Why Do People Walk Away from the Church? Who Is at Fault? By Keith A. Little (Part 1)
Editor's note: In this piece, Christian apologist Keith A. Little explores the intersection of faith, truth, and love, emphasising their role in human purpose and resilience. He challenges readers to reflect on faith as an active pursuit of truth, growth, and compassionate action in a broken world.
As an apologist, I hope to look at and explain things rationally. As a Christian, I also look at things by faith because I might not be able to know the solution yet fully to a problem, but I can trust that even though I do not currently know it, it is still likely to come. The internet and the iPhone did not come from thin air. Someone first needed a vision for it and believed it was possible to build, then worked hard within the truth to make it a reality.
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Despite whether one believes in God, which is truth and love together, one typically acknowledges that the destructive things in this world by mankind are in the intention of the same sins… pride, greed, lust, etc.
It is when such matters are present that people end up hurting. When we ask God why an earthquake happened because we are not pleased with the destruction, are we looking to the fullness of the beauty of life, death, growth, and challenges within them to be courageously overcome… or are we looking inwardly to how we are or are not personally pleased by a situation? What is the next response taken at the moment we are not personally pleased with anything? Often when I am not personally pleased, I feel saddened or angered, and if I hold onto it rather than release it, it might be that anger or sadness is growing within me purpose to do something to hope to prevent harm to someone else in the future, or care for others who are harmed. Are these not matters of growth towards action in truth and love? Have you ever met someone who does not seek truth and love, even if they knowingly or unknowingly value truth or love over the other at different points? How is your relationship and other people’s relationship with that person?
Truth and love are necessary concepts that we individually and together understand and accept as both real and important, and whether someone sees that as coming from the Church or God will rarely change their personal yearning for them. Often, it will simply change how they respond to the word “Christian.” Whether or not someone individually accepts God (truth within love, and not one without the other) as real and important, they will continue to accept and recognize that evil coming from such sins of intentional actions as important to confront or to love people enough to walk with them through hardships created by such actions (e.g. when a builder does not put proper plumbing in a building due to “care”-less-ness, resulting in the building crumbling and dishonoring the work of the other laborers).
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When it comes to walking away from the faith, most often it is a personal matter of such concepts and how they affect individual human beings. Often, it’s a story of hurt by other human beings, a chosen perception of what is believed that God has done to mankind, something that happened to or by particular people that are loved by the individual, something God didn’t stop mankind from doing, or something God didn’t perceivably do for mankind. Again, where in any of these situations is the individual soul not choosing to seek the truth within love that will heal them? Is it that their pain has not yet healed because they have not yet found or reconciled the truth with love, from their current perspective? Are they not actively pursuing other means by which truth and love could meet them with how they are feeling, or decidedly perceive the truth of the world to be? Does a child not want their parents’ love and approval, even as they want to go play vs. doing their homework? Would it be good for the future of the earth if parents gave in to playtime with no studies, because they “felt” it was more loving to give the children the desire of their emotional display over producing a desire for them to earn their rest by participating in being a productive member of the community? Why not?
In science (e.g., dental work), we know that we do not desire an angry, irritated, or nervous dentist working on our teeth. These characteristics typically relate to unresolved internal conflicts, affecting the individual's ability to remain fully present. This lack of presence can undermine trust in their capacity to stay focused and calm during dental procedures. In the same way, we do not desire to talk to a boss to ask for a raise (caring for our family) while they are angry about something else. What other explanation is there if it is not that Truth within Love is the foundation for building lasting solutions? Is it not the greatest difficulty and need in the role of the customer service industry, to bring to customers the truth in loving care?
Children, noted as being closest to God, do not yet rationally understand the faith and often have not learned to read, yet see very clearly and sensitively how having love and truth deeply impacts them. How can one choose to walk away from God? Is it that they do not agree with Him, with how He is, how He has forged things like the state of the world, or circumstances with other imperfect people in a broken world? That will not change each soul’s next intended pursuit of seeking love and truth. It will merely change how each of us interprets how to “fix the world,” how we choose to define what love and truth are meant to be, and how we reach our decided path in attempting to fix the world’s problems. Choosing to believe He does not exist, rather than choosing to take loving action and seek loving action within the belief that He exists and loves us, will not change our pursuit of truth and love, which we all will seek either way. So why not choose not to acknowledge that Truth and Love have not changed, but we have? Why not acknowledge that within each soul is a natural desire to pursue where faith, hope, and love grow? In the same way, people view the bible as a living document as they “grow” in their understanding of it over time. God and the Bible have remained unchanged over time. It is we who have grown, and our circumstances and our current understanding have changed over time.
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Could someone also choose to interpret the hardships people face as a clarion call for loving action that needs to take place? Who will fix a building if their focus is on judging the problems and leaving if it is not pleasing, without seeking solutions by faith? What good comes from people who instead choose to abandon something that appears too great of a challenge for them? The iPhone, victories in wars, and the courage to fight tyranny or injustice all stem from the inherent importance of Truth and Love to each soul, even without conscious understanding. If it is not a Christian who takes on the loving action, it will still certainly be someone who sees that it is necessary and who chooses to act upon it. They will recognize the necessity of addressing issues with genuine care, truth, and compassion.
Is tooth pain likely to stop if I do not agree with my dentist on what work needs to be done to which tooth, because of how I (not a dentist) interpret and understand an X-ray? Are they suddenly lying to me because I do not agree with them? Does my dentist need to be a Christian for me to see that he is caring for my teeth in a loving manner, or is it more effective for me to be kind and loving to my dentist and more likely that he will reciprocate the same to me? Do dentists ever attempt to overcharge their patients for unnecessary work? Do patients eventually stop going to dentists who overcharge inappropriately? Without a measure of faith, one might endure the tooth pain instead of seeking treatment. Certainly, one cannot find a means to know and understand everything without faith in the sources of information they receive the information. So, without a great measure of faith by a child and by a teacher, a child is unable to learn to read and understand the bible or any book. People may disagree on whether faith, hope, and love are essential for productivity, but they will quickly realize that these concepts play a role in all interactions. Individuals may possess varying degrees of faith, hope, and love. Faith is at times misplaced in people rather than truth and love, whether in others who may not meet our personal expectations or in ourselves as we encounter challenges and learn from them. So why not continue to have faith in truth and love being an independent guiding force behind what we do in this world for all our betterment? Every contribution to society that sustains and improves life is traceable to someone who invested their time and care into solutions, whether it is in fields like dentistry, education, or agriculture. Most, if not all, solutions that work end up becoming a tradition of sorts to pass down, whether to the next worker, child, family, or community. So why not continue to build upon ways to teach the faith within church activities over the centuries, like utilizing a rosary to meditate upon the passion and its reflection within our Christian walk or teaching the sign of the cross to children to invoke the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit at the start of a prayer
We are all going to pass from this world, and we will all make mistakes, which is why even the Pope says he identifies as “a sinner.” This world is broken and will continually break more due to sin, while also healing due to truth and love. As a result of these processes, things age and die. The Christian faith does not teach us that we can remove ourselves from this brokenness, where we would never need medical attention, or otherwise. It teaches that by supporting each other in faith to confess pride, lust, greed, and other sins, we can lessen their effects over time.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.
Keith A. Little is a US-based Christian apologist and an honorary professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of America, dedicated to presenting Jesus as the Unified Field Theory through parables and principles.
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