In the last post in this little series of faith musings, I provided a link to some thoughts by Richard Beck regarding how he has grappled with penal substitution. Now – I don’t intend to discuss that any more in this post. You’re all tired of reading it, and my mom just skipped it entirely. (Just checking to see if she’s reading!)

But there was another thing that Beck said that caught my attention…

I wonder if doubt is the luxury of the privileged.

He was comparing his church small group with the participants in a bible study that he led inside the local prison. And there seemed to be quite a contrast:

Now I’m aware there is a lot of doubt in the prison. How couldn’t there be? But the men I’m working with seem so faith-filled. Not dogmatic, but really convinced God is alive and active in their lives. In short, I don’t think our small group class would have translated well into the prison setting. Where our stories, on the outside, were from faith to doubt, the stories on the inside, I suspect, are going the opposite direction.

To be clear, I don’t think he views doubt as a bad thing. I certainly don’t. But it may also be a sign that I (we) spend too much time thinking about doubt/faith and not enough time living it, perhaps because I’m not forced to.

It’s ironic, then, that I started thinking of other “luxuries of the privileged”…

What about free will? Many people would say, “Of course we have free will!” Beck discounts it. Maybe it’s a luxury.

And blogging (pondering, wondering, reflecting, etc.). Probably all this navel-gazing that I do is a luxury. After all, if you’re just making ends meet, you probably aren’t spending much time writing about it.

Also: home-schooling. I believe that quality public education should be available to everyone. Yet Ordinary Spouse and I are home-schooling our children.

I believe it’s important to recognize privilege when and where it occurs, because privilege leads to power. And that power is often wielded without even acknowledging its existence. I have privilege and power because of my gender, race, education, economic status, sexual orientation, and so on. But Jesus lived his life from a position of weakness.

That’s all I had planned to say here in Part VI. Then relevant blog posts started popping up today. If you’re interested…

First, read Bruce Hiebert’s reflections on what it means to be a peace church, especially with regards to human sexuality. In particular, his second point ties in to my thoughts on privilege and power.

Then, if you really want to be challenged, read this: “i want it all: on marriage and boycotting“. If you find that you’re offended, ask yourself why. You may be reacting from a position of privilege and power.