Who Can We Trust Analysis

Who Can We Trust?
Rowan Williams begins his book by discussing the topic of “Who Can We Trust?”, which seems to be a common question of society today. Williams points out that we are mistrustful of strangers, education systems, and the government. He narrows this issue down to one thing: a fear of not being in control. We have become accustomed to thinking that if someone else is pulling the strings, they don’t have our best interests in sight, only their own. Williams uses this to transition to a discussion of what the first sentence of the Apostles Creed means. He explains the deeper meaning of the “I believe” statement by telling the story of the blind man who is healed by Jesus. When Jesus asked him if he believed he was truly asking the
It seems as though many religions make us feel like we should focus on God as something unfathomable and what Williams calls a “completely alien intelligence”. We aren’t supposed to understand him, so we instead focus on what separates us, instead of the relationship that it creates. Unfortunately this doesn’t build trust between us and our Creator. Williams tells us that there are many reasons to trust God, but specifically two reasons. One is the fact that he gave us Jesus up as a sacrifice and to live on this earth. He shows us through his Son that he made it possible to see that God isn’t hiding anything form us, his purpose is unselfish love. Williams says on page 10, “At the heart of the desperate suffering there is in the world, suffering we can do nothing to resolve or remove for good. There is an indestructible energy making of for love. If we have grasped what Jesus is about, we can trust that this is what lies at the foundation of everything”. The second part is that God is complete fullness. He makes the point that anything we do will not make God love us, no amount of good or bad will change his mind or his love. God doesn’t forgive us because we’re good, but we’re good because he forgives