You say you have doubts. I say good. It means you're engaged in the struggle, that you don't take your faith for granted, you take it seriously. One of the most important teachers in my life and a man of great faith and compassion, entitled his spiritual autobiography The Christian Agnostic. I suspect that shocked some Christians. I also suspect you understand what he meant. Agnosticism is simply being without knowledge. There is much we do not know...about life, about the universe, about God. To act as if we know it all seems highly presumptuous, even outrageously arrogant. It seems to me that one of the fundamental tasks of the Christian is to question those who claim to know. Clearly that is what Jesus did. Over and over again in the gospels, Jesus is shown questioning the self-righteous, quizzing the arrogant. A good rule of thumb is to be aware of what questions we are afraid of. Jesus was killed because religious people didn't want their faith questioned. Whenever we respond to questions about our faith with anger, fear or violence we should begin wondering about our own religious integrity. Christianity was born out of compassion. There is no Christianity without compassion. When Christianity is defended with threats, anger or violence, it is not Christianity.

You say there is so much you don't believe. I say don't worry about it. I am not being glib. I am trying to be truthful. After all the years I have spent studying the Bible and trying to get to know Jesus, I've come to the conclusion that believing isn't as important as some people say it is. Some of the nastiest people I've ever met say they believe in Christ and some of the most Christ-like people I've known say they don't. I'm convinced following Christ is more about relationship than regulations, more acts of compassion than books of dogma. If we want to experience Christ we should go to where he said he would be...among the poor, the oppressed, the weak and the hungry, in acts of forgiveness, in the love of our enemies, in bread and in wine. Don't spend too much time worrying about whether you believe in the virgin birth or the parting of the Red Sea because you just might miss out on meeting Jesus.