A Comfortable Pair of Jeans in Heaven

Most of us are first introduced to the idea of faith in some sort of religious setting. It is often used as the catch all for anything that cannot be explained by logic alone. I remember the first time I was told to have faith. I was eight-years-old and in my Sunday school class, we had a lesson on what was going to get us to Heaven: obey your parents, pray, etc. At some point we were allowed to ask questions. I just loved to talk, so Q and A was my favorite part. 

I do not remember the entire exchange, but I do remember when I got to the part that was really at the core of my questioning from the start. “Can we wear jeans in heaven?” It was a valid question since every depiction I had seen of heavenly beings involved white flowing robes. White robes, to my very logical eight-year-old mind, meant that there would be no fun in heaven. No playing soccer, climbing trees, riding bikes … seriously, white robes? I will neither forget the look on my teacher’s face, nor my father’s, when I asked him the same question later at a family dinner. My Sunday school teacher told me that I had to have faith that our Father in Heaven knew what was best for us and that I would have to have faith that he would provide for my comfort. My father’s answer was much more to my liking. In answer to jeans dilemma, he smiled and said, “Of course, you can wear jeans in Heaven. Even God likes 501s.”

So, to the same question, I received two very different answers: one is a basis for faith in the unknown, the other that faith leaves room for logic and levity.

Often faith is what we call upon when we have no way of explaining something further. However upon further examination, is faith not actually the pursuit of a reasonable explanation?

According to Webster, faith is a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. If you look further for the meanings of proof and lack of proof, you will find, reasoning and logic, are an overriding theme and an intricate part of the meaning of faith.  

I believe faith to be at the very core of human questioning. It is what moves us through every day, helps us to reason, and keeps us on a path of curiosity. You may often hear it said that someone has “lost their faith.” I do not think faith is lost. I think it is merely pulled away from its building blocks, logic, and reasoning. I submit that faith without logic and reasoning leads to despair and fanaticism. However, faith seen through logic and reasoning invites us to question and to investigate. It also provides us the opportunity to grow beyond our current state of knowledge.

Faith should not be the last ditch answer for the unknown. It should be the starting point for exploring the unknown. Faith is a reasonable belief that one can succeed even when facing the unknown.

From my quizzical and confusing beginning, I have been brought to believe in a matured understanding of faith. I have faith in family, friends, truth, human kind, universal laws, and a comfortable pair of jeans in heaven.

By Jamie Welsh