What Doctor Who & Sherlock Taught Me About Faith (#MythOfNormal)
Time to fess up. I’m a huge fan of the TV shows Sherlock and Doctor Who. I saw the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who in 3D at the cinema.
Hands down, best two programmes on TV right now. And I’ll argue anyone on that one.
Outside the sheer quality of the programmes themselves, one thing they are known for is the sheer secrecy which surrounds the build up to their airing.
They barely get previous for reviewers, because the creators don’t want anything slipping out. Cast members actually have it in their contracts that they’re not allowed to give away anything about the stories.
For the 50th anniversary edition of Doctor Who the build up was so intense, and so many had so many questions about what would be in the show.
And no one gave away anything.
Then of course there’s the cliffhangers – like the ‘How did he survive?’ question in the last episode of Sherlock in 2012, and which has remained unanswered to date (nearly 2 years). People are desperate to find out what happened, or how it happened. Huge websites and movements are grown simply on the back of wanting to know what happens or how it happened, or what will happen.
Why is this? Because there is an inbuilt human desire for certainty.
We like to feel in control of our lives, and the outcome of our lives. We get our uncertainty through the build up to TV shows or films, things which don’t govern how we live our lives.
But in what really matters, we crave certainty. We fear the unknown. So culture constructs stories and formulas for how we should live.
For example, you get this job, you do what means most to you, you meet the right person and then when all this happens you’ll be happy. And when, inevitably, life doesn’t follow that plan, we get upset, disillusioned and bitter. But it’s only because we still believe this story is the right story, because we want to conform to a pattern, because we were promised certainty but didn’t get it.
And this happens worst of all in the Christian church. So many Christians I talk to, including many I call friends, speak about God with such certainty, and I hear Christian leaders often speak of the divine insurance policy, which is effectively saying,
“Believe the right theology (my theology, of course), and then you are guaranteed eternal life”
And because we want certainty Christians end up worshipping the scriptures – or at least their interpretation of them – instead of worshipping God, and having a belief which is almost based on certainty.
I say belief, and not faith, because it’s not faith. If it’s certainty, it cannot be called faith. To have faith in Jesus isn’t trusting Him once you know the answers – it’s to trust Him when you don’t know all the answers, when you have doubts, questions, when life doesn’t work out.
Jesus invites us into a life full of uncertainty – to be a Christian is to embrace doubt, uncertainty and questioning. (tweet that here)
Yes, of course there are fundamental truths, core values, but we take this way too far, especially when it comes to doing church, evangelism and scripture. People stop using historical context, forget to take the original audience into account, who it was written to and by and when and what they were writing to, forgetting the basic truth that when these books were written nobody knew the Bible would get put together, that was decided much later on – by human beings.
One of the things which makes Doctor Who & Sherlock so much fun is the uncertainty & mystery which surrounds them. It makes the journey worthwhile, and much more exciting. And it’s the same with faith.
God is full of mystery, uncertainty, unseen, unknowing, and invites us into this adventure with Him, to trust in the basic truths of who He is, who Jesus was, and in resurrection, and the values they stand for, and to settle for not knowing all the answers.
But if you think you have all the answers about God, you don’t know God at all.
And if your faith – whatever it’s in – has no room for doubt or mystery, it’s not faith at all.
God invites us on a unique journey, one which no one has ever lived before or will again, and to do this in community – and that means by definition you’ll have to embrace the unknown, to trust, to accept you don’t know all the answers or what will happen next.
Are you with me?
Do you agree with me or disagree with me? Why?
What do you believe true faith is?
Does your ‘faith’ have any uncertainty to it?
Let me know in the comments below!
Did you enjoy this post? Why not share it on Twitter?
i like your distinction between belief and faith, james. it’s tragic how we’ve developed this idea that theology alone saves us and if we’re still struggling even after “accepting” jesus, we’re somehow to blame.
good words, my friend.
Thanks Tim, glad you see the distinction – faith has to be about the unknown, unseen, involving no certainty – apart from certain about things which are uncertain, which isn’t certainty as we know it anyhow. Great comment, and hope you liked the metaphor! 🙂
My faith in God has no uncertainty. My faith in myself to yield uncondtionally to God’s plans, not knowing the outcome, now that is another matter.
If you are certain about God you know for sure. You have seen it, you can prove it. If there is any element of trust, then it’s uncertain, even in a small way, in my opinion. But we can agree to differ, no problem.
I do agree with you about lacking faith in myself though – I don’t have much faith in myself either.
Absolutely James. It’s scary when your faith journey leads you away from certainty, but exhilarating to discover that doubt and uncertainty can be a source of growth and a path to a deeper recognition of the mystery and unknowableness of God. My young evangelical self would have been totally shocked at this, but many of us make that journey and find that for all our fears, God is here too, and we are still held.. .
Great comment Anne – that’s an awesome story to share, really encouraged by it. My journey has been similar. Thanks for sharing.
i wish more spoke of faith in these terms. Instead, we have poor interpretations of Hebrews 11:1, which expands “what we hope for” to include far too much. I am pretty sure the author of Hebrews was not fundamentally thinking of our comfort and security when he wrote we can have faith in what we hope for. But we are afraid to admit that loving Jesus doesn’t solve the problems of life.
In our hearts, we think it’s only right that God should simplify our lives, so we ignore the biblical and experiential evidence that screams God isn’t in the business of making easy lives. If more spoke of faith as a big messy adventure in the midst of a broken world, the message would be both more honest and more appealing…because it’s something everyone can connect with.
Absolutely Chris – great comment. I completely agree with you, and thanks for the encouragement too, it means a lot. Faith to me is more of a messy adventure, and better off for it.
I was wondering how you were going to relate Doctor Who and Sherlock to faith, and, yes, there are only two things we can be certain of: Salvation through Jesus Christ and God can be trusted. Other than that– God knows! Now, I’m going to totally digress because I love Doctor Who! In fact, I literally just ordered a Tom Baker scarf for my oldest daughter. On the 50th, we went to a Doctor Who Celebration at the EMP (music/sci-fi museum) in Seattle Center. The turn out took us by surprise. The lines wrapped around the EMP, clear back to the Space Needle. So much fun! Doctor Who has become HUGE here in the last several years. Our high school even has a club. 🙂 Have you seen The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01m3kfy. It’s brilliant! Peter Davison wrote and directed it.
Thanks for the comment Elise – yes, I’ve seen the Five(ish) Doctors, its brilliant. Really looking forward to the Christmas special too. So cool how it’s got so big over there recently, such a great show. I saw the 50th anniversary in 3D in the cinema – amazing!
I don’t watch the shows, because goodness… there simply isn’t time to keep up with all of this, but I do believe that faith is something we choose as well…. it’s not something that automatically comes to us. Great post and analogy!
Thanks for the comment & encouragement Luann – glad the post resonated with you. 🙂
I was fortunate to go to a church where the pastor taught the scriptures verse by verse in the context… and truly studied their meaning, original context… but regardless… humans are humans and continue to make the mystical, magical world of the unseen into whatever their imaginations can conjure up! LOL I was constantly amazed by the things that would come out of people’s mouths, and I would say to myself “Were they actually sitting in the same sermon I was?” – but the bottom line is that faith comes from hearing… and hearing from the Word of God… what some people read that as is by reading the scriptures (the word of God) allowed, they will get “faith”… but the Word of God here is about the breathing, living breath of God – the voice that spoke things into existence… so – then I suppose – faith is a gift when God whispers to you personally… and trust me… that happens on a daily basis. God is whispering every time the wind blows… 🙂
I’m part of a church which teaches scripture in context too, very lucky. I agree some people can completely misread or misunderstand the scriptures too. I love that last line, how God whispers when the wind blows. Beautiful.
Brilliant. Agree completely. Relationships are individual, tailored, messy, unique and, therefore, uncertain. If we want a living relationship with a loving God we should expect nothing less than that crazy uncertainty. And yes, we’d like to nail it all down nearly. And I for one want to know how he survived that fall.
Absolutely agree Paul, great comment. Thanks for sharing the post too. And as for the fall, you not seen the third series yet? All explained there…
Yes, I’ve seen series 3. Which explanation do you reckon explains it?
I think the one he said to Donovan, the one that was videoed. That’s the most likely one for me.
James, I don’t like the present Dr Who (gave up after David Tennant) and haven’t ever watched Sherlock, but I agree with you absolutely in the lessons you draw about the desire for certainty in matters of faith, and how destructive it is.
Thanks so much, so glad the post resonated with you.