Sunday, July 29, 2007

Religion beat became a test of faith

This could be my story. (Thanks to Jesus Creed for the link)

Swap beat writer with missionary, Calvary Chapel with the Vineyard and Catholic Church RCIA classes with Catholic grad school...

2 comments:

Ampersand said...

That's just a damn sobering account of one man's faith journey.

How can we claim all of this is man's failing with all the power and providence that we ascribe to God?

It really makes you wonder what you can have faith in.

kc bob said...

Thanks Julie for linking to the LA Times article. The brutal honesty in it caused me to think a bit. I have to admit that William's loss of faith in the end surprised me a bit. It causes me to ask questions like:

+ Why do people lose faith in God when religious leaders fail?

+ Why do people lose faith in God when life doesn't work the way that they think it should?

+ Why do people lose faith in God when He doesn't answer their prayers the way that they think that He should?

Substitute 'keep' for 'lose' in those questions and you may get different answers.

I think that all of life is about those questions. These are questions of the heart that people often try to answer with their heads.

I find a greek word to help me in my understanding of the questions and answers. The word is hupomone. It is the word that is translated perseverence when Jesus says:

But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.

The reality is that we all have questions and many of us have been through really hard times. Our responses to difficult life issues reveal more about our hearts than God's heart.