Mother Teresa Doubted The Existence Of God
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At the end of her life Mother Teresa expressed profound doubt about the existence of God according to a new collection of her letters. Read the links below :
http://homepage.mac.com/larryhol/iblog/C1482802393/E20070824204404/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nica-lalli/mother-teresas-doubts_1_b_63376.html
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one more link :
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html
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just as so many in India doubted her charity work !
anyway, she's not the only one doubting the Jesus fairy tale, the popes at Vatican all knew it was just a hoax to gain power and wealth !
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THE DARK LETTERS
The writings address numerous topics, but the ones most likely to create a stir are what Doubleday called the "dark letters."
"Please pray specially for me that I may not spoil His work and that Our Lord may show Himself -- for there is such terrible darkness within me, as if everything was dead," she wrote in 1953. "It has been like this more or less from the time I started 'the work.'"
Then in 1956: "Such deep longing for God -- and ... repulsed -- empty -- no faith -- no love -- no zeal. (Saving) souls holds no attraction -- Heaven means nothing -- pray for me please that I keep smiling at Him in spite of everything."
And then in 1959: "If there be no God -- there can be no soul -- if there is no Soul then Jesus -- You also are not true."
At times she also found it hard to pray.
"I utter words of community prayers -- and try my utmost to get out of every word the sweetness it has to give -- but my prayer of union is not there any longer -- I no longer pray."
However,
The apparent abandonment by God of the poor and the helpless would be enough to shake the faith of anyone.
Faith and doubt are both sides of a religious experience.
Thiese letters remind us that any faith that is certain is no faith at all, just as any love never doubted is very shallow love.
But in theend , that Mother Terese still continued to long for God as she laboured in the soul-alienating slums of Calcutta signifies the genuiness of her faith.
N her actions as well as her words, she exhibited more faith than any doubter - or non doubter
The recent revelations of Mother Teresa's spiritual struggle should remind all believing Christians that our faith is in Christ , not in our feelings.
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Not to mention that despite the 50 plus years of spiritual struggle, she kept going . A person of lesser faith would have quit.
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Originally posted by BadzMaro:
Not to mention that despite the 50 plus years of spiritual struggle, she kept going . A person of lesser faith would have quit.
well said.... many Christians go thru life doubting God one point or another.... yet we continue to move forward to allow the reality of God manifest itself. -
i am going to ask a qn that rooney9 loves asking...is the source reliable???
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although seriously, i dun realli care if she believed or doubted cos it doesnt change my belief in God at all...
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Originally posted by despondent:
although seriously, i dun realli care if she believed or doubted cos it doesnt change my belief in God at all...
the same applies.
noboby cares whether it affects you or not as nobody cares whether you believe or not.
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agreed. juz another point to add, fairyfairy...
u have conveniently left out the times when Mother Theresa kept faith that God existed. just as those times when you kept focusing on sufferings, leaving out the fact that for sufferings to be known, blessings must exist...
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frankly, look at all the things that people do and all the sufferings it is difficult not to have doubts.
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i am not denying that...i nvr did...TS is just making a big hooha about doubting God...like wad uncle chin eng mentioned, its normal for christians doubt God in their lives as christians...no big deal at all...
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Originally posted by despondent:
i am not denying that...i nvr did...TS is just making a big hooha about doubting God...like wad uncle chin eng mentioned, its normal for christians doubt God in their lives as christians...no big deal at all...
to be honest with you, i have never doubted that your christian god exists but i have doubts that he is in control of everything. it seems that things are out of his control, he is not as powerful as people think he should be.
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Originally posted by Fairyfairy86:
to be honest with you, i have never doubted that your christian god exists but i have doubts that he is in control of everything. it seems that things are out of his control, he is not as powerful as people think he should be.
just because He can, doesn't mean He would...by making things all nice and easy, would humanity know what to do at all?
if you had the power to make someone "like" you, does that person really like you at all or is it coercion?
one of the things God did was to give us the free will... to do the right thing or to do the wrong thing...
if we do not have the choice He gave us, what is the point of humanity and our journey through life?
blessed are those who do not see yet believe... isn't that faith?
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well, if that is your honest opinion, then its fine...i shall not try to prove He is powerful/in control of everything...neither will i try to prove He is loving cos i noe ppl have diff definitions for love and the meaning of being in control of everything....
all i can say is certain things do happen behind the scenes which humans cannot see and are unaware of...for eg...i could be lying in hospital now but u wun noe it unless i tell u...but to u, i could be at home shaking my legs in front of the computer...just a simple eg...
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Originally posted by the Bear:
just because He can, doesn't mean He would...by making things all nice and easy, would humanity know what to do at all?
if you had the power to make someone "like" you, does that person really like you at all or is it coercion?
one of the things God did was to give us the free will... to do the right thing or to do the wrong thing...
if we do not have the choice He gave us, what is the point of humanity and our journey through life?
blessed are those who do not see yet believe... isn't that faith?
what about life and death issue ? do we have the freewill to choose when, where to be born and how or when to die ? no right ? so, who is deciding life and death issue ?
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to the Bear...
their definition of faith is diff from ours...plus their definition of religion is based on proofs and evidence...which is why i always said, christianity is different...but some ppl juz dun believe me...
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fairyfairy...
u are looking at absolutes here...so juz cos we cannot choose when to die and be born means there is TOTALLY no freewill???
for ur information, christianity defines choice like this...u could not choose when to die or live but somebody else did...putting God aside, ur parents chose when they wanted to try for a baby, ur mum conceived and gave birth to u abt 9mths later...in a sense, tat is ur parents choosing roughly when u are to be born...
so the qn now is this...are we toking abt freewill on earth or freewill for self??? cos since ur parents could choose when to give birth to u, tat is freewill in a sense isnt it? juz tat it wasnt ur freewill but theirs...
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Originally posted by despondent:
to the Bear...
their definition of faith is diff from ours...plus their definition of religion is based on proofs and evidence...which is why i always said, christianity is different...but some ppl juz dun believe me...
not just proofs and evidence, also logic and whether does it make any sense. -
then may i ask u sincerely...have you ever asked why some ppl can make logical sense out of christianity? dun worry, no rite or wrong answer here...
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Originally posted by despondent:
then may i ask u sincerely...have you ever asked why some ppl can make logical sense out of christianity? dun worry, no rite or wrong answer here...
who made logical sense of christianity?
all religions are based on faith - believing in something that cannot be proven.
the last thing that a religion has is logic.
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dragg...
i am juz engaging fairyfairy by her terms...since she is toking abt religion being based on logic and evidence, so i discuss along that line wif her...cos i noe she doesnt subscribe to wad u juz said abt all religions are based on faith...
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Originally posted by despondent:
then may i ask u sincerely...have you ever asked why some ppl can make logical sense out of christianity? dun worry, no rite or wrong answer here...
some have not heard of a better answer than christianity. some people's prayers are answered. some believe in creator.some have heard but too afraid of the power of god. some know that it does not make sense but the bible says so, so must be true. some dare not to think further because they were told we cannot comprehend god. many are afraid of going to hell etc. only the daring ones dare to challenge god, we doubt his power of pushing the non believers to hell.
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It's impossible to have 100 percent faith in God.
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you are not being fair to the believers....you are basically saying that the logic you have is greater than wad we have...cos u are suggesting that since u cannot understand it, then nobody else can...those who claim they can are either delusional or afraid...pls calm down...are u being fair by answering/tinking like tat?