losing faith.

[bananaballoo]

The last few month I have been questioning if Christianity is true. Always had a strong faith. Heart still believes but head is saying no. All the atrocities in the world. All the Christians being murdered around the world. If ever there was a time for Jesus to return or God to intervene now would be the time. Hundreds of Christians climbing up a hill fleeing death. I feel like if ever the time came for a divine miracle now would be it. I don't want to lose my faith but im beginning to become disillusioned. Any wise words gratefully received. Much thanks.

I don't really have any wise words I am afraid but just wanted to respond.

There are times when it is hard to keep the faith. Horrible things happen both globally and to individuals and lead you to wonder where God is in all this. I don't have an answer.

I think the way I deal with it is to try and think about the things I can do and where I can make a difference. This might be practical or it might be more intangible through prayer. Other than natural disasters most of the ills in the world are caused by humans. I suppose that is an inevitable inevitable consequence of free will.

I also think God might be there for individuals in a way that others don't see. I base this on my own personal experience. I have had some horrible things happen lately but have felt the prescense of God even on very dark days.

Is there someone you can talk to? Someone through your church perhaps or a fellow Christian? We all have our doubts and crises of faith, hopefully they serve to strengthen it and it may help to share your experience.

Good luck, thinking of you.

Im with you OP.
The more I see going on in the world, the more this country gets worse, the corruption, murders, wars, etc etc etc the less I want to believe in a Divine loving God.

and more and more hell in my personal life too.

that's not to say I DONT believe IN God, just the loving gracious forgiving just God hes supposed to be.

I'm reminded of Billy Graham's daughter's response when asked where God was when the 9/11 attacks happened. She pointed out that America, by and large, had acted as though they could manage just fine without God and then they were surprised that he was absent when they needed him. I'm paraphrasing, probably badly. Give me a minute to find a Bible quotation...

7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”

It's from Isaiah. Sometimes in life ALL I've felt able to do is trust God, pray that he'll work it out in the end. Hope this helps.

I get that cheapskatemum, but all the poor children in Iraq
, Gaza, Israel, Nairobi. All the poor women being being raped by Isis, forced to change religion or die. The God I have always believed in, I can't believe there would be no mercy for them. It has really shaken my belief.

It sounds as if this may not be so much loosing faith but a faith that is changing. Faith is a journey and an image of God as daddy who will come and sort out the problems we have got ourselves into is one that for many Christians doesn't survive the stress and strain of adulthood. The good news is that this journey is one that Christians have been on from the foundation of Christianity so there are plenty of writing and reflection on it.

I like the image of the transition from caterpillar to butterfly via the chrysalis which is e

explored in Alan Jamieson's Chrysalis. The chrysalis stage is painful as it means letting go of former certainties and living with paradox and mystery.

So prayers for this stage of your journey of faith.

It's called liberation.

Hi Banana

I'm an ex-Christian so probably appreciate the myriad of difficult feelings you're having. It can be quite uncomfortable to transition from belief to no belief so what you're feeling is quite normal. For me the hardest part of the whole loss of faith thing is knowing that ultimately I had to do the thinking alone because anyone I spoke to, whatever position they had, would be the position they would want me to have, and of course they would.

The thing about my position now is that I am aware that it's a perpetual state of indecision. As you would expect I now think I was mistaken when I believed in the Christian god so have to acknowledge that I have been wrong in the past so could be wrong again. Nowadays I think the best way of determining what's real, and not holding false beliefs, is through evidence, and as such am no longer able to believe in any of the claims made by the religions. While I am open to examining new evidence, it seems unlikely that any will be forthcoming.

Im happy to answer any questions you may have about living without a faith either here or through pm

had acted as though they could manage just fine without God and then they were surprised that he was absent when they needed him.

You only have to consider the Catholic abuse scandal to see what utter nonsense her justification is.

Headinhands I think you may be right although I will also look at the Chrysalis before making a choice. Im just so unsure, my sensible heart say no to it all at the moment but when I am in church or pray I feel differently. Thank you though. My local prayer group is fairly homophobic,intolerant and very against other religions. Being a liberal sort of a woman they are again making me question the lack of kindness, forgiveness and tolerance and inclusivity I believe.

Let me begin by saying that there is not a Christian with any sense in the world who does not struggle with all the suffering there is in the world. I can't even bear to read the stories that are coming out of Iraq at the moment, yes I know it is cop out but there you go.
Where is God in all this? Could He not DO something to stop all the misery?

Well, I am convinced He could and I am also convinced that in the end He will.
In the meantime it is hard to hold on to an unwavering faith and it comes down to what it says in John 6, where the disciples are struggling with Jesus' teaching. Jesus then asks if they also want to desert Him and Peter says:(John6:68): "Lord, to whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God".
What we see happening around us is almost unbearable but in the end there is no one other than Jesus who has the 'words of eternal life'.

Oh gosh I didn't mean to imply you you shouldn't read this or that. Anyone who implies you shouldn't read this or that isn't trusting your ability to think for yourself.

kindness, forgiveness and tolerance and inclusivity I believe.

Me too. When I was going through the early stages of the process I'd confuse my religious beliefs with my human values, which are clearly two separate things, something you've noted with the local prayer group. Your desire to be tolerant and kind are not tied to your faith and are part of your core values that I believe are independent of your chosen religion.

I was brought up as a catholic and am now an atheist. I lost my faith when I really really started to think about it and question it. Initially, it was triggered by disgust with the intolerance and hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, so at first I decided I couldn't call myself catholic but still had some belief in god. As time went on and I thought more and more about it, the whole concept started to seem more and more ludicrous and illogical. As you are seemingly starting to realise, the concept of a loving god just does not square with the reality of life, brutal and cruel as it can be. It took a time period of probably 5 years or more to move from believing to non-believing. Now I realise that I'd essentially been indoctrinated by my (well-meaning) parents and I'm eternally grateful that I broke free.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts. They have brought comfort and have been thought provoking. Dutchoma the John 6 passage I still feel to be true.Headinthehands you have hit the nail on the head with your kind words.Lizziemint I feel the way you feel-it all seems ludicrous at the moment.Lots to think about, but thank you.

Another comfort I find when I look at the bewildering suffering I see every day at work, never mind looking out into the awful deprivation that large parts of the world experience in peacetime, as well as the recent terrible events, are these words of Jesus when he spoke about the 'end times':
(Matthew 24v4-5) You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
I don't understand why so much of what we see has to be so, but to know that Jesus said it would be so and we weren't to be scared by it, is of great comfort to me. If you aren't certain about who Jesus is anymore, maybe this will be no help, and I'm sorry if I've said anything that's not useful.

I've lost my faith as well, but I am OK with it because I still appreciate Christianity and the beliefs that go with it. Some of the values can still be held without being a believer and you may come back to it. What will be will be.

Littlemissdiorganised I have never read that passage before, thank you for sharing _it is comforting.
Glacedragonflies can I ask if you feel happier now you have lost faith?

Glace that resonates with me, you've put that perfectly.

banana yes, in a way I am because going to church made me unhappy. It's like I have lost the negative part of faith but retained the parts that I like. By that, I mean the being with negative people at church not the service itself and what that entails. Maybe if I had found a different church it'd have had a different outcome but the people at that church ruined it for me. I'd like to still have my faith, perhaps in a small way I do, but it's an appreciation rather than I real faith. I no longer pray and feel uncomfortable when people ask for prayers but that is because people at the old church would see prayer as a suitable alternative for getting off their backsides and actually doing something useful - sometimes, of course, prayer may be all we can do but IMO it needs to more than all we do; it's the spiritual equivalent of throwing money at it IMO and isn't always the right answer.

Sorry, I went on a bit there.
Rafander thank you

It should always be "Ora et labora" work and pray. It always amazes me how much Christians get in the way of Christ.

Back in the 16th century Teresa of Avila wrote '

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours'

The upshot is to pray and then roll your sleeves up and get involved!

In my town the homeless shelter, the foodbank and the soup kitchen for the homeless and many other projects were all set up by Christians. Some projects are now run by the council with the majority of Christian volunteers. It won't solve world peace but it makes a difference locally.

Glacedragonflies yet again you've said it.

ive almost left church because of the hypocrisy.

2 weeks ago the sermon was about James 2;14- about faith without works.

they are like ''oh sorry you have no food, hope you get some soon, ill pray for you'' yet never offer me a crumb.

That's just a example, I do have food!

after all the years of service I gave them- and I know you don't do things to get anything back, but I need the 'body of the church' atm with my disabilities and yet.......

and then the hymns- when I needed a neighbour were you there, and brother sister let me serve you.

wont say too much as ill out myself but that certainly has taken faith away too.

It's all very understandable Rafander, church can be absolutely pants (sorry) and you can feel left totally out in the cold. I'm sure God cries about the things that are done in His name.
And yet, God is still God and He loves you.