080 Pete Enns on the sin of certainty

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Pete Enns is interested in how certainty and trust play roles in the lives of believers. A Biblical scholar, Pete has spent years searching through and teaching the scriptures, confident that he would be more certain about his faith when he knew more about God. Instead, he’s found the opposite to be true, and invites us into this discussion on certainty and trust with his new book.

Who is Pete Enns? Pete Enns has been teaching, writing, and speaking about the Bible for over 20 years. He holds a PhD and serves as the Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University. Pete has authored 18 books, including The Sin of Certainty and Inspiration and Incarnation, as well as nearly one hundred articles and encyclopedic entries on Biblical topics. He hosts what he humorously calls the only God-ordained podcast on the internet, titled “The Bible for Normal People” and likes to ask questions that don’t have safe answers.

Pete has been searching for clarity in faith for a long time. He wants to encourage people — and himself — who come to a point where they are not certain any longer. He thinks it’s an invitation to push farther into the faith journey, learning to trust Christ even when we aren’t certain.

Quotes:

“What if faith is not about being certain, but faith is what you do when you are not certain.” — Pete

“Sometimes when things don’t fall into place at all, that’s when you learn to trust like a child.” — Pete

“What people are deeply afraid of is that if their belief is wrong about one thing, they could be wrong about other things.” — Pete

“Once you conquer the bully of certainty in the life of faith, everything else becomes okay. You’re not as consumed with whether your sports team wins or whether your candidate wins. The life of faith is a great place to practice the fact that we’re human.” — Pete

Action Steps:

• For us to presume that the way we think about God is going to be certain is perhaps arrogant on our part. Do you need to check in and see if your certainty is too certain?
• Take a minute to think about Certainty vs. Trust. If you’re struggling to be certain that God exists, maybe trust that He does and see where that takes you.
• Love, grace, hope… these aren’t things. They are a Person. We won’t be able to grasp who God is before we recognize these things aren’t things.
• We want to believe that God has given us gifting toward a BoldIdea. But when He doesn’t meet our expectations, that’s when we fail to trust Him. We should focus on meeting God’s expectations, rather than asking Him to meet ours.

Resources mentioned:

• Official website: peteenns.com  
• Connect with Pete on Facebook and Twitter.
• The Sin of Certainty by Pete Enns
• How the Bible Actually Works (pre-order) by Pete Enns

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