Crisis of Faith?

Christians hate to admit that they occasionally have a crisis of faith. They read something that explains the origin of life or the creation of the universe without the acts of or the need for God. Many of their friends, co-workers and family members believe these scientific "facts." They feel like outsiders when saying they believe that God created the universe and life. Sometimes they secretly wonder if there is a god when though they put up a good front. They have a crisis of faith because they are receiving so much information and subtle peer pressure and believe that their faith is just a sham.

Then, the circumstances that people must live in are considered. There will be so many people who will die each day by starvation. Many others will die in senseless accidents. Evil people will cause the death of so many more. Disease will attack the young. Children will be born blind. Cancer will strike millions. The question will occur: How can there be a god when all of these bad things keep happening? This stops even the most ardent Christian in his tracks. Most give some type of explanation if they don't want to admit their own crisis of faith. The truth is that no one really knows why these things happen. They don't know why God doesn't swoop in and rescue everyone. They don't know why bad things happen at all. Most efforts to explain them are lame attempts to get God off the hook.

So, there is a crisis of faith. It scares some. They try not to think of it. It causes some to jump off the edge to faithlessness. Others, have their faith strengthened by it.

A crisis of faith is a battle for the heart. It is not the mind that convinces us what we believe. The mind is a conduit to both the spiritual and the flesh. We fill the mind with the desires of this world and we will act accordingly. We fill our minds with the things of the Spirit and we will do as the Spirit desires. The heart is what we are. Our minds can fill our hearts with the right or wrong things.

All beliefs are acts of faith. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to be a faithful atheist. Here, the explanation for all things must be proven by observable evidences. The atheist struggles to explain what science has deemed impossible. They cannot understand the complete healing from the point of death. They cannot know how a person can be so completely sure of their faith in Christ that he or she will give life itself to defend it. They have to admit that science incorporates a great number of extrapolations to explain the things it says are facts. They have to admit that science has had a great number of blunders which were considered facts at one time.

Yet, they believe in their athesim because that it their faith. It comes from their hearts.

This may be why we have so many agnostics today. They don't know but at least they have the courage to say they don't know. They have neither accepted nor rejected God by faith.

The crisis of faith is made worse because Christians believe they must create their own faith. Yet, we see the man whose son is demon-possessed asking Jesus to help him with his unbelief (Mark 9:24) We find that God gives faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) Still, we think we must make our own faith if we are to believe.

Remember that the mind is a conduit to the things of the world or of the Spirit. Doesn't it make sense that God gives us faith to fill our hearts? Shouldn't we go to Him in our crisis of faith admitting that we might not understand while committing to live by the faith He gives us? Wouldn't we be saving ourselves if we could make our own faith for salvation?

Personally, I don't have some measurable evidence for my faith. I believe because He came to me with faith. I believe because He has continued to speak with me. I believe because I know Him. I believe because He believed in me first.

Yes, I have had crises of faith in the past. These caused me to return to the faith in my heart. This is the faith that He has given me. It is the faith that has grown. I don't have all the explanations for the things of the world. I don't need to know. Maybe that's all we need to admit when we have a crisis of faith.

Psalm 92:4-8 (NIV)
⁴ For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. ⁵ How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts! ⁶ The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand, ⁷ that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed. ⁸  But you, O LORD, are exalted forever.