Questions That Wake You Up at Night

Copyright 2013, Used by Permission

What if this whole Christianity is one big, wish-it-could-be-true sham?

What if we have latched on to some ancient mythology out of a desperate desire for something beautiful, something to allay the deep loneliness of the human heart, which, no matter how superficially connected to others of the species it may seem to be, fears in its depths that it is somehow disconnected and alone? What if Christianity only depicts, like a painting, a beauty that is too good to be true?

What if Jesus of Nazareth has become the mythic man-god of Christian belief, a great man clothed with divinity by man's collective imagination?

These are questions that are especially prevalent in this skeptical age. They are questions that must be faced with courage because they will not go away. They will be asked with more frequency. And they will be asked not only by skeptics outside the Church, but those within.

When I was agnostic, I worked next to a fellow who loved the Lord. He took his Bible with him on his lunch hour for prayer and study with a colleague. He seemed happy and secure.

I asked him once how he could be certain God was real. His answer irritated me. He said, "I just know it in my heart." I wanted more. I wanted him to give me a reason for his certitude, for his hope.

Deep Longings

In his deepest, hidden self, the human being experiences a restlessness that seems unquenchable. His heart groans for communion. His loneliness drives him. It may drive him forward to God, it may drive him to the endless pursuit of earthly pleasures, or it may drive him mad, or to suicide.

No matter what kind of smiley-faced happiness, self-assured confidence, and jovial manner he displays, every human being, at some point, harbors a frightened and lonely child within who trembles in a darkened corner of his heart. The child squints his eyes, seeking some movement in the shadows, some sign that he is not truly alone.

As a young man I listened to the band Pink Floyd a lot. This might partly account for my "sunny disposition" when I was agnostic. In a song called Free Four, written by Roger Waters, Mr. Happy himself, the bassist/writer/founder of the gifted but gloomy band depicted man's lot the way I think a lot of agnostics and atheists view the "tragedy" of being human:

The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
You shuffle in gloom of the sickroom
And talk to yourself as you die. 

Life is a short, warm moment
And death is a long cold rest.
You get your chance to try in the twinkling of an eye:
Eighty years, with luck, or even less.

One can see that this sort of life-view does not provide fertile soil for the gift of joy.

But what resonated in me about the words was their desperate honesty. While today I certainly don't view life that way, I do see that the lyrics honestly reflect the fears that seem to plague every human being at some point in his life.

Am I alone? Is this all there is?

Astonishing Claims

Christianity makes the astounding claims that:

1. Man is not alone.

2. God is real.

3. Man was given life by this Creator whom we call God, the source of all that is. Man's life has meaning.

4. God has revealed Himself to be Holy Trinity (Cf. CCC, 237), Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

4. Man was meant for communion with God, and experienced it, but made a definitive choice against God, and thereby lost that communion.

5. God is love, and reached out across the abyss of sin to save man from the consequences of his choice through the offer of a "bridge."

6. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity (the Word) took on flesh (the Incarnation) and lived on this earth, made disciples and designated apostles, suffered and died for the sins of men, and through Him man may be restored to communion with God.

Summarizing the reasons for the Incarnation, the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that the Word became flesh...

in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who "loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins"... 

so that thus we may know God's love... 

to be our model of holiness... 

to make us "partakers of divine nature"(CCC 457-460).

These truths are astounding. Believe me, upon my first examination of the Church, I did not take these claims at face value. The trouble is, many people don't sit down and think about them. Thinking about them--- no, I mean really thinking about them, chewing on them, letting them sink in--- helps us realize two things:

1. If they are true, they are the most important truths of all (after all, they are about the source and meaning of our lives, and they have eternal implications).

2. We should not be surprised that many reject them or resist assenting to them.

In a society drenched in materialism (in the true meaning of the term, in philosophy, as being the worldview that only what can be experienced through the senses may be deemed real), it should come as no surprise that many men seem almost incapable of belief in Christianity, which contradicts almost everything they have been indoctrinated to believe in a culture steeped in secular humanism. And of course, we mustn't underestimate the influence of the evil one and the reality of sin which obscures our vision and may blind us to truth.

One can see, if one is intellectually honest, that belief in these truths is possible only by the grace of God. Only He may smash through the walls of our our fallen nature, our sin, and conditioned resistance.

But though we should not be surprised by the apparent increase in disbelief, the preceding point that if Christianity is true it is most important, makes it clear that the eternal ramifications to souls impels us believers to speak the truth (always in charity), and the mere possibility that the Gospel is true should impel nonbelievers to take its claims seriously, very seriously indeed.

There is no excuse for indifference or blatant disregard of the Gospel. In his brilliant book, Faith and Certitude, the late Fr. Thomas Dubay stated,

If I brush aside as more or less trivial whether or not I derive my whole being from a supremely loving Origin, whether or not I therefore owe adoration and love in return, I am wicked. This is not as evil as hating this supreme Beloved, but it is not too far distant.

Strong words from Fr. Dubay to be certain, but his words are motivated by his deep faith and pastoral love, and his conviction that souls are at stake. He goes on to explain:

If I have reason to think that someone may have strayed off into a rural blizzard and make no effort to resolve my doubt, I grievously fail in love. If an individual is agnostic apropos of God but makes no serious effort to solve his doubt, there is grave disorder, a serious affront. 

Scratching the Itch

The question of the Gospel is important. This may seem like a statement of the obvious, but in the climate of modern agnosticism (even within the Church community), it may not be. Many people seem indifferent to the question, or simply too preoccupied with worldly matters to give it much thought.

But in the meantime, busily tending to this task and that, they continually stretch a hand to scratch a penetrating and frustratingly elusive itch that will not go away. The itch is existential loneliness, and all the business of life cannot make it stop.

The existential loneliness of man has a remedy. We aren't consigned to a life of isolation, preceding some annihilation in death. We are not alone.

Jesus came as one among us, to be "with us," to reach out the hand of friendship across the abyss, and to lead us into the restoration of communion with the Father.

This is an astounding claim; it cannot be denied. If you think it isn't astounding, even shocking, your idea of what it means to reflect on the meaning of life must be to watch Duck Dynasty over popcorn and soda.

The claims of Christianity should be looked at honestly and carefully. But they must be examined. The claims of the Gospel are too important to avoid. The stakes are too high for us to dismiss the Gospel out of hand simply because it is so extraordinary. Isn't anything truly beautiful "out of this world," even almost "beyond belief?" I will never forget gasping in astonishment at the statue of David when I was a young man. Its beauty made me breathless, and I almost could not believe it was real. And this was just the work of human hands!

One may have certitude regarding the truth of the Gospel. I am convinced that when one carefully and humbly examines the evidence, with a sincere desire to know truth, he will find it more reasonable to believe than disbelieve. But more importantly, he will meet the Truth, and the Truth has a name. He who said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me" is Jesus Christ, and He is the answer to all the questions of the restless soul.