faith...eutrophication, and new maps

I was reading these quotes from Gandhi in a devotional last night, and I got to think of my own faith journey.

Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.

Faith... must be enforced by reason... when faith becomes blind it dies. ( Mohandas Gandhi )

In my 10 years in the army ( 3 PPCLI ), I spent most of time in a Reconnaissance (Recce) Platoon . In that time I became very proficient in navigating with topographical maps and compass. You realize quickly that both are needed to navigate properly. Using just one or the other, honest positioning becomes more of a guess than truth. A reality is maps change, but compass bearings are constant. But another important truth is, maps need to be constantly updated. Land has the ability to change over time.

Examples would be eutrophication, a natural occurrence where lakes, streams and rivers can disappear. Or where climate and weather can erode or alter the shape of the topography of the land. What was one on the map 100 years ago is not there now. But that's not to say that the 100 year old map was not true. We can understand its truth back then, but we need to reinterpret the truth on the land we stand now. I hope that makes sense, because I want to transition the metaphor of maps and compass into a journey of faith.

Old maps at one time justified crusades, slavery, marginalizing women, in some churches women are still excluded from ministry. But new maps where we reinterpreted our position in history, and our experience have changed our position on truth. Combined with the Holy Spirit, this eternal compass will cause us to reposition ourselves. I believe Gandhi reveals a great truth, that faith is a state of constant development, that to navigate by old maps and dogma will always lead to a false position. That reason is very much apart of faith. That we don't grasp faith...we grow into it.

I think we need to reposition ourselves on new maps.

Comments

[Chip]

I really appreciated this post. Old maps have really twisted Christianity in a lot of ways, and have let me down on countless occasions. There is this forward progression in life and faith that demands that "we need to reinterpret the truth on the land we stand now," as you say. So true.