Book022

Christian faith and churches are in crisis

Specific changes in Christianity which are overdue

Religious faith is in danger; I'm talking here about Christian faith, because this is the only religion that I know well enough to be able to write these documents.

Faith is a blessing - Believers and non-believers

Faith, blessed faith! What a precious gift from God! Endless thanks to him for giving us faith, and for keeping us believing. This is a free gift from God. And there is a frightful reality: that there is a very small distance between believing and non-believing. One can be a believer today and incredulous tomorrow. Each day with faith is a new gift of God.

People sometimes doubt if they really believe, or are afraid of losing their faith; some are at the "breaking point." But nobody loses his/her faith, except by an act of his/her will. If you have been a believer, faith is there until you renounce it; and even then, it may come back.

The letter to Hebrews has some hard words that might be applied to those who give up their faith (Hebrews 6:4-6), but it is not certain that that is the meaning. Besides that, I may say that the word impossible of verse 4 can not be taken literally, as it stands, because nothing is impossible to God. So, even an incredulous person today can be a fervent believer tomorrow.

Roots of the crisis

This twenty-first century could be critical for Christianity for two main reasons: first, the abundance of information that people have today; and secondly, because people want to make their own decisions based on their knowledge, and not just to follow others' saying, as in the past. Not even the Pope, or the leaders of large Christian denominations, are exempted from these two facts. People discover what seems true to them, and make their decisions.