Excerpt from Washington Post On Faith

By J. Douglas Holladay
Hubris and arrogance should have little quarter in the lives of those with animating and authentic faith; yet I have observed in myself and others something quite troubling. And though it is a patently false idea, it has been embraced by believers. I am referring to the notion that the unenlightened (non-believers) wander aimlessly through life devoid of any sense whatsoever of spiritual reality until I (we) burst on to the scene and into their sorry lives. It is then that we the “initiated” or enlightened explain the ‘truth’ to the lost ones. Such thinking places the agency of change in human hands rather than God’s.

I certainly hold that those with a genuine faith have the responsibility, rather, privilege, to share the ”good news” in a loving way; yet I am referring to something far deeper. If we embrace the orthodox notion that all are made in the image of God, is it unthinkable that God through many varied and mysterious channels is attempting to connect with His created? (This is like buying a company with no investment banker in the middle!)

God’s ways of transmitting to mankind is diverse – perhaps through a thunderstorm, an internal prompting, or some life threatening experience. It seems to me that the wonder of God is that we cannot box Him in and assume that we know the way that God communicates truth and love. After all, doesn’t Scripture teach that if God has no witness that the very stones will cry out? And didn’t God speak (in the book of Numbers, Old Testament) through a donkey? How’s that for humbling the proud?

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J. Douglas Holladay is founder of PathNorth, which serves as a resource for business leaders to bring meaning and fresh perspective to both work and life.