The Sin of Certainty

Last Sunday, Ministry Assistant Maddie Abbott wrapped up our sermon series titled "Can Faith Help Us Navigate Difference?" with a message called "Experts Say." Maddie spoke about the limits of expert culture, the ways that Jesus invites us into possibility rather than certainty, and how letting go of our need to be right can help us to connect across difference. And so this week, we'd like to offer two resources that can help us think more about the limits of certainty.

1) The first resource is a book by Bible scholar Pete Enns called The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our "Correct" Beliefs. 

Here is a description of the book:

​"Enns offers a model of vibrant faith that views skepticism not as a loss of belief, but as an opportunity to deepen religious conviction with courage and confidence. This is not just an intellectual conviction, he contends, but a more profound kind of knowing that only true faith can provide. Combining Enns’ reflections of his own spiritual journey with an examination of Scripture, The Sin of Certainty models an acceptance of mystery and paradox that all believers can follow and why God prefers this path because it is only this way by which we can become mature disciples who truly trust God. It gives Christians who have known only the demand for certainty permission to view faith on their own flawed, uncertain, yet heartfelt, terms."

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2) The second resource is the movie Conclave, based on the book by Robert Harris. 

In the film — which stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow, among others — "Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes) is tasked with one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events — participating in the selection of a new pope. Surrounded by powerful religious leaders in the halls of the Vatican, he soon uncovers a trail of deep secrets that could shake the very foundation of the Roman Catholic Church."

As I (Alison) watched the film, I was very moved by a homily (sermon) that was delivered by Cardinal Lawrence at the beginning of the conclave. Lawrence cautioned against the sin of certainty and argued that doubt is an essential aspect of faith. He said this:

“Saint Paul said ‘Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.’ To work together, to grow together, we must be tolerant. No one person or faction seeking to dominate another. And speaking to the Ephesians, who were of course a mixture of Jews and gentiles, Paul reminds us that God’s gift to the Church is its variety. It is this variety, this diversity of people and views, that gives our Church its strength. Over the course of many years in the service of our mother the Church, let me tell you there is one sin which I have come to fear above all others. Certainty. Certainty is the great enemy of unity. Certainty is the deadly enemy of tolerance. Even Christ was not certain at the end. ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ He cried out in his agony at the ninth hour on the cross. Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore no need for faith. Let us pray that God will grant us a pope who doubts. And let him grant us a pope who sins and ask for forgiveness, and who carries on.”​ ​