Faith... and the lack of it.

Why are there so few believers these days? Why are there so few Catholics - let alone Christians in general - in the western world today? To be honest, I don't like it that much, but there isn't that much I can do about it.

I guess there are many answers to these questions. Maybe faith has something to do with dependency on objects. Materialism. Maybe there is some sort of an "inverse proportion" to this; the more materialistic a country or household is, the less faith there is. I don't know. I'm probably just talking nonsense. Here in Norway I notice that the number of members in the state church (which btw, is not Catholic, but rather Lutheran) is decreasing. Well, not that I'm complaining, though, 'cause there's lately been an increase in converts to the Catholic faith.

But anyways, that wasn't my point. :-P Generally there are less Christians in western countries than in eastern and so-called "third-world countries". Is it perhaps because we tend to see less of God's presence in everything we do because we focus so much on ourselves and our own moral judgment? Maybe, maybe not. We have more freedom to do as we please. We can choose which school to attend; we can choose which facts we are to know of; we can choose our own faith. Maybe this is why people turn away from Christianity.

Another possibility is perhaps that the common man doesn't want to be bothered to challenge him-/herself by confessing his/her belief in one faith or another. Maybe it's because religion in general is so far-fetched and so abstract to the human mind that one cannot be bothered to believe in anything because it's not concrete, or because it is too abstract to comprehend. Just consider the existence of God Himself. No one can prove he exists. No one can prove that Christ existed either, or that God is one, yet three at the same time. Maybe it is this notion that makes people dread religion. It's too difficult to fathom.

For me, I couldn't imagine living without believing in God. It (my belief, that is) gives me so much more meaning to life. I couldn't imagine going on day by day without knowing that life is meaningless; that there is no point in life after all. "The world was just created, because... well, it just was." I could never live with this opinion. I could never live with the opinion that the Big Bang was just created without any influence from some other life-giving force. All things have an origin, you know. Personally, I know what that origin is - or should I say, who that origin is. As for getting proof of His existence, I've had my share of that.

Maybe people just can't seem to sense an almighty presence in their lives. As I wrote earlier, I guess some people just expect a concrete sign from Heaven, like the sun dancing in the sky (as it did in Fátima, Portugal), or even Christ Himself descending from the sky on a cloud. The thing is, God is more cunning than that! I believe He expects us to be able to figure things out for ourselves when He appears to us. It could be through different things. A flower unwrapping its petals in spring; a new-born baby; a patient who gets to know that his tumor is benign; even a good grade at school. I think that if we notice the little positive things in life such as these, we'll notice more the presence of God in our lives and thus become better at believing. It's all in the small golden moments. And of course prayer... :-)

Forever contemplating,
Elise

(Inspired by a blog I recently stumbled across...)