The Six Paths Ways People Seek God R

The Six Paths Ways People Seek God R 210 A Spiritual Formation Lawrence Pascual

Introduction • These are six models of how people seek God • From James Martin’s book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything (Ignatian Spirituality) • The models are broad and can even overlap • Person can belong to multiple models

The Six Paths • • • Path of Independence Path of Disbelief Path of Exploration Path of Return Path of Confusion Path of Belief

Path of Independence • Separate from organized religion • Believe in God (theist) • Church is meaningless, offensive, dull, or all three • Though away from religious institutions, finds comfort in religious practices learned as child • Comfort in the familiar

Path of Independence • Maybe hurt by church • Insulted (or abused) by priest, pastor, rabbi, and etc. • Bored • Church services are boring, meaningless • Worship is not lively • Disagreements • E. g. , sexual abuse scandals of the clergy • E. g, . teaching on sexual morality • E. g. , political stance

Strength of Independence • Healthy independence • See things in new ways (Outsider perspective) • Not restricted by rules • Be more honest • E. g. , Critique of Church during sex scandals – Did they handle it correctly? Who did they take care of? • Sometimes entrenched in church, we sometimes fail to see its flaws

Dangers of Independence • No commitment to any religion • Perfectionism: “All organized religion is imperfect, therefore, belong to no one” • Forgets that everybody is more or less imperfect (even him or herself)

Path of Disbelief • Separate from organized religion • Atheistic or Agnostic • Scientific approach • Seeks proofs for God’s existence • Finding none that is suitable, reject theism

Strengths of Disbelief • Does not take religion for granted • Religion is not just something adopted as child • Requires thinking and choice • May think about religion more critically than believers • Critical of beliefs • Does not accept things blindly • E. g. , “People suffer because it is God’s will” • What does that even mean?

Dangers of Disbelief • Too much reliance on science and intellect • Becomes a wall/fortress • Blindness and unwillingness to see divine in creation • They need concrete, hard evidence proof of God’s existence (which is almost impossible) • Story of Atheist avoiding a flood on top of a house

Path of Return • Began in religious family, drifted away, but returns to church (or other tradition) • Forced to attend religious services but find it dull, meaningless, boring (similar to Path of Independence) • Religion is distant, but appealing • Curiosity about God

Strengths of Return • Desire for maturity • Desire to reeducate themselves to understand faith in mature way • E. g. , God as problem solver • Prayed but God would not answer all prayers • Does God give what we want or what we need? • If God is not a problem solver, who is God? • Return to religion

Dangers of Return • James Martin does not list any dangers • What dangers do you see?

Path of Exploration • Stepping into other religious traditions • Exploration: Searching for a religion that fits

Strengths of Exploration • Desire for God, for community or spiritual home • One finds an understanding of God and a community that suits one’s personality • If returning to home religion, new appreciation for faith

Dangers of Exploration • No commitment to current religion • Not settling to one tradition since all are imperfect • No tradition suits them • God is someone who satisfies their needs • E. g. , Cafeteria Christian • Pick and choose what to believe about God • Ignore other aspects • Pick the Christ of suffering, but forget the Christ of loving relationship

Path of Confusion • They haven’t left religion, but they are confused about God • God is a problem and mystery • In between religious and nonreligious • Participates in worship services • Problems of belonging • Do they feel they are Catholic? • Do they consider themselves fully Catholic?

Strengths of Confusion • Fine-tuning their faith • In between religious and nonreligious • Haven’t made up their minds, refining ideas about belonging to religion

Dangers of Confusion • Confusion becomes laziness • Too much work to think about religion

The Path of Belief • part of organized religion • believe in God • Maybe born into religious family • Cradle Catholic

Strengths of Belief • Confidence in their belief in God • Faith puts meaning into their lives: joys and struggles in life • Never alone: God is always there • Overcame confusion: Certainty and Confidence

Dangers of Belief • Inability to understand people on other paths • Judge others on their doubt or disbelief • Certainty prevents compassion, sympathy, and sometimes tolerance towards those that are uncertain, nonbelieving • Complacency in one’s relationship with God • E. g. , cling to childhood faith. When tragedy strikes, abandon God of youth, and sometimes God completely

“Adult life requires an adult faith” • “Think of it this way: you wouldn’t consider yourself equipped to face life with a third-grader’s understanding of math. Yet people often expect the religious instruction they had in grammar school to sustain them in the adult world” (James Martin)

“Adult life requires an adult faith” • “Just as an adult child needs to relate to his or her parent in a new way, so adult believers need to relate to God in new ways as they mature. Otherwise, one remains stuck in a childlike view of God that prevents fully embracing a mature faith” (James Martin)

Discussion