The major challenges to my Faith include many things including: laziness, the media, peer pressure. I think laziness is easily the biggest hindrance to my Faith in God. Faith requires lots of practice; waking up on the weekend and going to church, praying on your own time, and reading scripture. Many of those things I am unwilling to do in my life because of none other than human laziness. Laziness also plays a role into even my thinking and reflecting upon Faith. I am often unwilling, unless pushed, to reflect upon my Faith in God. Laziness can often hinder me in other areas of my life, but most prominently in my Faith because I am not going to get in trouble if I do not pray, no will know if I do not pray, and there is no immediate incentive to pray from other individuals.
The media often influences the way we think, act, and feel. The media can change the way you dress, the ways you treat people, and even your Faith in God. The media can often lead us into a state of questioning the worth of religion, which can be beneficial depending on the way you react. The media often shows the fun side of things and it may portray religion as bland and useless. The media can also take you into a whirlwind state of practical atheism which means for all practical reasons you use religion for things such as a church marriage or use your creed as means of getting something in return even if you do not believe in it. People always contemplate and want a huge, beautiful church wedding but often the people who want it the most are the one’s who do not believe what the church stands for and what a church wedding signifies. The media influences me personally although I do not realize it always. The media does not portray religion and worshiping God as the “cool” thing to do and whether or not I am aware of these messages it affects me.
Another challenges to my Faith in God is the people around me. Again many times people suffer ridicule for going to mass or letting their Faith in God play a part in their decision making process. I have personally seen this first hand at parties when people are ridiculed for doing something they do not want to do and are called “Jesus freaks.” Displays such as these can change my mind about displaying any sort of outward sign of Faith in God. Often peers can only accept what science tells them and deny any sort of Faith response to many things. Science should not be looked upon as absolute truth, but often science is portrayed as the only thing which can give us certain truth.
All these things in my life challenge me to even believe in God. We should all be aware of challenges around us and be able to discern between right and wrong and believe in what is just and true.
