What was the biggest crisis, faith shaking, experience that you have ever faced?

Question

Did it build upon or break your faith?

Gravesendian, I feel sorry for you. Your faith comes from within and it grows through learning the bible.

Because you are here, answering my question, I think deep down, your soul is crying for redirection or guidance.

If you absolutely didn't beleive in God, you wouldn't find it so necessary to argue with anothers beleifs, that really don't concern you.

Thank you all for your answers. I was remembering my grandmother. Her passing is the one time in my life when I questioned God and asked him to prove himself. I asked him to send me an Angel... He sent me a Wooden Angel, yes, Our Lord has a sense of humor and he answers our prayers.

Answer 1

When the Twin Towers in New York was hit by a man who hijacked a plane and was willing to take his own life and the lives of over 3,000 innocent people.

But, there was another time when I realized how my faith was shaken. I remember the trial of Adolf Eichmann and the testimony offered by many against Eichmann.

During the trial, one of the witnesses fell to the ground and hollered (paraphrase) "I could understand if you were a monster-Frankenstein, something from another planet or another dimension. But, you're not. You are a human being. You were part of a political machinery that murdered millions of men, women and children. How is that possible?"

That witnessed was right. How could people kill, under any disguise or ideology, and murder innocent men, women and children for any reason. How could it have happened?....But, it did.....it just...did.

And, were we right in the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki-Japan ?

What President Abraham Lincoln said during the American Civil War is true 'til this day when asked . "Mr. President, do you think God is on our side ?' To which President Lincoln said , "I can only hope we are on God's side."

War can uproot anybody's soul and challenge us in ways we never thought about. The Twin Towers did it for me.

Answer 2

Divorce. I was married with covenants with my wife and God for eternity. It shook my world. How can this happen? A lot of years of faith, trust, patience, and hard work went into that marriage, but it just didn't work. A lot of ideas I had about my relationship to God were tied to that marriage working, and I've had to question them.

I'm summarizing, but it was absolutely devastating for a while to my faith. I had a lot of truisms that hadn't been tested against real experience until then. I mean, I've paid for my own mission for two years in a foreign country, learning the language, and having my life literally threatened many times because of my faith, and that didn't shake me. This one was absolutely personal and difficult.

Bottom line: I'd never give it up. Through my experience, I've had more absolutely incredible experiences with God, revelation, the scriptures, my fellow Christians, that I'd not give that up if the pain were somehow worse.

I'm also re-grounded in ideas like The Problem with Pain from C.S. Lewis and the purpose of life being to learn, not to avoid suffering, and that my learning brings me back Home when I'm through, and a great experience in the meantime here. Also, I'm more clear about the personal nature of God because of this. But yes, there were long times when I was shaken.

Answer 3

My husband had a very serious accident on the job in 1995. It was a beautiful, sunny day....On my way to the hospital (I was not driving at time) I looked up at the sky and saw a big puffy cloud with a hole in the center. There was a piece of a rainbow that could be seen in the center of this cloud. I thought I was seeing things but my father saw it too. Also at the exact same time of my husband's accident, his youngest brother was riding his bike and something bright caught his eye. It was a hologram coin with Jesus on it. I was told later by a religious woman that the rainbow was the Virgin Mary letting me know that my husband would be ok. He spent two days in intensive care, 20 days in hospital and a year of physical and occupational therapy. I was brought up Catholic and did believe in God before the accident...but everything that happened just confirmed what I already knew. That God does exist. It definitely built upon my faith.

Answer 4

I got pregnant when I was 16. When the baby was born (I had turned 17 by that time), I placed her for adoption. That was 24 years ago.

That was the biggest crisis I've ever faced, and unfortunately, it happened when I was still basically just a kid.

Looking back on it, though, I'd have to say that it was a faith-builder. Today my biological daughter is a beautiful young woman, physically and otherwise. She got married last fall, and I was blessed to be in attendance at the wedding.

It's also put me in the best position possible to help teen girls who find themselves in the same situation -- and to steer them toward choices that are pro-life ones.

God finds a way to bring goodness out of things like this.

Answer 5

When I was 18 I committed a crime, and it was published in the newspaper. Because of this, the youth pastor (I was still in high school so I still was in the youth group) didn't want me helping out in the a/v area since that would be having a person who isn't living like Christ in a leadership role which they didn't want. I got pissed at him and the church (as in the organization, not the religion) because there were people who were in the band and singing being role models who it was well known that they were sleeping around and weren't stopped because they were parts of the big families in the church (the big people donating money). I left and abandoned Christianity for years. Once I matured, I saw what I did wrong was due to myself, and not Christianity, or even the leaders of the church whose ultimate goal is to spread Christianity to as many people and need the money to do so. I have since embraced my faith again and I am now stronger for it.

Answer 6

when i was twelve years old and receiving confession before my confirmation into the roman catholic church the priest made a remark about a 'sin' i had committed - and quite suddenly i realised i could no longer accept the doctrine of the immaculate conception.

the immaculate conception is more central to catholics than even some catholics realise. the confimation of this teaching (largely as a result of bernadette soubirous' vision at lourdes) is very much the underpin of the notion of papal infallibility.

it is very nearly true to say that i went into that confessional a roman catholic, and came out of it no longer one.

i have never found any other faith - christian or other - with which i could align myself. i know that there are several catholic dogmas i do not accept, but with most other religions (and all the protestant churches) i find i don't just reject some beliefs - i reject all of them.

so that was a watershed in my own religious development. my confirmation year confirmed my faith - but not in the way our parish priest had intended.

Answer 7

Coming into the traumatic realization and admitting to myself that I felt CHEATED, LIED TO and DISILLUSIONED by the Church of my fathers [actually the devout ones in our family was more on the maternal side]...

It was truly quite a revelation for me to find out in the end about all the FALSE TEACHINGS, DOCTRINES, and man-made RITUALS of the Church!

That happened when I left the seminary at a youthful age of twelve and I embarked on my quest to seek the Truth as a Freethinker.

I took the scenic route and sought high and low, learning and grasping all I could muster about most if not all the major religions, faiths, philosophies and ideologies of both the ancient and modern worlds over the years --spending some time in search of enlightenment as a Buddhist-- and, in the process, I found answers to my spiritual questions that brought me back to my full circle.

Of all the prophets, messengers and visionaries I have learned from, I have found a common thread in the teachings of the Greatest Prophet and Teacher of all, Yeshua Messiah/Jesus Christ, that circumscribes the doctrines of the rest. And He preaches of Love, Peace, and Justice for all.

I feel fortunate in saying that my Faith is strengthened at least ten times more than it was ever before, when I eschewed the man-made doctrines and false teachings of the church that I once belonged...

I have taken the narrow path of 'the road' less taken and follow THE LAW according to the sevenfold teaching of Yeshua Messiah as handed down by the Ancient Great Ones who saw the face of God. We follow the Law of the Brotherhood [of Essenes] which states that "None shall be wealthy and none shall be poor, and all shall work together in the gardens of the Brotherhood. Yet each shall follow his own path, and each shall commune with his own heart."

Peace be with you!

Answer 8

Like "boredgal", I had two events as well: the first was when my husband got up, walked out of the marriage and disappeared – for no reason. That almost broke my faith - but only because I let it. Instead of drawing close to God, I pulled away. Later, I fought my way back to God.

The second was when I lost my beloved mommy to cancer. This time it was different. The pain was agonizing (and still is) but I drew close to God instead of pulling away in pain. I have NEVER had anybody take care of me like the true God took care of me then. On every single level.

Answer 9

I would have to say when i got pregnant at age 15, there was my biggest crises because i had to choose to either get an abortion and finish my teenage life or grow up and become a mother, I chose to become a mother! And now 6 yrs later i dont regret it what so ever, Ive built a life for me my son and his father which i am married to his father I think that my faith is good but i dont know how to sum it up in words.

Answer 10

I dont think that can be displayed on here because people will only bash on what you say. There is no respect for those that believe. Well I had doubts about God and what I believed. I knew He was there but I was shaky. I wanted God to show me somehow the realness of who He was. I questioned God " Who are you? Why dont I feel you? What is all this about?" I will say this that He literally opened my eyes to see the power of God at that moment of fear beyond my imagination. I stood on solid ground from there on. I saw things that only some christians know what I am talking about.

Answer 11

Great question. For me, there are two. The first was losing my dad to brain cancer six years ago. My faith waivered definitely! But I became stronger for it.
The second was when my ex-husband and I divorced. He had an affair and basically decided for me that I would no longer have a marriage, home, or the future I had planned for. I was a huge basket case, faithless, mess. But, again, my faith prevailed and I am a much stronger person now for all of it. And happier! :)