Anne Rice has posted an extraordinary essay on her faith. Click here for the full text. Here are some key excerpts:
Look: I believe in Him. It’s that simple and that complex. I believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the God Man who came to earth, born as a tiny baby and then lived over thirty years in our midst. I believe in what we celebrate this week: the scandal of the cross and the miracle of the Resurrection. My belief is total. And I know that I cannot convince anyone of it by reason, anymore than an atheist can convince me, by reason, that there is no God......On the afternoon in 1998 when faith returned, I experienced a sense of the limitless power and majesty of God that left me convinced that He knew all the answers to the theological and sociological questions that had tormented me for years. I saw, in one enduring moment, that the God who could make the Double Helix and the snow flake, the God who could make the Black holes in space, and the lilies of the field, could do absolutely anything and must know everything --- even why good people suffer, why genocide and war plague our planet, and why Christians have lost, in America and in other lands, so much credibility as people who know how to love. I felt a trust in this all-knowing God; I felt a sudden release of all my doubts. Indeed, my questions became petty in the face of the greatness I beheld. I felt a deep and irreversible assurance that God knew and understood every single moment of every life that had ever been lived, or would be lived on Earth. I saw the universe as an immense and intricate tapestry, and I perceived that the Maker of the tapestry saw interwoven in that tapestry all our experiences in a way that we could not hope, on this Earth, to understand....
...As we experience Easter week, we celebrate the crucifixion that changed the world. We celebrate the Resurrection that sent Christ’s apostles throughout the Roman Empire to declare the Good News. We celebrate one of the greatest love stories the world has ever known: that of a God who would come down here to live and breathe with us in a human body, who would experience human death for us, and then rise to remind us that He was, and is, both Human and Divine. We celebrate the greatest inversion the world has ever recorded: that of the Maker dying on a Roman cross.
Let us celebrate as well that throughout this troubled world in which we live, billions believe in this 2,000-year-old love story and in this great inversion -- and billions seek to trust the Maker to bring us to one another in love as He brings us to Himself.
There is so much more - read it here.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Was it C.S. Lewis who had a similar experience - got on a bus as an atheist - got off minutes later knowing for sure that Jesus was real, the redemption had happened? Perhaps there is much going on in the mind of many seekers, simmering, connecting - until at last - the connections are made and we get it.
". . . and why Christians have lost, in America and in other lands, so much credibility as people who know how to love."
There is no love in letting false Christians stain the Church. When anyone can say they are a Christian and deny the witness of the Word of God as some "thing" that can be divided, or altered, or "changed" to fit any warped concept or aberrant teaching, political campaign, or anti-Christian belief, the "credibility" of "Christians" anywhere is going to suffer. It is time to return to the word "test" to show where love begins and ends. There are many Churches and supposedly leaders that teach the resurrection was just a myth and that the testimony of the Gospel and Apostles are just fads that come and go. A parent "loves" their child by teaching boundaries and foundational truths to help them grow up safe and sound. Too many people are being unchallenged in their positions that literally deny every thing that Mrs. Rice just presented about authentic Christian truth. How "loving" is it to allow people to lead others to perdition with a dangerous and false faith?
Anne Rice,
Yours is a beautiful testimony for this Lord whom you describe. My heart melted as I pored over your writing of who He is. This Lord and Savior has captivated my heart too. His love, grace, and forgiveness comes through so uniquely for each individual. These stories can never ever get old.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.