Religious post. May prove harmful to certain readers.

We want certainty.

This post will be of the religious variety, so if that is not your cup of tea I will not be offended if you decide to move on, in fact I will not know it. I just wanted to provide as much certainty as I could for you.

In my religion, Christianity, we talk a lot about faith. In fact, faith is everything in Christianity. And yet we spend a considerable amount of time and energy on reaching for the unreachable certainty. (like when the rapture will occur) That is kind of strange when we are called to simply have faith.

But faith is a scary thing. Far scarier than most of us will admit. That is why we are so tempted to pursue certainty.

The Biblical story that troubles me most is in the Hebrew Testament, in the book of Genesis. I cannot speak from the Jewish perspective, but it ought to trouble them too.

Abraham and Sarai were old, too old to have children, and yet God blessed them with a beloved son, Isaac. It was quite a shocking occurrence, but joyful.

Just a few short years later, and only a couple of pages over, God speaks to Abraham. He says, "Abraham, take Isaac up on that mountain over there, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering to me." And Abraham sets out with Isaac toward the mountain to do what God had said. They gathered firewood (which Isaac had to tote, a small matter, but still it seems very harsh), and went up to the mountain. Isaac was still apparently clueless, but he did notice there was no lamb around to be sacrificed. Abraham told him that God would provide. They stacked the wood just so, and then Abraham bound Isaac up and placed him on the firewood that was stacked on the altar. Abraham place his hand on the handle of the knife and was ready to apply it to the throat of his beloved son Isaac when an angel yelled for him to stop, to not hurt the child. God was satisfied that Abraham would obey, no matter what.

We read that story knowing that it ends okay. God spared the child.

But in that moment when Abraham placed his hand on the knife, he did not know the ending. Isaac surely did not know what would happen. There was no certainty, except Abraham's attempt at obedience. There was no guarantee that the knife, poised and ready to descend, would be stopped.

That's the part we ignore.

Faith is not about knowing that the knife will not fall.

It is about not knowing.

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