Faith in Things, or Faith in CHRIST?

as a student in divinity school, you hear all types of ideas and thoughts. but contrary to popular belief, it's not the ideas that are the most jarring. it is the questions.

-how can we say that god is love if he willing throws someone in hell forever?

-how do we defend using an out-dated, patriarchal, corrupted document to base your faith on?

-why does god's love seem to be based on conditions and stipulations?

-why do you call god a "he"? 

questions never bothered me too much. even when i was new in my faith, my belief in jesus wasn't attached to "things." it was attached to the understanding that something was out there that was huge, yet small and concerned enough to love me. i didn't have tons of indoctrination discipleship that bogged me down. i made it through undergraduate classes about religion unscathed, simply because the issues that were being discussed had nothing to do with my belief. 

i believed in a person, not simply principles. principles are important, but they don't trump the presence of a person. would you prefer to simply believe in the principles of marriage, important as they are, or actually have one? it didn't matter if paul didn't really write something, or if there was a dispute over this part of the bible. it didn't have an impact on my life with jesus. 

that's not the case for countless others, unfortunately. we are consistently taught to place faith in things before the person of Jesus Christ. that's bad. why? because one of two things will happen: 1.) i will become dogmatic to the point that anyone who disagrees with me is clearly a stupid hell-bound sinner, or 2.) when the reality of certain topics concerning christianity come to light, their faith is shattered. 

it is so dangerous to only have faith because of the "things" of the faith. your bible, your church, your denomination...there is a way for me to take it ALL away. but if you really know christ, that can't be taken from you.

for example, i'll say this:

the only reason i adhere to the bible is because i believe in christ. i'm convinced that the evidence FOR jesus' resurrection is convincing enough to bring me to faith. and jesus pointed to scripture (the old testament) as the story he emerges from, and the new testament is composed largely by the folks who were first deeply influenced by his message and had the best place to tell what he was like. history and research (contrary to popular belief and the da vinci code) show that these documents are very reliable. 

i don't believe the inverse of that statement; i don't believe in jesus because he's in the bible. using the bible to prove that jesus is god may be cool...if you already believe in the inspiration of the bible. but that's like defining a word and using the word in the definition.

q: what is a house?

a: house (definition) a house is a house. because the house said so.

if that happened on a vocabulary test in third grade, you would fail. 

honestly, if that is the view, it gives other religions more claim to be on equal standing. what makes our stuff so special if i can just point to page 547 to prove my point? they can just turn to page 329 in their book to refute my point. i mean, honestly, how many other things do you believe just because it says, "believe me?" 

and the merry go around continues. 

now, this is isn't to say that we shouldn't have faith in things at all. i just believe that it should be properly placed. clearly i have faith in the bible because i read it, study it, and apply the principles to my life. but the reality of christ is what points me to the scriptures, not the other way around. i have what greg boyd would call a "christ centered faith." do i have certain theological views and doctrines that i believe in and hold to? yes. however, they don't weigh as heavily as my belief in what jesus did on the cross. 

"for i resolved to know nothing while i was among you except jesus christ and him crucified." 1 corinthians 2:2