| Part 1 The Theory of Faith | Hirohumi Hoshika |
Essay 3Christian conversion is not necessarily the greatest event in life
――Osamu Dazai's Ougon fūkei [Golden Landscape]
The discussion of Bible Faith up to this point has something that is both tedious and depressing. Maybe I don't like the beliefs of those who claim this. Faith in the Bible seems perfectly appropriate to be, as Warfield puts it, "the end" and "crown" of our faith, but their faith is not like that.
Now, not exactly as a palate cleanser, but I would like to add one more point at the end of this chapter: "The Testimony of Others' Conversion".This can sometimes be an obstacle to approaching Christianity.
When you attend church meetings, you may hear like a personal story.This is usually story told by layman rather than pastor, and id called "testimony" rather than personal experience. What he is "testifying" is the existence of Jesus Christ. It may sound bold, but the church's "testimony" is considerd to be achieved by talking about "how Jesus has worked on me (I believe so)."
It would be strange to think that such religious experiences would hinder faith. However, one of the reasons I feel this way is because of the story's excellence or dramatic nature.
It is not a bad thing if the "testimony" given in church is well-crafted story, but I sometimes worry that they might make listeners think, "Do I really have to go through such difficult experiences and have such a dramatic conversion in order to believe in Christianity?" When they hear an impressive "testimony", by contraries they may feel that faith is far away.
However, I want to make it clear here that having faith is not necessarily the greatest event in one's life.
If you listen carefully to the testimonies given in church, you will notice that there is a "trick" behind it that the person in question is probably not even aware of. Such dramatic conversions usually occur during their youth.
It's no wonder that for anyone, events from their youth become the most significant occurrences in their life, no matter what they may be. Nowadays, we often see people of the so-called "baby boomer generation" talking about the student movements of the 1960s, but what they are speaking passionately about is not left-wing ideology, but their own youth.
Similarly, the testimony given in church is sometimes not so much about conversion as it is about the glorious experience of youth.
Once, at a church baptism, I saw an elderly man standing beside the pastor. "He is a former soldier and a tough-looking guy, as you can see, but now he kneels before Jesus Christ and repents. God is the One who dramatically changes even someone like him."――Like a quack, the pastor introductory remarks about the sturdy, superior man he was about to baptize.
The man was expressionless, but to me he looked like someone who had been brought before a large crowd for the sake of God's propaganda. The person stood there pale, his expressionless face seeming to show bewilderment. What happened to him that made him repent at an older age?
What did he see on the battlefield? What did he do? But one thing was certain: whatever the case, the greatest event in that man's life was undoubtedly not this recent conversion, but rather his experiences on the battlefield in his youth.
The most significant events in life are often the most painful memories. Even Christianity may not be able to replace it. The importance of Christian faith, however, does not lie in it becoming the greatest event in a person's life. Repentance and conversion may only be one of several significant events, but they are events that bring about a real change in a person. I thought that there had been a small but definite change in him, who still retained his military appearance.