{"id":1753,"date":"2010-02-09T09:08:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-09T16:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/"},"modified":"2010-02-04T20:56:20","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T03:56:20","slug":"evaporating-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaporating faith?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reclaimingthemind.org\/blog\/2010\/02\/a-response-to-two-women-losing-their-faith\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ParchmentAndPen+%28Parchment+and+Pen%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">A Response to Christians Losing Their Faith<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As many of you know, I have written much about the epidemic of people losing their faith. It is not only a concern, but an obsession of mine. Because of this, I engage with quite a few people on the issue. I often feel as if I serve as a last chance stop for many who are in their darkest hour, heading out the door of Christianity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thus begins a very thoughtful article with many useful links, which is worth reading completely, and saving, for that dark day when you realize your own faith has waned.<\/p>\n<p>Many people suffer through periods where they question everything they ever believed.&nbsp; This includes people who have done great things in service to the Kingdom (whether or not they are recognized as such by the world or the church).&nbsp; Some of the greatest saints of history have had to endure this, and some have been in this state for years, or decades.<\/p>\n<p>I think one of the most difficult aspects of this may be that it is difficult to be open with other Christians about it.&nbsp;&nbsp; It&#8217;s easier to hide and pretend than to put up with the people who try to argue you out of it, or don&#8217;t take it seriously, or just tell you to pray about it.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, I think it&#8217;s crucial for Christians in this position to find someone with whom they can share the entire thing.&nbsp; The person with whom they share needs to be someone they respect and trust, someone who has a decent background in scripture and apologetics, though professional training isn&#8217;t required.<\/p>\n<p>I think the very worst aspect of this for the suffering Christian may be the crushing sense of being alone, of being unable to share it with someone.<\/p>\n<p>I think that means that we should probably be talking a bit more about the fact that this DOES happen, and is not evidence that the sufferer is a bad person, a failed Christian, or whatever.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>We should bear one another&#8217;s burdens.&nbsp; And we should not create a church-culture where expressing doubts, even very deep ones, is not acceptable.<\/p>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\"><img class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/pixy.gif?x-id=fd3157cf-0c11-852d-906f-52262c216d6b\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1753\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1753\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1753\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/?share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Response to Christians Losing Their Faith As many of you know, I have written much about the epidemic of people losing their faith. It is not only a concern, but an obsession of mine. Because of this, I engage with quite a few people on the issue. I often feel as if I serve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1753\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1753\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1753\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/?share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/09\/evaporating-faith\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[34,111,21],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2fhbS-sh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1753"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1754,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753\/revisions\/1754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}