Fear Leads to Anger . . .

Over the past two days, I have witnessed two different people in unrelated social media discussions vehemently arguing about doctrinal issues. The first was arguing about the meaning of the Greek word for baptism in the New Testament and the implications for modern Christians. The second was arguing in favor of the Calvinist belief that all people totally depraved and incapable of any good whatsoever. The first person came across as mean-spirited and self-righteous during his argument. The second was not as mean-spirited, but certainly convinced of the rightness of his beliefs. Both seemed defensive, angry, and unwilling to consider the perspectives of people who disagreed with them. Both quoted Paul extensively but did not quote Jesus once. Jesus, it seems does not lend himself well to any doctrinal position whatsoever. Paul, on the other hand, serves as a fine foundation for elaborate doctrinal constructs. Honestly, I don't think Paul ever got over being a Pharisee. But I digress. Observing these two people as they militantly advanced their respective positions to the best of their ability, not entirely able to keep their anger in check over having someone disagree with them, started me thinking. Why do we have this tendency to argue in such a self-assured manner about religious doctrines? Why are we not okay when people disagree with us? Our Buddhist friends teach that such defensiveness is the product of suffering. I tend to think that religious folks who are constantly trying to convince others of the rightness of their doctrinal beliefs are suffering from a fear of being wrong. The church has placed so much emphasis on orthodoxy - right beliefs - that we have caused people to be terrified of getting something, anything, wrong. I was brought up thinking that being a Christian was a matter of believing the right things about God, Jesus, the church, baptism, etc. Salvation was predicated on these right beliefs. If I turned out to be wrong on just about any issue, my salvation was in jeopardy. When this much emphasis is placed on having all the right answers, and there is so much corresponding fear of being wrong, folks will fight tooth and nail to prove that they are right, even about matters to which no human possesses the definitive answer. The remedy, I contend, for the fear that causes so many religious people to be angrily and self-righteously defensive about their doctrines, is love, which casts out fear. We must internalize the truth that we are loved not based on the rightness of our doctrines, but because we are children of God. We, in turn, love others not based on whether they agree with us on every issue, but because they bear the image of the divine. Love frees us from the egotistical compulsion of having to be right and the perpetual fear of being wrong. I know this because I have been wrong. I was really, really wrong about a terribly important matter that had implications both for my faith and for my career. Although I was wrong, I was okay because I was loved in spite of my wrongness. I hope more people can know they are loved unconditionally so they will no longer feel the need to justify themselves through angry, self-assured defenses of their various doctrines.