Faith Meltdown #1

A childhood friend of mine is going through a faith meltdown period.  He was the president of our youth group back when I was in Vietnam.  Recently we all hooked up via emails and after a few round of conversations, he told us that he gave up on faith recently.  I mean the guy is over 40 now and have been a churchgoer forever.  He is still going to church now with his wife and children.  But deep down inside, he said "My faith in God, in Jesus, in the Bible is virtually nothing now.  I still believe that there was a Creator, but that's about it.  No heaven, no hell, no proof that there was any concern from that Creator..."

He's not alone.  Another woman in our former youth group on the same mailing list expressed the same attitude.

After we asked him why, he explained that he was not satisfied with the answers he got so far.  Then we asked what his questions were, and he responded with some specific issues he had.  That's when it dawns on me about the cause of his meltdown.

Of course, one of the factors will always be his own responsibility.  We are responsible for our own growth in the faith.  If your church prevented you to grow, then by all mean find some other churches!  Then beyond the churches, there are plenty of other sources to strengthen your faith.  There are books and videos which discuss the matters of faith at length.  They are now can even be ordered from the net.  There are courses that you can audit, even free of charge, around the clock on the net.  If you are dissatisfied, go and seek for bread, don't just sit there and die.

But there's also another very sad factor.  It's the inadequacy of the Vietnamese churches.  Someone said that if God is our father, then the church is like our mother.  The church, not the building but the community of God's people, was supposed to be the nurturing environment to help people grow in the faith.  And we are not doing a very good job of it.  My friend's questions were common one, but they prevented his growth because (it's my guess that) he couldn't get them covered in the church environment he was in. 

But isn't that the same thing in your churches and my church too?  We are often encouraged to believe without questioning.  But that's baloney.  If the matters of faith have the utmost importance with eternal consequences, wouldn't we need to do everything we could to ensure we are on the right track?  I mean, what if Jesus Christ is not God but just a crazy dude who lived two thousand years ago?  My eternal life or eternal damnation is riding on that question.  And there are many questions like it which constitutes into my beliefs and affects my behaviors.

Granted, not everyone is like me or my friends.  Their faith requires fewer examinations; bless their souls (for faith, or the ability to believe is a gift from God).  But to people like us, who demands a bit more data before we can make decision, I think that the typical Vietnamese churches had failed to provide adequate answers.  May be some of your churches are luckier to have leaders who willing to look into your doubts without condemnation.  Much most places, you would be looked down upon if you raise any questions.  And that, I think, is what contributes to my friend's faith meltdown.

I have been patiently participating in the whimsical conversations with my former-youth-group friends for almost a month now.  We are at a point where I can start addressing some of my friend's questions without making them look like condemnations.  Pray for us, pray for my friends (just called them "the King" and "the Queen" for now)...