Crisis of Faith

By experience we all know our minds cannot withstand being exposed to contradictory facts for a prolonged period. Eventually our mind requires resolution. Extend that time too long, and our mind breaks under the pressure of trying to make sense of what we are being told. I refer to this as a crisis of faith.

Such was the situation years ago in my ministry. There was a man who attended my Orthodox Bible study. He was not Orthodox himself, but a practicing Evangelical Christian. He was very pious and served as a lay minister in his own church. His good friend was my parishioner, so they attended my Bible Study loyally each week. Week after week he would sit and listen, rarely speaking, but always nodding in agreement. One day I asked to speak with his friend, my parishioner. I worried about your friend. Soon he will have a crisis of faith. He can’t continue attending my Bible Study each week nodding in agreement, while at the same time attending his own church on Sundays nodding in agreement with his pastor. Eventually he will need to choose which church he agrees with, because his mind needs to reconcile the conflict in his heart. Sure enough, a few days later, my parishioner called me. “You were right. He won’t be coming to Bible study any longer.”

This man’s heart was conflicted, and he could no longer handle the pressure, so he chose the church in which he was most comfortable. He chose to remain in his Evangelical church. I don’t blame him, nor do I consider his story a tragedy. If he is seeking the truth, he will eventually return to the Orthodox for another chance to resolve the conflict in his heart. As Saint Basil taught, if someone is seeking the truth they will find Christ, because Christ is the truth.

A crisis of faith is ultimately awaiting each of us living in the secular world. We cannot continue to sit in the pews on Sunday saying we believe, and go about our daily lives during the week as if we don’t believe. Eventually we will be forced to choose, either the pews or the world. Christ spoke about his when he said, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Luke 16.13)

As our society continues to stray further and further from the path of Christ, it will become more and more difficult for us to resolve the conflict between what we hear in Church and what we hear in the world. This is the main reason I push so fervently for Orthodox Christian parochial education. Our young people are in the throngs of a crisis of faith. They cannot possible last much longer sitting in Church, hearing the teachings of the Church which are in direct conflict with what they hear in school, without being forced to choose which teachings they prefer. From my personal experience, they tend to choose the secular over the Church.

I believe this is also the reason the ancient church spent so much time together in prayer and fellowship. They knew the reality of the crisis of faith, and they fought hard to choose Christ. Many chose Christ even unto their own violent death. The more time they spent with like-minded believers the greater their chances were of not returning to the sin of the world. It didn’t always work, as we know many left Christ, but it did increase their chances.

It is also why in the early 20th century, many new immigrants lived within walking distance to the Church. They were in a foreign land, and the more time they spent with each other, the better their chances of survival were, and the better chances of maintaining their beliefs were. Today, many of us live so far from the Church, it is difficult to attend even Sunday Liturgy, let alone daily prayers and fellowship. Maybe the Church should start looking into a return to the days of being a neighborhood Church where everyone shared daily life.

At a minimum we should admit that, as a Church, we are in a crisis of faith. The sooner we resolve the conflict in our hearts, the sooner we will be at peace. I pray we all choose Christ and His Church rather than world. I pray that, in one small part, Be Transfigured Ministries can help inspire others to Live A New Life In Christ.