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.