Antifragile Faith

I love the book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It was a great help during a trying time in my life in 2013-2014. I really love the concept of antifragility that it describes.

Antifragility grows and gets stronger in turbulent times. It looks for these times so it can get stronger. Think of it as an adrenaline junkie; instead, it takes measured risks instead of foolish ones.

The opposite is fragility. It breaks easily. Like fine china on display, it stays in a place of stability. If you’re not careful, you can damage it.

What’s the middle ground?

Resilience. Like a steel pillar driven into the ground, nothing can affect it.

My thought is this, do you have an antifragile faith? Is it weak? Maybe it’s mighty and unchanging like a pillar. Which is best?

A fragile faith is like someone’s entire theology being based on the children’s song lyric, “Jesus loves me/This I know/For the Bible tells me so.”

True. Then life happens, and it’s tested. Someone questions your theology, the Bible, Jesus. Maybe it’s you questioning it. Something happens, and you’re going through a time of suffering and wondering about the love of Jesus or the goodness of God.

The fragile faith lies broken on the floor.

What if it’s robust? Entrenched? Your cognitive biases are working at full power. You have been studying. Facts and book knowledge whirl through your mind.

Unshakeable. Not growing either.

What’s so great about an antifragile faith?

An antifragile faith takes on the questions and the hard times. It grows from it with theology, apologetics, and experiences from walking with Jesus rather than depending on a one-line theology.

It takes the knowledge of the resilient faith and tests it. Stressors find the weak points, and antifragility gets rid of them. For example, all the Old Testament, how do we follow it? It’s 613 commandments. Impossible.

One, that’s the point. The law doesn’t save us. Two, it’s based on Israel’s covenant relationship with God. Three, we’re under the New Covenant.

See, theology at work.

Jesus took those 613 commandments and broke it down to just two.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36-40

My email signature is even shorter. Love God. Love People. Don’t Be A Stumbling Block.

What kind of faith do you have?