All I am doing is to ask people to face the facts-- to understand the questions which Christianity claims to answer. And they are very terrifying facts. I wish it were possible to say something more agreeable. But I must say what I think true. Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth-- only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.--Mere Christianity
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Whenever anyone grows away from "simplistic ways" of understanding one's faith, there is dismay. Things used to be "so simple" and straightforward, and all you have to do is "believe". But, when one comes to understand that there is only a journey of faith, not a "set of beliefs",or a right choice of life, or a certain lifestyle,(all within boundaries, of course) then, one is ripe to "commit" to a deeper understanding of one's faith. Comfort is coming to "rest" in the journey of commitment to a certain value of life, without seeking to "settle down" in absolute certainty, and sometimes even committing to uncertainty, but believing that what one chooses is not a matter of "god's will or not god's will", but a matter of faith. Faith is personal commitment to certain values, which cannot be determined by another, but has to be an embracing of what is true to oneself...(to thin own self be true)...this is character and integrity, admitting who and what you are and are committed to...and sometimes that is a comfort in itself...
I am certainly "comforted" that my husband has committed to me "no matter what"!
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