Questions of Faith It’s often said by theologians that before the Incarnation, history was pregnant with Christ – that is to say, history itself was waiting for God to enter into humanity. It’s a powerful and almost poetic idea, that the world was preparing and anticipating for this momentous point in time. But was there…
Questions of Faith A common question that often puzzles believers and non-believers alike concerns God’s hiddenness. The question might look something like this: “If God wants us to know and believe in him, why doesn’t he present himself more explicitly, perhaps through a miracle? If God can do anything, surely this is the first thing…
Questions of Faith It can seem odd to non-believers that at a certain point every year, Catholics abstain from certain practices considered comfortable, or adopt new behaviours aimed at improving their spiritual lives. While initially this may sound slightly off-the-wall, there’s a very good reason behind it. The season of Lent lasts 40 days (technically…
Questions of Faith One common argument presented against religious people is that faith is completely incompatible with science and the empirical method. The sentence might go something like this: “I only believe in what we can see, analyse and prove, whereas religion says we should believe ideas based solely on faith. They’re completely contradictory.”…
Questions of Faith Most people have heard of or watched pseudo-Christian movies like The Da Vinci Code or Stigmata which make claims that Jesus had a secret marriage with Mary Magdalene or that the Kingdom of God is in all of us. The role of these movies is to sensationalise commonly accepted teachings about Christianity…
Questions of Faith There’s an old saying, usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, which points out that there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes. While Franklin’s economic predictions may not hold water in some distant society of the future, his first point about our mortality certainly rings true. We all die. Religions…
Questions of Faith The problem of suffering, sometimes academically referred to as ‘theodicy’, is a troublesome topic everybody wrestles with, both spiritually and intellectually. It’s been phrased in many different ways, but the most famous version of the question is attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus: “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not…
Questions of Faith It’s no secret that Catholics believe Mary is the Mother of God, a fate she learned about at the Annunciation. According to the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel came to Mary as a young virgin and said: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now,…
Questions of Faith The Sacrament of Confession can seem not only a daunting practice for many Catholics but also a bizarre one – privately asking for forgiveness from God for your sins makes sense, but confessing them to a priest seems weird. Why not go past the middle man and straight to God? It’s not…
Questions of Faith In the last few decades there has been a resurging belief within popular culture and even among Christians that God created Jesus – and this is no small number. A survey conducted by Lifeway Research a few years ago, which interviewed 3,000 Americans about their theological views, revealed that 78% believed that…
Colm Fitzpatrick