Years ago, when we were both in college, my younger brother once told me, "Your faith is little more than an intellectual abstraction..." We've laughed about it since, and he has apologized for the tone and spirit of the comment, but in the years since, I've often pondered the statement and have wondered if it really isn't too far from the truth...
I've been mulling over the idea, lately, that my "faith" does indeed amount to little more than a half-hearted allegiance to a vague concept of God, a concept about which I debate with some, attempt to worship with others, and which (I'll be honest) provides me little more than a nagging sense that certain actions are "Wrong" while others are "Right" (Lewis' "Ought and Ought Not")...
But -- as we have all been talking here -- the Concept of God is a far cry from anything like interaction with a REAL PERSON. Here's an example: I have seen the news stories about Katrina, I have seen the pictures of the devastation, and I have read the articles about homelessness, poverty, destruction, governmental failures, and perhaps even racism, all stemming from this hurricane.
I have not, however, personally met one single person who was affected by that incident; I am not poor (thankfully), I am not homeless, I have a good job, I still enjoy hot showers and plenty of food and a great (if perhaps very OLD) house in a quiet suburb... So, in one sense, Katrina is not personal to me; "Katrina" is a concept, the same way that Wealth (a comparative, relative term, to be sure), or George Washington, or the Milky Way are mere Concepts: I believe these things are "Real" (insofar as that goes), but they are not PERSONAL to me, and have no impact upon me PERSONALLY, day-to-day, that I can perceive...
So when it comes to God -- whom I am told I can talk to, "walk" with, have a so-called "relationship" with, and who supposedly talks to me and hears my prayers and answers them and cares for me and loves me -- it's just really difficult for me to perceive, apprehend, capture, etc., Him as anything more than just a Concept, also...
I often feel like Christianity is a Dance to which I've been invited, and I've agreed to come (indeed, compelled by the Arguments), but once inside, I see all these people dancing but hang it all, I, personally, cannot hear the MUSIC... So I hang on to my Concept of God like a lottery ticket, hoping someday my number gets called...
