Preston Grissom

Outside Reading #2

Confessions 2

            In his Confessions Augustine says, “I held my heart back from positively accepting anything, since I was more afraid of another fall, and in this condition of suspense I was being all the more killed.”  He says this in view of his views of truth and specifically as it pertains to Christianity.  However, this idea relates to the idea of “the suspension of belief” in myth.

            In order to engage in the myth we must suspend our belief.  That is, we must but aside our psychoanalyzing doubts and enter into the story.  In doing so, we give the story the ability to wash over us before we condemn it.  However, this is not always how things work in life. 

            Biblically speaking, doubt and questions are healthy and should be expressed (Mk 9:24, Isa 1:18).  However, as one waits to make a decision on Jesus they are “building up wrath” (Rom 2:5).  This is what Augustine was hinting at with himself. 

            How this works practically I do not know.  I believe that we should act in eagerness for those who have not seen the beauty of Jesus but I believe that happens best when we take the objections to Jesus seriously and work through them, which takes time.