The Pope admits that sometimes he loses faith.....is this common among Christians or others?

[kingblaze84]

Losing ones faith is not disbelief

Yeah, he may be on the fence or just re-considering his beliefs. He very well might still be Christian, but only he knows deep down....this whole situation reminds me of Mother Theresa and how her true beliefs came out, but anything is possible.

 

[alissowack]

If losing faith means losing trust...sure. It's an everyday struggle to devote yourself to the will of God when you feel that your will should be done first.

I can respect the honesty. What makes you regain trust or faith in Jesus again then, considering the doubts you had?

Well...it's understanding that it is normal to feel that way. People get the impression that giving your life to God is like some 30 day challenge where you do the usual prayers and stuff and you see the results at the end. There should never be a point in this life where you can say you understand the will of God. That can provoke pride and "pride comes before the fall".

 

[kingblaze84]

If losing faith means losing trust...sure. It's an everyday struggle to devote yourself to the will of God when you feel that your will should be done first.

I can respect the honesty. What makes you regain trust or faith in Jesus again then, considering the doubts you had?

Well...it's understanding that it is normal to feel that way. People get the impression that giving your life to God is like some 30 day challenge where you do the usual prayers and stuff and you see the results at the end. There should never be a point in this life where you can say you understand the will of God. That can provoke pride and "pride comes before the fall".

Very interesting, so even up till now, your faith experiences pulls in the opposite direction. My patience is good but when it comes to the supernatural, I tend to expect more and I'm not as patient. I wouldn't call it pride though, people tend to expect a lot from others, and when those expectations fall short, we tend to stop trusting or believing.

Like if I had a friend who I felt was purposefully avoiding me, and never made much effort to contact me, I would assume after awhile that person maybe is not interested in speaking to me or seeing me anymore. When I realized Jesus had no interest in letting himself be seen or visible to those in need, my faith in Christianity became shattered. It's a little bigger then pride in my view, cuz someone like Mother Theresa seemed as humble as it gets, yet her faith became shattered too.

 

[alissowack]

If losing faith means losing trust...sure. It's an everyday struggle to devote yourself to the will of God when you feel that your will should be done first.

I can respect the honesty. What makes you regain trust or faith in Jesus again then, considering the doubts you had?

Well...it's understanding that it is normal to feel that way. People get the impression that giving your life to God is like some 30 day challenge where you do the usual prayers and stuff and you see the results at the end. There should never be a point in this life where you can say you understand the will of God. That can provoke pride and "pride comes before the fall".

Very interesting, so even up till now, your faith experiences pulls in the opposite direction. My patience is good but when it comes to the supernatural, I tend to expect more and I'm not as patient. I wouldn't call it pride though, people tend to expect a lot from others, and when those expectations fall short, we tend to stop trusting or believing.

Like if I had a friend who I felt was purposefully avoiding me, and never made much effort to contact me, I would assume after awhile that person maybe is not interested in speaking to me or seeing me anymore. When I realized Jesus had no interest in letting himself be seen or visible to those in need, my faith in Christianity became shattered. It's a little bigger then pride in my view, cuz someone like Mother Theresa seemed as humble as it gets, yet her faith became shattered too.

I mean pride in understanding the will of God. You may have encountered some of us who preach and do so believing they know more than you about the will of God...and it reflects in how they try to shame you into coming to faith. It's those people who don't understand what God intends to do. They don't know how God is going to use them or how He is going to use the non-believer. Everybody's circumstances in life is unique and it just could be that it won't be us to "save" them. All we can really do is share what the Bible teaches and try to live it out for ourselves.

 

[kingblaze84]

If losing faith means losing trust...sure. It's an everyday struggle to devote yourself to the will of God when you feel that your will should be done first.

I can respect the honesty. What makes you regain trust or faith in Jesus again then, considering the doubts you had?

Well...it's understanding that it is normal to feel that way. People get the impression that giving your life to God is like some 30 day challenge where you do the usual prayers and stuff and you see the results at the end. There should never be a point in this life where you can say you understand the will of God. That can provoke pride and "pride comes before the fall".

Very interesting, so even up till now, your faith experiences pulls in the opposite direction. My patience is good but when it comes to the supernatural, I tend to expect more and I'm not as patient. I wouldn't call it pride though, people tend to expect a lot from others, and when those expectations fall short, we tend to stop trusting or believing.

Like if I had a friend who I felt was purposefully avoiding me, and never made much effort to contact me, I would assume after awhile that person maybe is not interested in speaking to me or seeing me anymore. When I realized Jesus had no interest in letting himself be seen or visible to those in need, my faith in Christianity became shattered. It's a little bigger then pride in my view, cuz someone like Mother Theresa seemed as humble as it gets, yet her faith became shattered too.

I mean pride in understanding the will of God. You may have encountered some of us who preach and do so believing they know more than you about the will of God...and it reflects in how they try to shame you into coming to faith. It's those people who don't understand what God intends to do. They don't know how God is going to use them or how He is going to use the non-believer. Everybody's circumstances in life is unique and it just could be that it won't be us to "save" them. All we can really do is share what the Bible teaches and try to live it out for ourselves.

That's cool, I don't mind people being Christian as long as they're not too pushy with their beliefs or preaching loudly on the subway trains I take. Most Christians aren't like that thankfully, but the ones who are often make the rest look bad. The subway preachers especially.

Otherwise, people have to do what's best for them, assuming they've studied and thought hard long enough to be confident in their path.

 

[kingblaze84]

Speaking of people following their paths, the Pope said this weekend he is deeply disturbed at the amount of priests and nuns leaving the church. I wonder what's causing this.....
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/28/pope-frets-about-hemorrhage-priests-nuns-church/

 

[Karl.]

I thinks it's normal to lose faith in something that doesn't logically exist.

 

[Ether44mag]

is the Pope losing faith in God or Jesus ? because that Jesus shit is the bullshit that fucked everything up making people think he can come and appear to heal people and transform water into wine etc...

 

[kingblaze84]

I thinks it's normal to lose faith in something that doesn't logically exist.

It's why I asked in my first post if the Pope is getting a sense of reality that maybe Jesus is not the guy he thought he was. One thing is for sure, Jesus has no plans on removing the Pope's doubts.....

 

[kingblaze84]

is the Pope losing faith in God or Jesus ? because that Jesus shit is the bullshit that fucked everything up making people think he can come and appear to heal people and transform water into wine etc...

I think it's mostly clear the Pope is losing faith in Jesus and his abilities, his feelings on god itself I'm not sure about. Pope Francis knows deep down Jesus can't do much to help people on Earth these days but I wonder as well if he has much faith in any god at this point. I'm assuming he still has some faith, but the way he's talking lately, I would say any faith he does have is weak.

 

[Ether44mag]

is the Pope losing faith in God or Jesus ? because that Jesus shit is the bullshit that fucked everything up making people think he can come and appear to heal people and transform water into wine etc...

I think it's mostly clear the Pope is losing faith in Jesus and his abilities, his feelings on god itself I'm not sure about. Pope Francis knows deep down Jesus can't do much to help people on Earth these days but I wonder as well if he has much faith in any god at this point. I'm assuming he still has some faith, but the way he's talking lately, I would say any faith he does have is weak.

like I said earlier tho, He knows the truth ,I think he is acting like he has doubts because alot of people are leaving the religion so he wants them to feel like its normal to doubt , my opinion.

reminds me of when I was a kid and I saw pope john paul II in a parade riding in a bulletproof kind of golf cart smh

how you the Pope and you are scared to die ?? scared to go to heaven and join your friend Jesus ?? shit dont make sense to me ,you cant be the pope and be scared to die because by their logic if you die its because God says its time so...and plus if you are the pope you suppose to be going straight to heaven right ? so why was he scared ? lol

 

[kingblaze84]

is the Pope losing faith in God or Jesus ? because that Jesus shit is the bullshit that fucked everything up making people think he can come and appear to heal people and transform water into wine etc...

I think it's mostly clear the Pope is losing faith in Jesus and his abilities, his feelings on god itself I'm not sure about. Pope Francis knows deep down Jesus can't do much to help people on Earth these days but I wonder as well if he has much faith in any god at this point. I'm assuming he still has some faith, but the way he's talking lately, I would say any faith he does have is weak.

like I said earlier tho, He knows the truth ,I think he is acting like he has doubts because alot of people are leaving the religion so he wants them to feel like its normal to doubt , my opinion.

reminds me of when I was a kid and I saw pope john paul II in a parade riding in a bulletproof kind of golf cart smh

how you the Pope and you are scared to die ?? scared to go to heaven and join your friend Jesus ?? shit dont make sense to me ,you cant be the pope and be scared to die because by their logic if you die its because God says its time so...and plus if you are the pope you suppose to be going straight to heaven right ? so why was he scared ? lol

LOL yeah, maybe Pope John Paul II didn't have much faith in Jesus to protect him directly, although he's supposed to be God's "representative" on Earth. I always did laugh at that Popemobile shit, even when I was a Catholic back in the day, I wondered why the Pope would be so scared of heaven. To be fair, he was shot in the 80s so I'll cut him some slack.

I also found it very ironic Paul II ended up with a severe case of Parkinson's. I would think Jesus' representative on Earth would have it better then that, his last many years were said to be painful for him. Kind of weird for a representative of a god to have it so damn bad.

 

[Ajackson17]

Christians have doubts everyday, B.

 

[kingblaze84]

Christians have doubts everyday, B.

I wonder if the subway preachers I see a few times a month have those doubts. They always seem pretty sure non-Christians are going to hell for not believing.

 

[The Lonious Monk]

The disciples' faith constantly wavered and they had Jesus right there with them, so I don't think the Pope is saying anything that profound.

 

[kingblaze84]

The disciples' faith constantly wavered and they had Jesus right there with them, so I don't think the Pope is saying anything that profound.

The disciples' faith wavering is not that big a shock to me because they KNEW the Jewish prophecies of what the true messiah was supposed to be, so based on Jesus appearing very human and not being the war general of the Jewish prophecies, of course they were skeptical of Jesus. Jesus claimed he would fulfill the prophecies of his people, the Jews, and obviously he didn't fulfill all of them.

But considering some of the disciples claimed to see him rise from the dead and everything else, and the many books written about the "divinity" of Jesus, it's still interesting seeing an 80 something year old Pope publicly express doubts about his own faith. Private doubts I can understand, but such public ones seem a little odd to me, coming from a leader.

 

[Kwan Dai]

I don't think true believers completely lose faith. I think that our faith increases and decreases over the course of our lives. I don't believe that the increase or decrease is in the existence of God but how we demonstrate our faith through our physical and mental actions. As, an example when your faith is at a low, you don't pray at all or the frequency in which you pray decreases. Another example would be your work in the community decreases when your faith is low.

The opposite is when your faith is high you speak to people in a better tone, you give more, in other words you become more selfless and caring. As another poster has already said, this is not a religious thing but a people thing. In the end we are human beings and the things we experience in life will dictate how we worship. With that said, the goal for all believers is to always have our faith on high. Whether faced with adversity or good times we can always turn in prayer, and reverence to our creator.

 

[luke1733]

The Pope himself, a famous Christian, admitted that sometimes he doesn't even have faith in his own religion. I find that interesting as a non-religious person because I stopped being Christian at age 15 or 16 for losing faith myself. He also admitted that he re-discovers his faith after some time, but for even the Pope himself to doubt his own religion at times at his age of 80 something is stunning to me. I would understand a regular person losing faith, but the leader of a church with millions of followers?

Is this the case of reality coming through for the Pope? For anyone who is Christian or believes in a god, do you have moments where you doubt your god is even real? As a secular person, I tend to believe there is something out there, but never truly sure if it is a god or not.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-admits-darkness-own-faith-204403995.html

To answer the question. Yes. I have doubts, a lot. I also have moments where I feel certain there is a God. Which God is real, can be stressful too sometimes.

One thing for Christians is a way this can be interpreted: "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" In those words, some interpret it to be even Jesus/Joshua expressing being or feeling God's absence. So, if the son of God can feel removed from God's presence (when he embodied sin) THEN how much more so are we removed from God?

It's also said our sin inside us makes it hard for God to want to look at us. To a great degree the bible tells us that we are intentionally removed or without God (that's the definition of sin) because of our sin, our only connection (depending on your religion) is through Grace and Jesus (if a Christian) and even then we are not in full connection with God. So, yes, it is no wonder we feel we are without God. It is largely because WE ARE (with the exception of when his spirit is in you and you feel him).



So yes. I believe in God, but more so I hope in God and have faith in God.....if that makes sense to ya.

 

[luke1733]

the honesty he showing with this, esp in his position, is astounding. I cant imagine trying to live life by a certain creed and doubting that shit...thats like doubting your existence. glad my parents aint force religion on me when I was younger.

if you believe in morals and have a conscience then you're kinda doing the same thing when it comes to living by a certain creed. It's just you don't have a source as an entity that you believe issued the creed. Nonetheless, your creed, is followed or broken and your conscience/spirit deals with it.

 

[kingblaze84]

I don't think true believers completely lose faith. I think that our faith increases and decreases over the course of our lives. I don't believe that the increase or decrease is in the existence of God but how we demonstrate our faith through our physical and mental actions. As, an example when your faith is at a low, you don't pray at all or the frequency in which you pray decreases. Another example would be your work in the community decreases when your faith is low.

The opposite is when your faith is high you speak to people in a better tone, you give more, in other words you become more selfless and caring. As another poster has already said, this is not a religious thing but a people thing. In the end we are human beings and the things we experience in life will dictate how we worship. With that said, the goal for all believers is to always have our faith on high. Whether faced with adversity or good times we can always turn in prayer, and reverence to our creator.

A lot of that makes sense, if a religious person runs through enough adversity or doesn't feel their faith is being validated in some kind of way, they might drift away from what they believe. For me, it wasn't so much adversity as it was that I didn't feel my faith in my younger days was being validated. I didn't feel that there was enough to back up my previous beliefs in Jesus being a god or savior.

But for those who still do believe in Christianity or whatever religion, I suppose the goal is to at least try to keep the faith high. Considering the state of the world though, I'm still surprised at people who still manage to keep their religious beliefs high.