblical certainty, when in fact they have built them on the sand that IS certainty.
As a culture we have no idea how to remain calm in the face of uncertainty.
Thousands are deconstructing their ideas about religion, god and spirituality and leaving churches en masse because of this very thing. Religion told them it had some facts. Turns out those facts might not be certain.
If we are to navigate this life, and maybe even survive, we have to learn how to hold uncertainty because the thing is – we just don’t know.
We can decide that’s terrifying or we can decide that’s fun. It’s up to us.
Life and whatever is beyond this life can be one big exploration. Turning a corner to discover there is always another corner to turn. Or it can be paralyzing as we maintain an agenda to find the answer, solve the puzzle, get to the bottom of this endless, wondrous, mysterious bottomless pit.
Spirituality is the embrace of mystery. Dive in and keep going!