Has Christianity Finally Failed?

I have never written an article to publish my opinion about anything, until this article. I could just no longer hold back...

One day I started thinking about the state of Christianity. It wasn’t the state of the world I was thinking about, that’s just old news. The world has not been in a good spiritual state for a long, long time. Maybe, the world has never been in a good spiritual state. After all, the world is one of our three spiritual enemies (world, flesh and devil). I’ve long stopped being upset about the state of the world and, as Our Lady instructs us, I just pray for it.

But it was Christianity I was thinking about that day. And the more I thought about it, the more my heart became saddened. Maybe I just happened to be in a solemn (or bad?) mood at the time. Maybe I was paying too close attention to Christian drama on social media. But for whatever reason, I could not stop thinking that Christianity was in no better state than the world itself. But it's not what you may think.

My meltdown began innocently…

Over a year ago I began publishing Christian articles, mainly for Catholics, offering guidance for their walk down the paths of faith and holiness (Catholic Paths). I refused to publish anything related to personal experience or opinion. I mandated there would be other verboten topics such as Christian news events, Church drama, end of the world, responses to other’s opinions and interpretations, etc. To make sure I complied with my self-imposed rules, all my references had to be from Scripture, the Catechism and the writings of Catholic Saints.

But cracks began to develop…

I realized that my primary references were not enough. There was information, such as historical events and definitions, that had to be included in the articles. Those, of course, had to be accurate and had to have good references. So, I began to supplement my sources with Internet and YouTube searches. Everybody knows the drill with online searches. Results always include unrelated junk and sponsored content that need weeded out.

My search results were always rife with weeds...current religious events, arguments about theology, interpretations from self-proclaimed prophets, false teachings, obvious schisms, and religious money-making schemes. I read a few simply out of curiosity…just to find out what attacks were going on against Christianity and to consider the possible benefits of writing an article to guide some Christians back to the right paths.

The weeds didn’t bother me. I considered them to be nothing more than external attacks from false prophets on Christianity. We just grow with the weeds until the final day. But maybe the constant exposure to all the weeds started cracks.

The cracks got deeper and wider…

I grew up long before the “Information Age” and social media. At a young age I was exposed to a certain level of drama in Christianity, Catholics versus Protestants and all that. I also observed  that there were some Christians who openly professed faith yet did not attend mass regularly or lived in mortal sin. Once again, I was not bothered. I understand that all are sinners to some degree and that holiness does not happen overnight. I truly believe that every Christian is going to struggle to some degree while they fully abandon old habits and become transformed into the image of Christ. I fully confess that I too have had many struggles walking the Christian path.

Enter the weeds, again. Search results revealed much more internal Christian drama and arguments than I had been exposed to in the past. I began to realize that it is not just Catholic versus Protestant. There are heated arguments about the language of the mass, the way the Eucharist must be received, postures during mass, Mary’s role in salvation and so much more. This internal strife is not good, but I can get over it. Even the Apostles had drama in faith. Consider 1 Corinthians 1:12 where Paul mentions strife within the Church, “I mean that each of you is saying ’I belong to Paul’, or ‘I belong to Apollos’, or ‘I belong to Cephas’, or ‘I belong to Christ’.” Then, there was that whole drama over the circumcision of gentiles in Acts 15. So, none of this really bothered me. Jesus always works things out for His Church, right?

But then the sinkhole…

There arose headlines about strife between the Pope and a certain Bishop, then a prominent Catholic evangelist completely derailed through mortal sin and some bishops were blessing unholy relationships. It had been a long time since my youthful fantasies were destroyed…that those who dedicated their life to Christ, such as priests or non-Catholic ministers, could ever live in the defilement of children. And the current  headlines were doing nothing to restore the faith of my youth.

But wait a minute! This was not the sinkhole. I could even get beyond these events. To me, they are merely Christians exhibiting the frailty of mankind’s sinfulness caused by Original Sin. Although the events may have caused some to waver in their Christian or Catholic faith, not me. To this day, I remain deeply rooted in Christ and His Church. And I still believe “the gates of Hades will not prevail against it [Christ’s Church].” (Matthew 16:18)

So, what caved in? Why the sinkhole?

It was Christian responses in articles, videos and comments that sunk me.

There were articles, videos and comments openly encouraging division in the Church, telling us to support the Bishop and oppose the Pope. There were some verbally attacking the Pope, proclaiming the Pope to be Communist. There were some directly attacking bishops. Article after article was published condemning transgenderism and abortion.  Now, don’t misinterpret here, I agree these are mortal sins and cannot be supported. The Church has already proclaimed doctrine on these issues, so there should be no question about them nor need to write repetitive articles. However, the implied disdain and hatred in those articles for these two specific mortal sins seemed excessive and personal. Skipping mass, committing adultery and engaging in porn are also mortal sins. But I never see articles condemning these actions or arguing that those who do such things should be excommunicated.

There was another observation that was quite disturbing. It seemed as though every article promoting division and hatred had hundreds of likes and dozens of shares. On the other hand, most articles offering prayer and guidance towards holiness had maybe six likes and two shares. Can it really be that Christians today are mostly interested in drama and sin? Can it really be that Christians today mainly want to proclaim hatred and division over Jesus Christ and His salvation? Do very many Christians even care about holiness anymore? That is what sunk me.

Where are the meek…the humble…the obedient…the peacemakers…the merciful and forgiving? Jesus said that His disciples are supposed to be the light of the world and salt of the earth. If the light and salt fail, there is no longer hope for the world. If Christians preach to the world that the ways of the world (division, hatred, discord and unforgiveness) are acceptable then how or why would the world ever be inclined to change?

Where I go from here…

I will never give up on Jesus, never give up on His Church, never give up on Christianity and never stop exhorting the Christian’s call to holiness. My only response must be to follow the messages from Our Lady of Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, Akita and every other message of Our Holy Mother…Pray for sinners. That includes me. That includes my sorrow, my despair and my judgement of others for what happens and what is written about it.

Pray for me. Pray for yourself. Pray for your family, children, friends and enemies. Pray for the world. Every day of your life, sacrifice and pray the rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Just pray…it is the world’s only hope.