SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:

Too often, our beliefs are perpetuated through uncritical repetition. It is possible to hold fast to matters of faith only because we have articulated them so long and with such numbing consistency. We interact with like-minded adherents who reinforce our convictions and speak in shibboleths, the vocabulary of the in-group.

But what is the value of a faith that cannot withstand challenge and emerge the better for the contest? Along with avowing that the Bible has the answers to all our questions, we should affirm that it has the questions to all our answers.

The Biblical Book of Job features a remarkable declaration by God. Job has presented a sustained and passionate critique of God’s ways, while his friends seek to justify God’s governance of existence. At the end, God announces that He prefers the doubts and questions of Job to the theological certainties and reflexive orthodoxies of his friends. Here is Scripture that polemicizes against blind faith and uncritical acceptance.

It is told that when worshipers in a certain sanctuary would ascend the altar they would reverentially bow upon reaching their third step. When a member of the congregation questioned the origin of this practice, no one could say until an elderly man came forth saying, “Many years ago, a chandelier hung over the third step and people would have to duck to avoid being knocked on the head.� While the chandelier had long since been removed, the ritual remained — unconnected to any spiritual value!

People of faith need to be shocked out of their spiritual torpor. Michael Novak, in “Belief and Unbelief,� asks: “How does one know that one’s belief is truly in God and not merely in some habitual emotion or pattern of response?�

Is “Because I’ve always believed it� a satisfying philosophy of life any more than “Because I said so� is a satisfactory parental response?

A faith that recoils from disputation is a fearful one. Atheism is not a threat to theism; it is a prod to think more significantly and deeply, more wisely and perceptively.

Atheists are, dare I say it, a blessing to believers!

MARK S. MILLER is the rabbi at Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach.