Faith
and Grief
The
loss of my grandfather greatly affected me spiritually and emotionally. He was
a man I looked up to because he was the only father figure that I had known. We
were very close, and when he died, I felt that he went too soon. My father and
mother had divorced, and my father was out of the picture. It was then me, my
mother and grandfather. We had lived as a family, and we were very happy
together. My mother worked hard to take care of me and with my grandfather
around I felt that I had both parents and I never lack anything; I had the love
and care of any child with two parents. His death was as a result of an accident
where he fell and hit his head. After
falling, he had brain hemorrhage which means that he bled inside the brain. The
emergency team came immediately, took him to the hospital, and that is where he
died. The news crushed me, and I felt sad that I have never felt before. I am
an ICU nurse and believe that the people who handled my grandfather could have
done better. If it were me, I would have done better. I would have saved his
life. I felt that God took him too early and his loss left a hole in my heart.I
could not come to terms as to why such a good man could die in such a manner.
The hospital did not do enough, and God took him from me. His death had me
question my faith in God because my prayers were not answered and the man I
called father left the world (Brook, 2014).
Faith Reason
Faith
and reason are two aspects that complement each other, and one cannot be
applied without another. In the Christian faith, these two aspects are very
important in getting to the truth about God which also gives us a good
understanding of ourselves. Faith in God is an aspect associated with the
affirmation of the truth about God. According to John chapter 14 and verse 6,
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. In the contexts of this
verse, it is the obligations of humanity to believe and serve God (Buchak,
2017).
Personal
losses and problems drive people away from God because of the creation of doubt
in people’s heart. Doubt sways people’s faith and pushes them away from God’s
purpose. Faith is the surrendering of reason and is the only way one can learn
and learn means the process of getting to the truth. The truth of the matter is
that Gods loves us all and has plans for every one of us. He has a grand plan
for us means that every event that occurs in our lives is part of his plan. The
pursuit of the truth about God is very important and describes the reason for
our existence. It is a pursuit based on the development of the relationships
between US and God and the rest of the community. Belief in God transcends many
other intellectual virtues of prudence, science wisdom and understanding. These
are important virtues that have been developed for enhancing our reasoning.
They are virtues that allow people to have a better basis for affirming or
denying what may be assumed to be the truth. As far as faith is concerned, when
one affirms an aspect to be the truth we there lack any demonstrative proof (Walker,
2013).
Faith and Demonstrative Proof
Faith
in this is associated with belief in something even though there is little to
no way of demonstrating its proof. We believe that something is true because
there exists reason that may suggest that it is. People also believe something
is true because there exists no evidence to refute it as the truth. For most
parts of the lives of people science held as the main source of truth and based
on the aspect of society, people learn a lot from what they are taught by
others, and what we are taught we consider as truth because we develop a good
understanding of the arguments surrounding them. When it comes to belief but in
the context above acknowledging that something is true greatly relies on a
person’s trust in the person involved. The above brings about the aspect of the
development of relationships in the society. Unlike science which is only based
on understanding arguments to get to the true beliefs is associated with the
person’s will. With science, the demonstrative proof is fundamental in
accepting the truth, but in the belief, the existence of a demonstrative proof
does to force a person to accept or deny the truth. There is still room for
choice. Faith allows men and women to accept the testimony of what God makes
known to them. The revelation of God to his people fully transcends human
reasoning and helps people realize personal freedom. Such revelation is
associated with freedom because of its association with the truth. It is a
revelation that appears to people gratuitously and makes people have the urge
to seek acceptance by God as or of expression of love for Him (Friberg-Fernros,
2016).
Christian Theology
Theology
in Christianity explores aspects of their practice and belief. It is a study
mainly based on aspects of the Christian traditions, the Old as well as the New
Testament as they try to explore and understand God and his plan for humanity.
The theology of Christianity is backed by the foundations of God, Jesus Christ
and the Holy spirit that form the trinity, the Bible which is the Holy Book of
God, sin, redemption, and reconciliation, the various sacraments, and
spirituality regarding belief and practice. These are some of the important
factors of the Christian theology that form the basis of our understanding of
God and the Christian Faith. These factors have a good basis especially in the
understanding of the aspect of loss and grief. About the Christian theology,
the handling of loss and grief can be met through the belief in God and his
plan. Faith in God is a combination of will and intellect and thus makes faith
have a supernatural virtue in itself for what God reveals to us to accept as a
show of love for Him. In the process of having faith and belief in God people
develop a union on a spiritual level with God. In Christianity, belief in God
is very important for the creation of a spiritual union with God. In the above
case, the aspect of faith and reason comes out in the sense that my grief of
the death of my grandfather caused a great disconnect between God and me. Grief
creates a lot of emotional distress that creates doubts but can sometimes be
considered positive in understanding the true plan of God in our lives (Sullins,
2016).
Spirituality-Worship Prayer and
Meditation
Prayer
is a very important aspect of the Christian faith. This is because it forms a
way through which a person can speak to God. Prayer can be done either in the
fullness of God or as part of the Trinity. Prayers help in the development of
discipline and connect us closer to God. It is a stable way of getting to know
God. It creates a form of communion with God and enhances the relationship with
God. As described before, belief in God is associated with a creation of a
spiritual union, and it can only be strengthened through prayer. Prayer is very
important because it creates the sense of oneness with God. About the case, the
loss of a loved one can be very devastating, and it is only through prayer that
our faiths can be restored. Prayer has the power to uplift and gets a new
attitude in life as a result of the fullness, and the truth is given to us by
God. We are God’s children, and He gives us what we want when we ask. We have
to understand that death isn’t the end and our lives on earth dictate our lives
after earth. Prayer, meditation, and worship are therefore important aspects of
the Christian faith. They are three elements that get a\us closer to God and unite
us with His Truth and His Spirit. Grief makes a person stronger and is a very
necessary path of God towards healing and becoming stronger human beings. Grief
helps in testing people’s trust in God and is a great milestone towards
understating the truth. We seek God’s truth, but we cannot have it whole and
receive it piece by piece. Therefore, our journey \y on earth is associated
with access to God’s truth, and every step brings with it challenges that offer
learning opportunities. Now I know part but will understand fully. This shows
that we are on a journey that leads to the discovery of the love of God and is
a journey filled with trials and tribulations and offers learning opportunities
for the love of God towards us (Frears & Schneider, 1981).
Greif
of the death of loved one as explained above are milestones in the journey
towards discovery. They come as tests of faith. According to the Bible, there
is a time for everything under the heavens. The story of Job shows how a man
stuck to his faith in God despite great calamities in his life and they came
because God let the devil test his faith. We have to combine faith and reason
and acknowledge that Jesus suffered for us to be delivered from evil. We have
to have the belief that death is not the end but a new beginning in life with
God. The circumstances of death and grief help us in the understanding of our
faith in God. It describes the relationship between faith and reason and how
the two can be separated because of anger caused by the loss of a loved one.
However, grief is supposed to strengthen our faiths in God by understanding
that it is part of our journey to discovery and soon we will have a full
understanding when gods reveal it to us in the end. The death of a loved one
falls in the plans of God, and it should not facilitate the breaking of our
union with him but should strengthen our relationship with Him (Frears &
Schneider, 1981).
References
Buchak,
L. (2017). Faith and steadfastness in the face of counter-evidence.
International Journal For Philosophy Of Religion, 81(1/2), 113-133.
doi:10.1007/s11153-016-9609-7
Di
Ceglie, R. (2016). Faith, reason, and charity in Thomas Aquinas's thought.
International Journal For Philosophy Of Religion, 79(2), 133-146.
doi:10.1007/s11153-015-9513-6
Eggemeier,
M. (2015). An Awareness of What is Missing: Faith and Reason in a Post-Secular
Age. Heythrop Journal, 56(3), 526-527. doi:10.1111/heyj.12249_64
Frears,
L. H., & Schneider, J. M. (1981). Exploring Loss and Grief Within A
Wholistic Framework. Personnel & Guidance Journal, 59(6), 341.
Friberg-Fernros,
H. (2016). Respect, Coercion, and Religious Reasons. Journal Of Religious
Ethics, 44(3), 445-471. doi:10.1111/jore.12149
Henson,
D. M. (2015). Toward A Theology of Palliative Care: Faith, Reason, Praxis, and
Love. Heythrop Journal, 56(5), 805-817. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2265.2012.00778.x
Introduction
to Philosophy and Theology within Catholic Liberal Education, Edited by Angus
Brook, (McGraw Hill, 2014)
POLLACK,
R. (2013). Can Faith Broaden Reason?. Genewatch, 26(4), 31-34.
Sullins,
D. P. (2016). Truth and Anti-Truth: Faith, Reason, and Rhetoric in the Public
Square. Catholic Social Science Review, 21207-217.
Walker,
C. J. (2013). Faith and Reason in Stuart England. History Today, 63(8), 39-41.
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