Praxis Makes Perfect

By Alysa Obert

I recently interviewed Marv Wilson, Doctor of Biblical Studies here at Gordon College. At the end of the interview I somewhat rashly asked the question, “Why do you believe in Jesus?” Instantly I felt five years old and Dr. Wilson, amused by my red cheeks, took a minute to respond. “Because it works,” he said.  I looked up. That was it? That was all that the thought-provoking Theologian had to say? He had taken an hour to answer my first question; I thought this next would deserve a dissertation.

But it didn’t, and that intrigued me. I thought about this a long time after, mulling over its significance.  I realized I was struck by the fact that Dr. Wilson is an extremely pensive man yet his reason for believing, in this God that he can’t see by the way, is a matter of practicality.

 Here at Gordon College we love the theoretical. We ponder the questions of God and man with dogged sincerity. We even have a year-long program devoted to answering the question “what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens?" or for non-greek speakers, "what in the world does it mean to be a Christian?” If you’ve ever sat through a Hunt class you are questioning everything to the point that John is now Lazarus and the Gospels are proof that everything is subjective…even the infallible Word of God.

I have loved and appreciated this about Gordon from the moment I walked on the campus. It is the reason I came here. I didn’t want to be handed doctrine but to discover it. At times this rocks me. It is maddening to be told that every answer is just a hypothesis we haven’t yet rejected. It makes me think that in this College life, we spend too much time in the dramatic world of theory.

Yes we have the duty to seek, to search, and therein find. However it is important understand that, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29). The verse continues, “the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” why? “That we may do all the words of this law” meaning the practical things of faith that God requires.

Israel, talk about a people who had the right to question; like what does God have against pork and why can’t I boil a young goat in its mother’s milk? But God does not ask that we understand, He asks that we obey.

Dr. Wilson did in fact say more than those three words, but not much. He explained that God called him, he responded, and that it was a great and mysterious mix of free will and divine intervention. “At the end of the day”, said Wilson, “I am a pragmatist. I have tried my faith and it works.”

It became clear to me that even the thinkers don’t believe because in theory it works, but because in praxis it is proven. So in that case, let’s praxis.