Another One Bites the Dust

Another 'well known Catholic' that I've never heard of has left the Church. Mr Griffey has some thoughts. I will pray for her. Choosing hell is a frightening thought.

From Daffey Thoughts

By David Griffey

Or ditches the Christian Faith. Dave Armstrong goes through the minutes of the reasoning. I have never heard of Audrey Assad. Apparently she is, or was, a big name in music, at least for Christians. She's done with all that God stuff now, concluding that the modern Faith of Science has debunked all that made up folk tale gibberish we call religion. At the end of the day, that's why she left.

For all the unpacking Dave does, and he does an admirable job, I think it's simple.  She no longer believes and, most likely, hadn't believed for some time.  A great many in our churches likely don't anymore. They can't bring themselves to do what she's done because they don't know where else to go.  Thinking of the implications of a religionless world is terrifying.  This is all you get, then a feast for maggots and your objectively valueless life is forgotten about in a generation and that's it?  So they hang on, not believing it in their gut of guts, until a chance to bolt finally appears. 

Oh, we have that secular paganism, that 'heavenly birthday' and 'we pray to something' or such at times of crisis. Just enough fluff to paste over the implications of a truly secular universe.  But it's not much, and means less. Therefore many are no doubt where she was.  She may give this or that reason, the Church is thus, or the Church judges, or the Church intolerant, or hypocrites as good as always.

But that's all rubbish.  From non-religious hypocrites to intolerant atheists, the idea that these problems in the Church aren't found anywhere else is demonstrably false.  After a few days in the real world, it isn't difficult to discover in the fields of secular living the same problems.  

But it ultimately does not matter that they are wrong about such reasons, because the people who say 'too much politics' or 'too intolerant' aren't leaving for those reasons.  They are leaving because they no longer believe in 1) God, 2) Christ, 3) the Bible, or 4) Religion.  They've been taught those things have long been debunked by Science.  They believed the Secular Faith for years, perhaps without realizing it, but couldn't bring themselves to admit what Ms. Assad has admitted. 

More and more don't believe in God or the Holy Spirit any more than they believe in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy.  I'm not a talented enough writer to find a way to emphasize just how urgent a crisis this is, but: 

PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE IN THE CHRSITIAN RELIGION ANY MORE!    

Not the Bible, not the stories of the Bible, not any particular God if any at all,  not in some God Incarnate Messiah born in a stable, Miracles, Eternal Life, or any of it.  Certainly none of it as presented by the historical Christian Faith.  And that means more and has farther reaching implications than I think we can fathom. 

As I said, there's likely just enough nod to a 'vague spirit energy something when we die' to cover the awful implications of a truly materialistic philosophy, but that's all there is.  Otherwise, the Biblical stories and doctrines of the Faith mean absolutely nothing to them because they don't believe in them. Because our society has been a secular society and has preached and proselytized the belief in secularism for decades.  

If I may be brutally honest, most of our traditions have foolishly tried to meet this secularism halfway when there was no halfway between 'no God' and 'One God, maker of heaven and earth.'  We may have thought we were bringing them from 'no God' to at least 'some God', but all along they were bringing us from 'One God', to merely 'some sort of God'.  And in a secular age where secularism has been the universal faith for some time, that's a small step to no God of any meaning at all. 

That's why people are leaving in ever growing droves.  At least they're leaving and admitting it. Honesty about one's state of affairs is always best.  I fear many more in our churches are where she already was, even if she had to find reasons to justify no longer staying there.  I fear that a great many of our leaders, even in the highest places, no longer believe it either.  

How else can we account for people who no more than a few years ago swore things to be the revealed truth of the Thrice Holy God who now set those same things aside under mild pressure from the World?  How much did they really believe?  And if those teachings and morals can be tossed aside, how much else can and will join them?