Have you lost faith?
Posted by Steve on August 16th, 2007 filed in FaithI read Digg a lot, and for a community with a large percentage of atheists and agnostics, there are a surprising number of popular submissions about religion. Many of the articles concerning religion are fairly negative, and you can really feel the hostility towards religion when you read the comments. I actually plan on writing a response to this animosity towards faith on Digg, but that’s not for today.
The article I found today is very relevant to the blog here. It’s called ”Religion beat became a test of faith”
The author is a writer for the LA Times and the article describes his faith journey.
I recommend reading it, but here is a short synopsis- the author describes a sincere acceptance of Christ in his late 20’s and then outlines the tests his faith endured as the religion beat writer for the Times. His jobs exposes him to the darkest sides of Christianity, he starts to realize he cannot reconcile his questions about faith, and he eventually comes to realize that he can no longer believe in God. It is a heartfelt article, more of a memoir than anything else. As a Christian it is difficult to read, especially as the author describes the extreme hypocrisy within the church.
He reported much about the Catholic church sex scandal, and that seemed to affect him deeply. He also wrote about the TV network TBN, and how it’s leaders and pastors lived in appalling luxury, taking money from people with the promise that God will bless them for their generosity.
He concludes with this,
“My soul, for lack of a better term, had lost faith long ago — probably around the time I stopped going to church. My brain, which had been in denial, had finally caught up.
Clearly, I saw now that belief in God, no matter how grounded, requires at some point a leap of faith. Either you have the gift of faith or you don’t. It’s not a choice. It can’t be willed into existence. And there’s no faking it if you’re honest about the state of your soul.”
In a sense I agree with him, belief does require a leap of faith. Faith is pretty much defined that way. But I struggle with his statement that “you either have the gift of faith or you don’t.” I cannot believe that to be true. I think everyone has the capacity for faith. Why do some believe and some not? I have ideas, but really I don’t know at all.
My own fear
The article struck me most of all because I could relate to the author. I have some of the same questions about faith, and one of my greatest fears is that my faith will fade. However, while I can see and lament the problems within the church, I also can see a lot of Christians doing things right. At school, I know many amazing people that are yearning to serve God the best way possible. We should never ignore our hypocrisy, but we should also shouldn’t forget when we do things right.
atheism Christianity digg doubt faith God hypocrisy problems in the churchPopularity: 18% [?]
8 Responses to “Have you lost faith?”
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- tony_007: hey guys. why do you follow darwin?. we know that he didn’t know what chromosoms were, and how they...
- anonymous: I recently became a closet agnostic after 33 years of being raised and raising my family in an evangelical...
- naterspotaters: MANSA, You get 80 years on this earth, maybe less. You can spend that time spreading a possible lie,...
- WTF: Evolution sucks! We did not come from monkeys!! People that belive in this evolution crap is degrading human...
- Theresa: Hey, what happened to your Les Parrot post? I wanted to read it, but then it was gone.
Recent Comments
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 pm
[…] Krager presents Have you lost faith? | faithdoubt posted at faithdoubt. This is a posting in response to an article about an LA Times writer and his […]
August 26th, 2007 at 5:50 am
A church to which I belonged fell apart after a woman with whom he had a 7-year affair brought this fact to light. More came to light: he stole from his congregation by charging them for counseling. He used the jobs in the church and other resources as gifts he could dispense to whom he pleased as if he were some sort of king. The resentment brewing in the place was close to the surface when the other bad news broke. People found it easy to walk away, to judge, to hate. Such was the nature of their faith. The experience taught me that faith is not a church but a way of being. These people taught me the most important lesson I have ever learned. They have also challenged me to be compassionate.
September 4th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
[…] phrase is overused and I get cynical about those things). Part of it was reading the article about losing faith that I linked to earlier. That affected me more deeply than I originally thought. I’ve been […]
January 4th, 2009 at 4:07 am
Hey! The Bible clearly states that there were people who were incapable of believing in God because God ‘hardened their hearts’. The best example is the Pharaoh who opposed Moses but there are several other individuals and groups of people in the same situation ( eg Jews who worshipped other gods than JAHVEH in Old Testamental times). Also, consider the fact, that God has an unlimitted knowledge and while creating you already knows whether you’ll go to hell or not and still he is fine with the idea of eternal condemnation and lack of faith in people. Offcourse, we are said to have free will but why wouldn’t the omnipotent God give life only to those individuals he knows to live a good, faithful life once created?
April 5th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Hi, i have always been a prayer before my partner commit sucide, it has been 18months now i m still very sad about it and blame to god, why can’t he save him, that is all i have been thinking and why can’t i save him, now i have lost my faith with god and myself, i know this is not God’s fault, but i just can’t bring myself to pray any more, if i ever go to church only thing i do is cry and lots of negative emomtions…. i don’t like it, i think time will fix things
April 12th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
MANSA…
Dear child, please accept my sympathies. May I offer some help? I have been suicidal and thank God, didn’t kill myself. Please know that your partner was hurting for some reason we might never know this side of heaven. Please know that depression is an illness. But for you, the help is, what you are feeling is to be expected. Sometimes the grief never goes away. That is what is “normal”. There is no timeline to grieve, except that it takes a lot longer than you might expect to get through the grieving process. Also you need to get some professional help — not medication, but you need to find a suicide survivors support group to help you grieve. It hurts, and it is scary, but I promise that there are groups of people out there, and they have lost a loved one through suicide. It will help you know that you are not alone, you are not the only one. You will have a safe environment where you can process all these emotions. I know this is not God’s fault — nothing is His “fault” but sometimes we have anger towards Him. He can take your anger, He understands. He wants to go through your struggles with you, He does not want you to be left alone in this time.
So please, find a support group. I don’t know which one, but I know you are grieving an impossible grief, and that it is very real. This pain is real and there are loving safe people who you can relate with, so that you can grieve and have help doing so. Time may fix things, but it is OK if you are always sad about your loss. I have lost friends and loved ones and I will always miss them and I will always love them. Please find a suicide surviors support group. Ask your church or any church in your town, ask a trusted friend or coworker to help you find help. Ask your human resources manager even. Or call the suicide hotline and ask them for references. Reach out and find a safe place for you to grieve. The grieving will go away but the memory of your loved one never will and there will always be a part of you that will hurt and miss them. It is natural and normal and OK to hurt and also to seek help with your hurt. Lastly, always pray to God and be honest with Him, asking Him for guidance and peace and if you are angry with Him or your partner, you can tell God, because He knows everything about you. Just saying it out loud can help. God bless you and I am alive because I got help and discovered that I am no alone. Neither are you!
May 25th, 2009 at 12:07 am
MANSA,
You get 80 years on this earth, maybe less. You can spend that time spreading a possible lie, or you can live. If it takes depending on that all powerful external locus of control to go about your day, like so many others need, whatever. Will God heal you? Perhaps, but there has never been proof of divine intervention… My advice to you is to try to move on, and trust in TIME. Time heals wounds, that has been proven. Have faith in time.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:09 am
I recently became a closet agnostic after 33 years of being raised and raising my family in an evangelical home. My father is a pastor and my family is very involved in our local church. I have never been a gung ho christian and couldn’t understand why. Then I read a popular Christian book that outlines the reasons why the Bible and Christ are real. The book had the absolute opposite effect on me.
As freeing as this realization has been for me, it has paralyzed me at the same time. Knowing it will devastate my family and circle of friends and could end my marraige, I have decided for the short term to keep it under wraps. I struggle with this daily and am trying to determine how best to live my life from here.