The 11 Day Path
Overcoming Stumbling Blocks to Belief

Introduction

            Welcome to the wilderness.

            Some people were born into a Christian family, raised well, never faltered.  Solid belief in God came to them as naturally as breathing and eating.

            Not me.

            I grew up with the God area of my life as a void, with more questions than answers.  As I got older, the list of questions grew but answers were still not forthcoming.

            Exchanges like this were common:

            I?d say, ?So why do you believe such-and-such??

            And the answer would be something like, ?I don?t know. It?s hard to explain. I just do. Deep down in my heart, I know it.?

            Answers like that didn?t help me much.

            I spent years searching for answers that would help.  All I wanted was a theology, a belief-system, a worldview that held together.  I didn?t want the contradictions, the mysteries, the clich?.  Real answers seemed as elusive as the rarest wild animals in the most remote wilderness imaginable.

            I wanted the truth.  Not my truth or your truth or someone else?s truth.  The truth. God?s Truth.

            Reading the Bible?a common suggestion?wasn?t all that helpful either. I knew about all the issues of various translations, mistakes being passed along from manuscript to manuscript. In fact, some of the most glaring inconsistencies and contradictions were right there in the Bible. And I was supposed to go there for answers?

            I wish I could say going to church helped. I tried a variety of different denominations over the years, among them Methodist, Roman Catholic, Quaker.  Each denomination had its own take on the Bible, Jesus, God, etc.  And with more than 1500 denominations to choose from, finding the ?right? one, the one with the correct answers, seemed daunting. Even worse, from my outsider?s perspective, the churches seemed to be filled with only two groups of people: those who had all the answers but weren?t sharing and those who didn?t really have clear answers but were perfectly happy to live without them.

            And I read a lot of books. Enough books to fill a small library. Not just philosophy and Christianity, but Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and dozens of other  ?isms.? There were glimpses of that elusive prey, but never a clear, complete picture, one that held together.  At times, like others in the wilderness, I felt like I was just going in circles.

            The Bible tells the story of the journey of God?s chosen people, the Israelites, from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  God didn?t lead the Israelites along the shortest path.  Following that path, they would have made the journey in about eleven days.  Instead, they were in the wilderness for 40 years.  I was hoping for a shorter trip.

            For me, the ultimate answer seemed to be the ?take-your-medicine? approach.  You know, hold your nose, tilt your head back, and swallow.  It?s supposed to be good for you, despite that lousy aftertaste in your mouth.  Which wasn?t exactly the experience I was hoping for when it came to finally finding God.

            But after years?not quite 40?of seeking, searching, looking, reading, asking, talking, that old definition of insanity came to mind: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the results to be different.  So I decided I?d go ahead, close my eyes, tilt my head back, swallow, and brace for the taste.  I figured I had nothing to lose.

            It became my first lesson in trust and the interesting way God works in our lives.

            He led me to a church within five minutes of my house, one I had driven past countless times, but never really noticed or thought about.  The denomination was one I could live with, according to my Checklist for Core Beliefs and Doctrinal Acceptability.  The pastor?s style was a good match for my personality.  And the people didn?t seem all that bad, as far as church people go.

            He also led me to change the question that had been uppermost in my mind during church shopping.  I had been asking, ?What will I get out of this church??  Instead, the question on my mind became, ?Is this the kind of place where I may be able to contribute??  The question made little sense to me since the idea of me having something to contribute to a church was incomprehensible.  But I considered it part of the medicine.  I kept swallowing.

            And I haven?t stopped drinking it all in.  I have traversed the wilderness now in a variety of ways from a variety of different starting points.  And each time, I end up, amazingly enough, at the truth.  God?s Truth.  The Promised Land I was looking for.

            Knowing what I went through and what others are going through, I felt called to help.  Not as a teacher, but more like a trail guide.  A trail guide for spiritual journeys through the wilderness.

            When we?re in the wilderness, it?s easy to misunderstand what we see, to get confused by the surroundings.  Someone who was born in the Promised Land sees the wilderness from a completely different perspective.  They can certainly help the wanderer.  But at times, it?s as if they speak a different language.  Which is where I hope to come in.

            I may not know the Promised Land as well as the lifelong native. But I know the wilderness.  I?m still new enough to the Promised Land that I can remember my trip through the wilderness.  I know a few paths that may really help the newcomer.

            So I hope you?ll join me for this part of your journey.  The answers I?ve found, the paths I?ve discovered, may be just what you?re looking for.

            As we?ll see, not all questions about God are answerable.  Does that mean we shouldn?t bother thinking about them or discussing them?  On the contrary.  More than just ?mental bubblegum,? trying to answer these questions may be a key part of our spiritual growth.  It?s a way for us to draw nearer to God in the midst of mystery, not as a ?proof? of anything. 

            This isn?t a path everyone takes.  Some committed, mature Christians never raise these questions.  Many churches steer away from addressing these topics.  But if you?ve been drawn to this book, it means that for you, wrestling with these topics is part of the path God has set before you, whether or not you wind up agreeing with my answers.

            My experience has been that once you get a few aspects of the Truth under your belt, others will come easier.  Though not necessarily faster.  God has His own timetable about things and here are two Truths you can take to the bank: 1. His timetable doesn?t always match the one we have in our head.  2. He can?t?won?t?be rushed.  So we?ll start with these nine potential stumbling blocks you may encounter in the wilderness.

            These are nine questions that troubled me, bothered me, nagged at me.  But they?re not mine exclusively.  Talk with seekers, people new to Christ, even mature Christians, and you?ll find these questions near or at the top of most lists.  They may even be on your list.

            We?ll start off with one of the most famous verses from the Bible, the one where Jesus says He is the only way to get to the Father.  Why would Jesus say something like that in such a straightforward way?  It certainly seems to draw a distinct line in the sand.

            Distinct lines invoke choices.  But, do we have free will when making that choice or is everything foreordained by an omniscient, omnipotent God?  The answer to that question goes a long way in answering some of the questions about our existence here on earth.

            And speaking of our existence here on this earth, why would a loving God allow so much evil and suffering, especially among innocent children?  And worse, why does evil seem to be gaining the upper hand?

            Evil deeds seem to call for punishment, but the punishment handed down by God is eternal damnation in Hell, amidst untold pain and suffering.  How does that jive with a loving God?

            The acceptance of Christianity is significantly hampered by, of all things, Christians and the things they have done and do in the name of Christianity.  Not to mention the actions of some who profess strongly to be followers of Christ.  Why is that?

            The miracles in the Bible, especially those performed by Jesus, certainly got the attention of people who witnessed them.  What about today?  Have you seen any stories on CNN about people being raised from the dead by followers of Christ?  Or feeding thousands of people with several fish and a few loaves of bread?  Where have all the miracles gone?

            These questions often lead to doubt, especially when believable answers are not forthcoming.  But if we?re wracked with doubt, how can we possibly believe in God?  And what must He think about us when we have those doubts?

            It is ?He,? isn?t it?  Or is it ?them??  The Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Separate but one.  Can I be called a true Christian if I don?t understand the concept?  And aren?t there people who reject the concept and call it un-Biblical since you can?t find the word ?Trinity? anywhere in the Bible?

            And then there?s the Bible itself.  How reliable is it really?  If it?s the ?inerrant Word of God,? how can there be so many differences among the various translations?  And most important of all, what about some of those verses that make us sit back and just scratch our heads?  Like some of the things Jesus said that don?t sound at all like Jesus as He?s normally portrayed.

            Nine questions.  Without answers, some will have a tough time finding their way out of the wilderness.  I don?t know where you are on your journey; each journey is different.  I do know it?s a safe bet that all of us are experiencing at least some ?wilderness? in our lives.

            My prayer is that the information in this book will help build your trust in and your relationship with the true Guide, the only One who can lead us out of the wilderness.  All we need to do is follow.

            Feel free to find a specific chapter that addresses the issue uppermost in your mind.  Or read straight through from the beginning to the end.  Although I?ve separated the questions, the full and complete answers aren?t so easily separated.  They are interconnected with common elements that, to me, speak of their underlying truth.  So bear with me if I repeat myself and occasionally circle back to something already covered.  Often, seeing the same thing from a slightly different perspective reinforces what has already been learned.  

            Completing the journey through the wilderness in eleven days would be great.  Usually God puts most of us through a ?seasoning? process that lengthens the journey.  But it doesn?t need to take 40 years either.  The Israelites contributed to their extended wandering with their unbelief, forgetfulness, disobedience?a real lack of trust.  We should learn from their example.  However, even if it does take 40 years?or more?the destination is well worth the effort. 

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