Skeptical Faith

Google Image People searching for God have probably asked themselves this question at one time or another. And the short answer is, it depends on whose god you’re talking about. Worship of a god or gods is shrouded in the cloud of history, or rather, pre-history. The concept of God as most modern people envision him/her results from any of three abstract ideas or their combination, according to Wikipedia, and of course, the Bible, the Koran and similar sacred books. The abstractions range from God as “… the deification of an esoteric, mystical or philosophical entity or category” to God as the “Ultimate,” the “greatest good,” the “absolute infinite” the “Transcendent," to God as “the ground of being.” Many may not be familiar with these concepts because they originate in the philosophical world of Greek philosophers like Aristotle, who lived in the fourth century before Christ (BC). At some point – definitively with the ideas of Thomas Aquinas in the 13 th century

Google Image “Cleanliness,” my mother used to say, “is next to godliness.” My mother grew up in a poor family. Her father abandoned his wife and six children so my grandmother had to make a living by doing other people’s laundry. I'm sure it was hard to keep the children clean and my mother probably heard my grandmother use that adage often to encourage her children to wash regularly.   Though often repeated and considered part of the “common wisdom,” however, that saying is among many that simply don’t ring true. Think of the millions of people living in the world’s slums, the millions of kids living on the streets. They have little opportunity to keep clean and are too busy trying to survive to worry about hygiene. Are they not next to godliness? I would say they are closer simply by virtue of being poor. Another such saying is, “You can be anything you want to be.” That is among the greatest of fraudulent maxims. Sure, if you’re a middle or upper class white Amer

Google Image “As a child,” writes Annika Freese in a recent issue of America magazine, “I could never find God in his house. “Sitting in Mass I felt like a machine that could not manage to function properly. I had all the right parts and pieces, but together they would not produce the desired outcome. Looking around, it seemed as if everyone else was automatically filled with God’s grace as soon as they walked in the church doors. “Church did not feel like a spiritual place to me,” Annika continues.   “I felt judged within its walls and like I did not belong, because I could not feel what everyone else around me appeared to be feeling.” First, Annika – a high school senior who lives in Amman, Jordan, and appears to be wise beyond her years – is certainly not alone. Millions of people feel disconnected when attending church services. In my experience, the liturgy that attracts, inspires and confirms you in faith is the exception not the rule. Undoubtedly Clouded Second

Google Image I try to be positive in these blogs. No one wants to read downers, especially in a blog whose aim is to help people who may have given up on God and religion. Faith, if nothing else, is a relationship with God and each other that brings peace and joy. However, anyone who has goals – such as finding God – should acknowledge the obstacles. And as in times past, there are plenty of them. One difference from “back in the day” is that social structures and the popular culture generally supported faith and religion. Today, evangelicals and other faith forms may capture a certain amount of public attention – in the area of politics, for instance – but contemporary Western culture does not support faith, especially for the young.   The obstacles about which I’m writing are borrowed from Pope Francis’ “The Joy of Love,” a papal message about marriage and family released in March. The document followed meetings of Catholic bishops in 2014 and 2015 on the same subjects.

Google Image Entering “the real world” is a favorite theme of speakers at graduation ceremonies. They are usually referring to the “working” world of business and industry as opposed to the unpracticed world of high school and college. But people searching for God must also ask ourselves, “Where, or what, is the real world?” Faith, according to popular wisdom, is the inverse of the “real world.” Faith is the world of the spiritual, the idealistic, the theological. Serious people, it is said, don’t bother with that world, and many are cynical about it. Indeed, according to popular culture, the “real world” is about people’s relationship to “real” things, like money, position, fame and power. One can’t let “unreal” things, like loyalty, friendship, family and love, interfere. About Making Money In this context, I can’t help but think of a U.S. presidential candidate – who is fond of calling people “losers.” His life has been about making money, and if the news reports a