About Our Faith
In thinking about our faith, I wanted to describe it simply and honestly. There are a thousand pamphlets out there that talk about it, but this is what it means to our family in our words (and a few favorite scriptures from the Bible).
Our family is Christian. We don’t see that as a political affiliation. We don’t see that as a cause. We do not have an excuse to judge or condemn people, or look down on any one in any way for any reason. We don’t subscribe to a whole bunch of church-developed dogma, or rules and regulations. For us, faith is a real, daily thing, not a bunch of rituals or a Sunday morning social club.
Micah 6:6-8 What can we bring to the Lord? What kind of offerings should we give him? Should we bow before God with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
We have faith in God today, and a hope of heaven in the future through humbly trusting and following his son Jesus. That relationship with God through his son is central to a life of real joy and contentment here and now.
To follow Jesus, God has given us rules for living. We believe simply that he knows everything, and he loves us and knows what’s best for us. It’s not our place to try to convince or force you to follow these rules – they are meant for people who are in love with God (as we are all created to be) and want to follow his son. These are not the rules as translated by the latest pundit or author, or as regulations preached by some televangelist. They are quite straightforward, easy for anyone to read and understand, and carry with them a great reward.
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
John 15:10-12 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
Living in the love of God produces joy (not always fun or happiness, but real joy) and out of the overflow of this joy, comes real service to others (not politics or activism, but real service). That is REAL religion.
James 1:27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
It’s just that simple – the Bible says that following God and doing what he asks is the way to joy, and out of that joy you should naturally do things that help others. This adoption flows directly out of te joy that we have in our lives.
Why do we believe this? Because we have seen it to be true.
Our family has had marriages and divorces, births and deaths, wealth and bankruptcies, amazing miracles and major tragedies – you name it, we’ve had the full roller coaster of life. But through it all, so many things have happened in our lives that match up with what Jesus promises in the bible that we can say that we have simply experienced the truth that Jesus is the way to peace and joy. Say what you want about Budda or baseball or beer or whatever does it for you – for us, following after Jesus is quite simply the best way we have found to live our lives.
This adoption is related to that. If God wants this to happen, it will. This is quite simply a God-sized undertaking – there is no way that we can do it on our own.
We’re willing to answer questions about why we believe what we believe or how this has played out in our life, and we’re not trying to convince you of anything or sell you our faith. Real faith is something for you and God to wok out on your own.
