Losing Faith in God (Updated from May 2016)

 

Have you ever thought about why people lose faith in God?  I've heard quite a few of the reasons.  God has abandoned me; God didn't save my child, husband, or parent; I keep asking, God keeps ignoring me; the church is so hypocritical; there is no proof of God, where are the miracles?  Do any of these ring a bell for you?  There are certainly many I have not heard.  Man is very creative when it comes to making up excuses and shifting the blame from where it truly belongs.  My all-time favorite comes from the League of the Perpetually Offended:  "There is no God."  I like this because the atheists put the blame squarely where it belongs - on us. Since you can't blame a God that doesn't exist, I've decided to blame atheists.

“Dear Lord, please don’t let me f**k up."  This statement has become known as Shepard's Prayer. Uttered by astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. during the first human space launch by the United States, Freedom 7, on May 5, 1961.  He was, unselfishly, asking the Lord to help him not screw things up.   He rightfully knew that, if the mission failed, it would be either his fault or the fact that the rocket was built by the lowest bidder; God was not in the equation for anything more than moral support.  If it had blown up on the pad, the next sound after the split-second explosion would have been God saying, "You strapped your dumb ass to a rocket built by the lowest bidder, the odds were not in your favor."  Or, perhaps he just would have shaken his head and muttered, "Even I can't cure stupid."  And the latter is exactly the point.  If we die, for reasons other than natural causes, it can usually be traced back to our own stupidity.  

Even most natural causes can now be tracked back to diet, carcinogens, smoking, or someone else.  In reality, other than truly natural causes, almost everything is our own damned fault, including our ultimate demise, and, yet, we insist on shifting the blame to God.  The targets seem to be always downrange, not on the firing line.

Blaming God for anything is like looking a "gift horse" in the mouth.  God gave us life and a mind.  God gave us everything we would need to survive and prosper, to search, research, examine, question, and become more than what we are.    With all of this came the ability to make choices and deal with the consequences.  If your choice is to blame everything on your creator, to bitch and complain about every--little--thing and blame it all on God's selfishness, who is really the thankless little selfish bitch in the mirror of truth?  If you don't look in that mirror and see yourself looking back, good luck with what awaits you in the hereafter.  Just saying...

Every morning I wake up and say my version of "Shepard's Prayer":  "Dear Lord, please don't let me screw up the day."  I approach each day as an opportunity to enlighten myself about God's wonders.  God gave us a mind to discover the wonders of, well - God.  God wants us to search, investigate, analyze, and question; God wants us to be skeptical - even of God!  

The skeptic which finds truth will have a deeper faith in said truth that a believer who takes it at face value and has no true concept of the whole.  Unless you earn a gift you have no concept of the value of the gift.  Simply reading the owner's manual and having faith that the company hasn't lied to you is "blind" faith.  On the other hand, if you work to research something, work for it, and operate it until you are proficient, you develop a broader understanding of what is expected of you as the owner.  An owner's manual isn't any good if it is incomplete, contradictory, and confusing.  You'll find yourself either afraid to enjoy your gift for fear of getting it all wrong and blowing it up, or you'll blindly depress the button and have faith that you're not the total idiot everybody thinks you are for taking everything on "blind" faith.

But, what is "faith" really?  By definition, faith is a belief in something for which there is little or no proof.  By this definition, both atheists and theists have "faith" that their belief is correct even though neither of them has any evidence to prove their belief is correct.  Well, damn...

Put the instructions away. You know what is expected of you, what God has commanded of you during the old covenant with God.  The two most important of those commandments are stated in Matthew, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love thy neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

If you think you've lost faith in God, look first to your own house and ensure you haven't just lost faith in yourself. Mankind has a problem following the easiest of instructions, and God's instructions are very easy to follow; they are so easy, in fact, God gave up the confusing "letter of the law" and gave man the "Spirit" of it in the new covenant with mankind:

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”

-- Jeremiah 31:33-34

How simple are the instructions for mankind?  How simple is it to have real knowledge of "faith"?  Where the old covenant ministers condemnation and death, the new covenant of the Spirit gives life as stated in 2 Corinthians 3:6, "For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."  Charles Spurgeon wrote a sermon in 1885 that, I think, explains everything nicely:

"I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." This is one of the most glorious promises that ever fell from the lips of infinite love. God said not, "I will come again, as I came on Sinai, and thunder at them." No, but, "I will come in gentleness and mercy, and find a way into their hearts." He said not, "I will take two great tables of stone, and with my finger write out my law before their eyes." No, but, "I will put my finger upon their hearts, and there will I write my law." He said not, "I will give promises and threatenings that shall be the safeguard of this new covenant;" but, "I will with my Spirit graciously operate upon their minds and their hearts, and so I will sweetly influence them to serve me,—not for reward, nor from any servile motive, but because they know me, and they love me, and they feel it to be their delight to walk in the way of my commandments."

-- C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

If you think you've lost faith in God, have you not truly lost faith in yourself?  If you are searching for God, look first to your heart and your mind before you set off on your quest.  Follow what you find there as you search to validate that which you already know as true.  Validate it, so there will be no question as to your belief, your faith, or of God's never-ending love for you.  In this way, your faith will be a beacon of light, showing a path to those who are lost in darkness.

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

I fervently hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and, finally, a senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Western Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research.

Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as the lead chaplain at a regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony: tolerantpastor@gmail.com