Challenges to faith/Faith Journal
By: Jason Nienhaus
1. Summarize the key idea of the section.
- The key
idea of this section is that atheism and science are two of the main challenges
to Faith. There are several ways in which atheism can be expressed, ranging
from the nihilistic views of Friedrich Nietzsche who said, “God is dead,” and
tried to disprove the existence of God, to the materialistic Thomas Hobbes who believed
that, “The life of man is solitary,” and that there was nothing beyond the
physical reality of the world. An important difference between these men’s
views and those of the Church is the difference in how morality is defined. For
the atheists, they believe in relative morality in which means that a person’s
morals depend on that person’s perspective and decisions. The Church on the
other hand believes in objective morality which means there is a universal set
of moral values.
2. List and explain two of the most important ideas you want to remember from this section.
- 1) One
important idea that I want to remember is the threat of becoming lazy in one’s
faith and falling into a state of practical atheism. Practical atheism is when
a person who has been baptized in the Church simply calls themselves a Catholic
without reflecting any of the true characteristics or faith of a Catholic
believer.
2) Another important thing I would like to remember is how the media influenced those people represented in the video The Merchants of Cool. Many of the teenagers represented in this video were highly influenced by society, TV shows such as MTV, and the music industry. When I look at these people, I think it is important to look at how I am affected by society and if it is a deciding factor in who I am.
3. An image that reminds me of this section.
-This image reminds me of one of my challenges of faith: World Events. When I look at wars over religious beliefs and the horrible events in which many are hurt, I cannot help but have doubts of God's existence.
4. For me, the
greatest challenges to faith are past experiences in my life and in world
events and the problem of evil. One of the main examples of a world event is
the 9/11 attack on the
Another challenge to faith is that between school, rifle practice, homework, dinner, and another rifle club during the week, I rarely have the time to just relax, much less pray. By the time Sunday comes around, I feel that sleep is much more worth my time than Mass.