THE CATHOLIC FAITH EXPLAINED
THE CATHOLIC FAITH EXPLAINED Fr Stephen Wang
All booklets are published thanks to the generosity of the supporters of the Catholic Truth Society
Contents Introduction..................................................................................................... 7 How to use this book..................................................................................... 8 THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS............................................................. 11 1A The impossibility of sitting still........................................................... 12 1B What is happiness?............................................................................... 15 1C How to press the pause button......................................................... 18 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD....................................................................... 25 2A Why bother thinking about religion?................................................ 26 2B Five reasons not to believe in God................................................... 29 2C Arguments for the existence of God............................................... 33 A GOD WHO SPEAKS.............................................................................. 39 3A The hiddenness of God....................................................................... 40 3B When God broke the silence.............................................................. 43 3C Discovering the face of God.............................................................. 46 WHO IS JESUS?.......................................................................................... 53 4A He came to bring life to the world.................................................... 54 4B The saving death of Jesus................................................................... 57 4C The meaning of the Resurrection.................................................... 60 THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH............................................... 67 5A How the Holy Spirit can change your life....................................... 68 5B No one gets into heaven alone...........................................................71 5C Why we need signs, symbols and sacraments............................... 75 THE BIBLE.................................................................................................... 81 6A What is the Bible?................................................................................. 82 6B Can we trust the Bible?....................................................................... 85 6C How the Bible can change your life................................................. 89 FAITH............................................................................................................ 95 7A What is faith?...........................................................................................96 7B Are Christians just stupid or are there good reasons to believe?......99 7C How to take a step of faith............................................................... 102
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PRAYER.......................................................................................................109 8A What is prayer?.................................................................................... 110 8B Does prayer make a difference?...................................................... 114 8C How to pray.......................................................................................... 117 FINDING TRUE FREEDOM...................................................................123 9A Is there such a thing as right and wrong?...................................... 124 9B Where can we find moral guidance?.............................................. 127 9C How do you discover your true identity?......................................130 THE MEANING OF LOVE......................................................................137 10A What is love?...................................................................................... 138 10B How to love your neighbour.......................................................... 141 10C The love of God................................................................................ 145 THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY..........................................................151 11A The Christian Creed......................................................................... 152 11B The Light of Christ............................................................................ 155 11C The Holy Trinity.................................................................................158 CREATION, FALL, REDEMPTION.......................................................165 12A The goodness of creation............................................................... 166 12B Suffering and sin............................................................................... 169 12C The gift of salvation......................................................................... 173 THE COMMUNITY OF CHURCH........................................................179 13A Why do we need the Church?....................................................... 180 13B The special place of the Catholic Church................................... 183 13C Being Catholic today........................................................................ 187 THE SACRAMENTS OF BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION . .......195 14A The power of the sacraments and the liturgy........................... 196 14B How baptism can change your life...............................................200 14C Confirmation and the gift of the Holy Spirit..............................203 THE HOLY EUCHARIST.........................................................................209 15A The meaning of the Mass............................................................... 210
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15B The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.............................. 214 15C The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass..................................................... 218 FORGIVENESS, CONFESSION, HEALING AND MISSION...........225 16A Forgiveness and the sacrament of confession.......................... 226 16B Healing and the sacrament of the sick........................................230 16C Christian mission and the call to share our faith.......................234 SINGLE LIFE, MARRIAGE, ORDINATION, CONSECRATION .....241 17A The meaning of vocation................................................................ 242 17B Marriage and family life................................................................... 245 17C Ordination and consecrated life.................................................... 249 THE SOCIAL TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH............. 257 18A The dignity of the human person and the right to life............258 18B Christian teaching about family and society.............................. 262 18C Speaking the truth and following conscience............................ 266 THE ADVENTURE OF PRAYER............................................................273 19A The amazing adventure of prayer................................................. 274 19B Four basic ways of praying............................................................. 277 19C Prayers and devotions to help you through the day................ 281 THE HOPE OF HEAVEN........................................................................289 20A Death, judgement, and our longing for eternal life..................290 20B Holiness, the saints, and our hope for heaven..........................293 20C What Catholics believe about the Blessed Virgin Mary......... 297 GOING DEEPER...................................................................................... 304 Online videos and websites....................................................................304 Books............................................................................................................305
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Introduction Many people are seeking to explore the Christian faith, or deepen the faith that they already have. Sycamore looks at the central beliefs and practices of Catholic Christianity, and the most common questions that people raise. It’s written in a conversational style, with stories and anecdotes to bring the ideas alive. At the heart of each chapter there is a clear presentation of what exactly Christians believe and why this faith is especially important today. Topics include the search for happiness, the existence of God, the death and Resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Church, the Bible, the gift of faith, and the power of prayer. There are chapters about the seven sacraments, the moral and social teaching of the Church, the Christian vocation, Mary and the saints, and the hope of heaven. This book grew out of a course that has been used in Christian churches and chaplaincies around the world. You can find out more about the course at the Sycamore website, which includes information for Christian leaders about how to run Sycamore in your local communities: www.sycamore.fm
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THE CATHOLIC FAITH EXPLAINED
Why the name “Sycamore”? In the Bible, Jesus comes to the town of Jericho. A man called Zacchaeus is so curious about Jesus that he climbs a Sycamore tree to get a better view. When he finally meets him, they begin a conversation, and his life is changed for ever. Sycamore is meant to help you get a better view on the big questions of life, so you can find the best way forward.
How to use this book Questions for reflection: These questions help you connect your
own life with the ideas that are being presented in each section. They were originally used in the context of group discussions. Some of them are very simple and personal because they were designed as ice-breakers to help people get to know each other. Some of them go a lot deeper. Wisdom from the Bible: These pages bring together quotations
from Holy Scripture that are relevant to each chapter. They show how Christian teaching is rooted in the Word of God which speaks to us through the words of the Bible. The quotations can be used in your personal prayer or meditation. If you are running a prayer group or a Bible study group then you can reflect on the passages together. Readings from YOUCAT: The passages from the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church will help you deepen your understanding of each topic. YOUCAT is not just for young people, but for any adults wanting a clear and attractive explanation of the Christian faith. The text of YOUCAT is not available online, but you can order a copy from the Catholic Truth Society and look up the relevant paragraphs. 8
INTRODUCTION
Longer readings from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: These
passages will enable you to go even deeper. Here you can find references to the main Catechism of the Catholic Church, which presents the Christian faith in all its fullness. The text of the Catechism is available online (see the website links on page 304), or you can order a copy of the book from the Catholic Truth Society. Explore the Sycamore films: Each chapter in this book is based
on a film from the Sycamore programme. You can watch the twenty individual films online here: www.sycamore.fm/videos Watch the short videos: Each of the sub-sections within each
chapter has its own short video associated with it (e.g. 1B “What is happiness?” or 4C “The meaning of the Resurrection”). You can watch the sixty “Sycamore Shorts” on the Sycamore website: www.sycamore.fm/shorts or on YouTube: https://www. youtube.com/c/SycamoreSeek Going deeper: At the end of the book there is a short list of
websites and books that will help you continue to explore the Christian faith.
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1A THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SITTING STILL
1B WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
1C HOW TO PRESS THE PAUSE BUTTON
CHAPTER 1
THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS
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1A The impossibility of sitting still
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grew up on an ordinary street, in an ordinary town near the city of St Albans in Hertfordshire. But at the bottom of the hill where we lived was a river that ran down the east side of town. I’d play there with my brother at the weekends or after school. It was a place of incredible discovery and adventure. We’d dig in the riverbed, looking for lost treasure: a discarded bottle or a bicycle wheel. We’d hide in the reeds, pretending to be cowboys. Or we’d follow the course of the water, racing along the river bank, not knowing where it would lead us, wondering how far we dared to go before mum wanted us back for supper. Now these were just children’s games. But it says something about the human heart that is true for adults as much as it is for children. On the one hand, we like safety and security: family and friends; food in the fridge; a bed to sleep in; a door to lock at night. We are very domestic creatures, and the idea of home is almost built into us like an internal compass. I think it explains why Grand Designs and a hundred other TV programmes about housebuilding are so popular. 12
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On the other hand, we long for adventure, romance, and a little bit of drama. We get easily bored. The writer Jack London said that our deepest purpose is to live, and not just to exist. You see this in all the great road movies, when the hero leaves home, willingly or unwillingly, and discovers the freedom of the road. You see this in every classic Western, when the cowboy gets on his horse and rides into the wilderness, looking for riches or romance, or both. It’s the Greek mythology of The Odyssey; it’s Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz; it’s Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. It’s the idea of being on a quest. I can recall my very first memory. I was nearly three, tucked up in bed, and my father woke me in the middle of the night. He carried me into the living room and sat me on his lap in front of the TV. I distinctly remember the darkness of the room, and the glow of the screen, as we looked at these grainy black and white images of the very first moon landing.
THE CATHOLIC FAITH EXPLAINED
I think Dad wanted me to be part of that great adventure, even if I didn’t fully understand what it meant at the time. To see Neil Armstrong stepping down from the lunar module onto the surface of the moon. To see that there is always something beyond – beyond the horizon. He was teaching me never to get too settled, or too complacent. There is a restlessness in every human heart. It’s good to acknowledge it now and then. We’re searching for something. We’re made for something more. It doesn’t mean I need to pack up my bags and walk out the door: probably not a good idea. But at least I can give myself permission to listen to the deepest longings of my heart and ask the question: What am I really searching for?
Questions for reflection What games or activities did you enjoy as a child? What was your greatest adventure? What part of the world did you grow up in and what was it like growing up? What questions did you have when you were a child? What did you wonder about?
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1B What is happiness?
Y
ou may have seen videos of the famous “marshmallow test” that was done at an American university in the 1970s. A young child sits at a table with a single marshmallow on a plate in front of them. The adult tells them they have a choice: they can either eat the marshmallow straight away, or if they wait for fifteen minutes without eating it, they will be given a second marshmallow – and then they can eat them both. The adult leaves the room. And you see the agony of these children, one after the other, trying not to eat the marshmallow: staring intently at it; looking up at the ceiling and pretending it’s not there; touching it; sniffing it; sometimes taking the tiniest nibble from the corner; and sometimes just giving up completely and gulping down the whole piece. The experiment is about self-control and desire, and what this says about us as human beings. Sometimes desire is uncomplicated. We want food, friendship, freedom, love, security. We want the things in front of us. We want the things we don’t have. If you’ve been fired, you want a new job. If you’ve lost your keys, you want to find them. If you’re practising for your driving test, you hope you can pass the first time. But sometimes we realise we are looking for something more. 15
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The Greek philosopher Aristotle said we are all searching for happiness, even if we can’t agree on where to find it. Now that might sound a bit superficial. Go to Piccadilly Circus in central London and you see those huge digital adverts like giant TV screens. And the main one, right in the centre, is an enormous bottle of Coca Cola with the words “Open Happiness” floating above it. Cross the road and walk into McDonald’s and you can buy a Happy Meal to guarantee that your children will be… well…happy! But Aristotle meant something deeper than a Chicken McNugget or a glass of Coke. He believed that true happiness is found in a life that has meaning and purpose. It’s to do with the way I live, and the kind of person I am, and not just with the things I have. How do you know what’s really important to you? One simple way is to look in your diary, and then in your wallet. What have you spent your time and money on over the last week? It tells you a lot about your priorities and what you think is the meaning of your life.
CHAPTER 1: THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS
I did an experiment with a group of students once. I said to them: If you knew the world was going to end in one hour, what would you do? It was half fun and half serious. One said, “I’d ring my mum.” One said, “I’d pray.” Another said, “I’d go down to the pub and get smashed.” Someone else, with James Bond fantasies said, “I’d steal a helicopter and fly into the distant horizon.” What are we looking for? What is happiness? I don’t think there’s a simple answer. And perhaps if we think about it too much it tends to disappear. Edith Warton said: “If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.” But imagine if you only had one hour left, or one week. What would you do? Who would you call? Where would you go? And when you get your answer, it’s still worth thinking: Is that it? Or is there something more?
Questions for reflection What do you think people are looking for most in their lives? What is happiness? Is it possible to find? If you knew the world was going to end in one hour, what would you do?
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1C How to press the pause button
A
few years ago Susan Maushart and her three teenage children began what they called “The Experiment”. For six months, as a family, they came off the grid and did a digital detox – no Wi-Fi, no internet, no music or video streaming, no smartphones. Normal life went on: they weren’t living in a shack in the outback. But it wasn’t the normal they had known up to that point. You can read about it in her wonderful book, The Winter of Our Disconnect. I’m not recommending this to everyone. And I love my smartphone! But most of us, most of the time, would admit that we are too busy and too stressed and in need of a detox. We are busy with work or studies; we are busy with family and relationships. And when we are not busy, we are desperately trying to be busy; when there is a gap or some downtime, we are desperate to fill the silence with noise and digital distractions. Adult internet usage in the UK averages about four hours per day, but it’s five hours for young adults, and six hours in the States. We expect instant gratification: an immediate answer from Google, an immediate delivery from Amazon, all twenty-four 18
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episodes of the latest series on Netflix to binge-watch this weekend. It’s like being on water skis. We are going incredibly fast, and maybe having a great time, but we have absolutely no control over where the speedboat is taking us. So what can you do? At the student centre where I work we run a few de-stressing activities, especially during the exam periods: relaxation classes; counselling sessions; football in the park. And because this is England we also have afternoon tea. This year we did an experiment and gave out three hundred stress balls at church one Sunday, thinking that if all else fails it’s better to throw a small foam object across the room than a laptop out the window. But people are searching for more than rest or relaxation. There is a real hunger for stillness and silence, to step back from the rush of life and make space for reflection. It’s a human need; I’d even call it a spiritual need. It’s partly why mindfulness has become so popular today. It’s why most cultures, traditionally, have had a Sabbath day, a day of rest. Maybe this is coming back: I read recently that some supermarkets are experimenting with a ‘quiet hour’ on Saturday mornings when they turn the sound-system off. You can still shop as usual, but without the in-store music and announcements. In the Bible, the prophet Elijah expected to find God in the noise of the wind and the earthquake and the fire, but in the end he found him just outside the cave, in the sound of sheer silence. Many religious traditions speak about the symbol of the desert: leaving the city and the noise behind and going into the wilderness, in order to get some perspective. Not to escape to another world, but to rediscover what is truly important in your own world.
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This is hard! How can you create little moments of reflection, desert moments, when the kids are screaming and you’ve missed the latest deadline at work? I really need one or two moments of stillness and silence each day, however brief. A little bit of quiet in the morning before I check my phone for messages; a brief pause before the next meeting; a short prayer at the end of the day. The poet TS Eliot said that there are some things we can only hear “in the stillness between two waves of the sea.” I don’t know how you personally can press the pause button. It might seem impossible. I just know how important it is.
Questions for reflection What helps you to relax and de-stress? What advice would you give someone who says they are too busy? How would you cope without your smart phone or the internet?
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WISDOM FROM THE BIBLE Psalm 46:10
The Lord says: Be still, and know that I am God! Psalm 23:1-3
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. Deuteronomy 4:29
You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul. 1 Kings 19:11-13
[The Lord said to Elijah] “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Matthew 7:7-11
[Jesus said] “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
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John 14:27
[Jesus said] “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” John 16:33
[Jesus said] “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”
READINGS FROM YOUCAT Foreword – Pope Benedict XVI 279 to 290 – freedom and the search for happiness
LONGER READINGS FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 1716 to 1729 – the search for happiness 1730 to 1748 – human freedom NB the numbers refer to paragraph numbers and not to page numbers.
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2A WHY BOTHER THINKING ABOUT RELIGION?
2B FIVE REASONS NOT TO BELIEVE IN GOD
2C ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
CHAPTER 2
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
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2A Why bother thinking about religion?
M
y full name is Fr Stephen Wei-Jon Wang. You can probably guess from the name that I come from a mixed race family, and that my parents and grandparents had very different cultural and religious roots. My Scottish grandmother was Anglican, then Catholic; my English grandfather was Methodist, then Quaker, then Anglican; my Chinese grandfather was brought up in a Protestant church and then settled in an Anglican parish when he emigrated to England; and my Chinese grandmother remained Buddhist all her life. Most families have some kind of religion somewhere in the background. But things have changed, at least in the West, over the last few decades. A recent survey showed that for the first time since records began, over half the people of the UK say they have no religious affiliation at all. Some of these might say they are “spiritual but not religious.” This is part of a bigger story that has been called “the Death of God”. People have been predicting for over two hundred years that with modern science, better healthcare, public education and greater affluence, there would be no more need for religion. Why bother praying when you have Amazon Alexa to
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CHAPTER 2: THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
answer all your questions and deliver all your needs? (“Alexa! Order me a pepperoni and mushroom pizza!”) But is this story really true? In reality, religious faith is growing in most parts of the world. Globally, people who say they belong to a religion make up eighty-four per cent of the world’s population. And that percentage is not shrinking but growing every year! Now of course this doesn’t prove there is a God, or that religions are a force for good. But it proves that the question of God hasn’t gone away, and that religious faith is a very real part of life for many people. A well-known book that looked at these surprising facts had the simple title God is Back. Religious questions are almost built into our human nature, even if people disagree wildly about the answers: Where does the world come from? What’s the meaning of my life? Is there life after death? Many centuries ago there was an Anglo-Saxon king in the north of England called Edwin. Most of the country was completely pagan at this time, but a Christian monk called Paulinus went to meet the king and tell him about the Christian story. Edwin wasn’t sure what to make of it, but one of his advisers, a strong northern warrior, spoke these words to his king: “Your majesty, we sit here in this hall, safe from the storm outside, with a fire to warm us. We see a sparrow fly into the hall through one door, and then straight out through another – vanishing from sight. This is what our life is like. We appear on this earth for a brief time, but we know nothing of what went before or what comes after. If this Christian teaching can shed some light on the mysteries of our existence, then surely we should be open to it!” All religions tell a story. All religions, in their different ways, are trying to answer these huge questions about God and creation and life and death. In most cultures, and throughout most of
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history, these have been urgent and important questions, and they have been at the very centre of people’s lives. In much of Western society today, it seems harder to ask them. We are more interested in the sparrow flying through the hall, we are fascinated by this beautiful bird, but we are less interested in what lies beyond the doors. I think there is a religious hunger in many people, or a spiritual hunger that hasn’t found a language to express itself. But there is also a hesitation. These questions make us vulnerable, and we are not sure where they might take us. It would be strange to ignore them, but risky to get them wrong. The first question though, on which all the others depend, is much simpler and more personal, and it’s this: Is it worth exploring?
Questions for reflection What were the religious beliefs and practices of your parents and grandparents? Did have any religious traditions growing up at home or in your school? Are the people around you mainly religious or non-religious? What are the main religions in your area? What do you know about them?
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2B Five reasons not to believe in God
I
f you use Facebook, you are probably sick of these stupid “personality” questionnaires popping up every few days, and the excited responses from your friends. Which celebrity are you most suited to marry? Which superhero do you most resemble? What type of animal best mirrors your beautiful inner self? Well here’s my own questionnaire, to help you work out where you are on the “what on earth do I believe” scale. Are you a theist? There is a God. Maybe he talks to us, maybe he doesn’t. But he’s definitely there – somewhere. Are you an atheist? You simply don’t believe in the existence of God. Full-stop. Are you an agnostic? Maybe there’s a God; maybe there isn’t; but we will never know the truth this side of heaven. Are you a something-ist? I guess there must be something out there, but I haven’t a clue what he or she or it is; and I’m not sure whether it makes any difference anyway. Or are you a too-busy-and-too-tired-to-think-about-it-ist? OK, maybe it’s important, but I just don’t have the time to get into this religious stuff at the moment. I’m too busy with deadlines and demands. Life gets in the way. I’m exhausted. 29
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Now this is just a bit of fun. I’m half-joking. But there is a serious point. There are so many different kinds of beliefs and nonbeliefs and half-beliefs. That’s even before we start looking at the different religions. And there are so many different reasons not to believe in God. I don’t just mean the deep reasons that philosophers give (although they are important); I mean the real reasons that often lead people to give up on the search for God. Sometimes it’s the whole “science vs religion” thing; the idea that modern science can answer every deep human question; as if there is some conflict between using your brain and believing in God. Sometimes we grow up in a family or a culture where people don’t take these questions seriously. If no one around you is interested in religious questions, or if they are hostile, then it takes a lot of courage to explore them. We might be afraid of not fitting in. People might think I’m weird! Sometimes our images of God are so strange that it becomes impossible to take him seriously. If I think he is an old man with a beard sitting in the clouds like Santa Claus, or an angry tyrant trying to catch me out every time I break the rules, then of course I look elsewhere to find something that will give my life meaning. In my work as a priest, I’ve found that there are two very common situations that lead people to lose their faith in God or in religion. One is the experience of suffering: How can I believe in a loving God when there is so much suffering in the world? Or when I am going through a struggle or a tragedy that seems to have no meaning? The other is the bad example of believers. Some people have a terrible impression of religious people. How can I join this community when it seems to be full of such hypocrites, and
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when it has done so much harm through history, and when it still seems to be doing harm today? There are so many good reasons to doubt the existence of God, and to resist the idea of religion. Genuine reasons. The trouble is, even when you acknowledge these reasons, the religious questions remain! “Where does everything come from? What is the meaning of human life? Why do we suffer? Is there life after death? Is there a God?” You can criticise the bad answers – and you should! But it’s hard to criticise the questions. I think they are universal, and they won’t go away. Part of the challenge is simply acknowledging their importance, and being willing to search for some answers.
Questions for reflection Why do you think many people find it hard to believe in God? Do you know anyone who has lost their religious faith? Why did they lose it? Do you know anyone who has converted to a new religious faith? Why did they convert?
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2C Arguments for the existence of God
S
omeone once joked: “If only God would give me some kind of clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.” It would be very nice! But for most people the spiritual journey is a bit more complicated. I grew up in a Christian family. Mum used to say prayers with me at bedtime. And even though my primary school wasn’t particularly religious, the headmaster would lead a prayer at the end of the assembly each morning. But I lost whatever faith I had, and gradually shrugged off religion. Almost unconsciously, I had become an atheist. It would take a long time to explain how that young atheist came to faith and then went on to become a Catholic priest. I won’t give you a blow-by-blow account. I was happy at school, with a great group of friends, and a long list of teenage obsessions: sport, music, art, clothes. But there were nagging questions that kept coming back to me; and I couldn’t find answers to them at home or at school. I had questions about the world: Where does everything come from? I knew that science will explain one thing in terms of another; it will tell you why one thing caused another thing. But 33
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it will never tell you what is the ultimate cause of everything. As one philosopher put it: “Why is there something rather than nothing at all?” I had questions about the beauty of the universe. All this goodness and beauty and order: Where does it all come from? What really does it mean? I know that some people will jump in and say: It’s just the laws of nature; it’s science. You just need to do your physics, your chemistry, your biology. And I know that’s partly true. Science can explain many amazing things. But it doesn’t explain how the very first, most fundamental laws of nature came to exist in the first place. What is their ultimate cause? I had questions, more personal ones, about my own life. I had a kind of intuition that there must be a deeper purpose to life, and a meaning that went beyond death. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I just felt that we were made for something more. Sometimes I had a sense that there was a deeper mystery in the background, a light behind the curtain, especially if I visited a church or had some quiet time by myself to think. And one or two Christians I knew made a deep impression on me. They were very ordinary people, but they had a sense of peace and purpose within them that was very rare. I’m not saying they were saints, but there was something different about them, as if their lives had been touched by God. These were the things, very gradually, that changed me. Without realising it, I was thinking through some of the classic arguments for the existence of God. People have been puzzling about these things since the dawn of time: the existence of the world; its beauty and order; our spiritual intuitions; our longing for eternal life. These are fascinating questions, and they are worth looking into. And when you put them together, there is a coherence. They are all pointing to something. They are all asking the 34
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same question, but in different ways: Is there something more? Is there something beyond the horizon? I think there are good reasons to believe in the existence of God. There are good reasons, at least, for an atheist to doubt their atheism! If you don’t believe, the very fact of taking these questions seriously is an important step. You can believe there might be a deeper mystery behind the universe, even if you are not yet sure what it is or how to find it.
Questions for reflection What are your own thoughts about the existence of God? Do you think there are any good reasons to believe in God? Or is your faith based on something more than reason? Who are the most impressive religious people you know personally, or from the news or from history?
WISDOM FROM THE BIBLE Jeremiah 51:15
It is the Lord who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. Genesis 1:1-5
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. Job 12:7-10
But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. Acts 17:22-24
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth…” Romans 1:20
Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. 36
Romans 11:33-36
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen. Revelation 4:11
You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.
READINGS FROM YOUCAT 3 to 6 – the search for God 352 to 357 – the First Commandment (“I am the Lord
your God”)
LONGER READINGS FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 27 to 49 – the search for God 2084 to 2128 – the First Commandment (“I am the Lord
your God”) NB the numbers refer to paragraph numbers and not to page numbers.
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