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Viewpoint from Normon Pierpoint

Norman Pierpoint
Chaplain for the Great Yarmouth College
 

Absence of Faith

 
Why is faith absent from so many people’s lives? The spiritual dimension as we look today has lviewpoints cross logo jpegargely been overlooked in Britain. There is a severe lack of recognition of a God who creates and provides. Faith is personal. But, for faith to grow at all it needs seeds, it needs the word of God, and of course a fertile heart for it to flourish.  Invariably these seeds are sown by others. We need to listen, learn and absorb, discuss and share issues of spirituality, be courageous in confronting life and death topics. There are those who are genuinely seeking answers to questions like, “What is the real meaning to life?”
 
So many of our young adults have had no connection with any faith groups since birth, never entered a church, and never met anyone with strong beliefs. An absence of faith and any semblance of faith have been choked by personal satisfaction, the pursuit of pleasures of all sorts, and the worries and concerns about finances and relationship problems have become the main driving force and obsession of life. And we are poorer for it - poorer as individuals and poorer as a society. Leaving God out of thinking and our lives will always have its consequences – we don’t have to look very far to see this in our communities.
 JUNE BWCF MEETING web
The vacuum created by this lack of spirituality is dangerously open to the cults, occultism, extreme politics, and off-beat beliefs to infiltrate the minds and hearts of our young adults.
 
Christianity has survived despite all the opposition and unbelief and is a living faith. Its central truths are based upon the nature, life and death, resurrection and work of Jesus Christ and these have not changed. Christianity is as relevant today as it was when Jesus walked this earth, and all those that have placed their trust in Him have never been disappointed.
 
The absence of faith in so many means that we need to be courageous, brave and sensitive to the opportunities to speak of a Creator who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ - not an easy thing to do but with God’s strength it is possible.
 
As a society we have been greatly blessed as a nation as faith has been worked out in so many ways: e.g. education with Sunday schools and ragged schools introduced by Christians who put their faith into practice.
 
Guntitledod’s desire is to bless individuals as they put their trust in Him. To engage in a meaningful and loving relationship with our creator God brings meaning, purpose and
God’s blessing upon our lives.
 
We continue to pray that our families and neighbours and students will have a deep thirst for the truth and the spiritual fulfilment that can only be found in Jesus Christ.
 
From an absence of faith to being full of faith is certainly possible with God. This is the great work of God who is able to transform lives through faith in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.