Matt Nelson - Just Whatever: How to Help the Spiritually Indifferent Find Beliefs that Really Matter

Just Whatever

How to Help the Spiritually Indifferent Find Beliefs that Really Matter

Matt Nelson

Just Whatever

How to Help the Spiritually Indifferent Find Beliefs that Really Matter

2018 Matt Nelson

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For Amanda, my beloved companion and a constant reflection of wisdom, goodness, and beauty in my life.

Lord, my first fruits present themselves to thee;

Yet not mine neither: for from thee they came,

And must return. Accept of them and me,

And make us strive, who shall sing best thy name.

Turn their eyes hither, who shall make a gain:

Theirs, who shall hurt themselves or me, refrain.

George Herbert, The Dedication

Foreword

The advice given to Christians in the first letter of Peter has never been more relevant: Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear (3:1516). Our faith is the foundation of the hope that gives joy to our lives, but we do not cling to it as a private possession. We need to share it, and explain it to others.

The first Christians were engaged mainly in explaining their faith to people who had never heard of Christ, and who were perhaps curious about this new religious group in the Roman Empire. They also had to defend their faith against those who violently persecuted them; that is also the situation of Christians in many parts of the world today.

But in these days in North America and Europe, there is no overt and violent persecution. Instead, many who were raised, at least nominally, as Christians have lost their faith. Sometimes, as with the seed sown in thin soil in the Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13:19; Mark 4:120; Luke 8:415), their faith has never developed deep roots, and so withers away. Sometimes faith has been choked by the dominant cultural power of materialistic secularism, especially when that secularism exalts the autonomy of the egoa vision of life far removed from the generous love modeled on that of the Trinity, which is at the heart of Christian faith. Sometimes faith has simply been taken away by the shallow but tempting arguments of advocates of atheism and agnosticism.

Believers whose faith is merely private and emotional, with no rational foundation, are particularly vulnerable. As St. John Paul II made clear, we fly to the Heavenly Father using the wings of both faith and reason. And thus many drift away from the Church, and many outside the Church are likewise convinced that Christian faith is baggage from the past, no longer relevant today. The result is often not antagonism toward faith, but simply a lack of interest in something that seems to be meaningless.

In such a situation, we need help in understanding the nature of the current phenomenon of religious indifferentism, and how to reach out effectively to those who have been affected by it. Matt Nelsons Just Whatever: How to Help the Spiritually Indifferent Find Beliefs that Really Matter is exactly what we need. It provides a clear analysis of the situation of religious indifferentism, and offers a way forward. It shows how to give a reason for the hope we have.

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Aristotle wisely suggested that to be effective in the difficult task of communicating a valuable message of truth, it is important to build a bridge of credibility ( ethos ); to touch the heart with an approach that resonates with the whole person ( pathos ); and to communicate clearly a valuable message that is true and well argued ( logos ). All of us would do well to consider this ancient wisdom. Here Matt Nelson shows us how to be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope in a way that is not only obviously founded on a deep and vibrant faith, but which also engages us, enlightens us, and moves us to action.

First ethos : credibility. Matt speaks of his own journey of faith, and is clearly a person who knows personally what he is talking about. Pope Paul VI once wisely said that in matters of faith people these days will not listen to teachers but to witnesses, and only to those teachers who are also witnesses. Matt witnesses to his faith, and also clearly knows of the struggles that young people go through in these days. Sometimes it is said that the Church offers answers to questions people are not asking, but this book is based on listening to the real questions of real people.

Credibility is further enhanced because, like Thomas Aquinas in his day, Matt sincerely engages writers who do not have faith, and are eloquently antagonistic to it. He obviously has studied deeply the atheist writers who have had such a detrimental effect upon Christians whose faith is not deeply rooted. Such willingness to venture beyond the safe boundaries of Christian writings to examine honestly and thoroughly the views of those who critique the Christian faith is both courageous and essential if a writer is to be credible.

Just Whatever also touches the heart, speaking to the whole person, reflecting the pathos that is essential for the effective communication of truth. Though the book is obviously based on exceptional learning, it is very readable, with lots of practical examples; not dry and academic at all. Our Lord showed us the way by telling stories rather than writing dusty treatises. We must learn from this. The Church seems forever to be issuing documents, full of truth, that nobody reads. There has to be another way. I once read a book on the study of history by Barbara Tuchman. She says that every writer should have above the desk a sign that says: Will the reader turn the page? That is good advice. This book makes you turn the page.

Finally, if we are to give an explanation for the hope we have in a world that has tuned out the voice of faith, the credibility of the witness and the engaging style of the presentation must be matched by logos , by substantial, well-reasoned content. Too often we have tried to attract people by dumbing down the Faith. That is condescending, especially to young people, and it is not effective. Truth attracts. Catholic tradition attracts, for it is astonishingly rich in beauty, truth, and goodness. It is indeed a sea in which lambs may wade, and elephants may swim.

We have nothing to fear from the sterile arguments of the modern advocates of materialism, atheism, and secularism, but we do need to know how to respond to them. They are, sadly, often effective against the faith of uninstructed believers. We must meet the modern opponents of faith on their own ground, and engage them with clarity and charity, and this is certainly what happens in Just Whatever .

But it is even more important to experience deeply the profound richness of Catholic Christian faith. As Bishop Sheen wisely observed, to get rid of pepper in a box, the best thing is not to concentrate on the pepper but to fill the box with salt. Reading Just Whatever is a delight, and a substantial intellectual feast. Certainly the various arguments against faith are analyzed and refuted but, much more than that, the book introduces the reader to the scriptural, philosophical, theological, spiritual, cultural, and literary heritage of Catholic Christianity. That in itself is a reason to treasure this book, quite apart from its astute and most useful analysis of the modern crisis of religious indifferentism.