Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I would like to focus the next few weeks on the idea of Christian Atheists, which is a contradiction so let me explain. A Christian, and especially a Catholic, is a person that believes in God who sent his Son to this earth and lived here as a normal man and died a very gruesome death, rose from it, ascended into heaven and sent his Holy Spirit to his first followers who started a community of believers that still exists today.
On the other hand, an atheist says God is dead or never existed and is part of this wishful thinking for kids, something like Santa Claus. So the Christian Atheist is a contradiction in terms. However, often people say one thing and even believe it intellectually, but their thoughts, words and actions say something entirely different. And so if you think about it they often reflect the way of being of an atheist. So there is a disconnect between what people say and how they act. St. James tells us in his letter that Christians need to be doers of the Word, not just hearers.
I am as guilty of this as you and maybe you know people who have left the Church because of this. This series will try to bridge this gap, and we will look at several key ideas where we seem to live our life as if we do not believe that God is present. This week we will look at the biggest way we live and think as those who don’t believe in God.
We hear of the creation account in Genesis and the author tells us that God formed man out of the clay or dirt of the ground and blew into his mouth the breath of life. He tells it in a very personal way. It sounds like an artist molding someone out of clay. He breathes into our mouth. It is hard to find a more intimate image of creation.
Then he sets up this fantastic garden surrounding our first parents (and for you and me) with a special environment so that we thrive. He sees that man is not good to be alone and God creates a partner for man. But the ancient serpent comes and plants a very subtle distortion of the truth to Eve. He says, “Did God tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” Of course, he did not say this; he said do not eat from the tree of good and evil but this insinuation left Eve with a doubt. God is limiting me, he is holding back from me, he doesn’t love me and therefore he does not want me to be like him.
The serpent goes on to tell Eve that if she eats from this forbidden tree she will be like God. She takes the fruit and eats it and gives it to her husband, which means she (and he) believes the lie. And as a result of this they see that they are naked. Before they were covered with the glory of God, but now they feel shame. They go and hide and God comes to look for them.
This story is also your story. You and I believe this lie of the devil that God is holding back from us; he doesn’t want us to enjoy life, or sex, or money, and we cut with him. And so people look for life from everything else. They believe the lie of the devil. He or she usurps the role of God and says: I will decide what is good for me and what is evil. Who is God or the priest to tell me, and they go off and do their own life.
This happens to every one of us and it is in this sense that we act as Christian Atheists or pagans. We think intellectually that God loves me and gave me everything and placed me in this world for a reason, but our actions show a completely different mentality. Most Christians leave very little for God to decide. I will have two kids, and a house here and at the shore, and I will work all the hours needed to provide for myself. God made my sister smarter than me or prettier than me or my mother too strict or my boss too much and so I have to take charge myself.
Jesus shows us something very different in the gospel (Matthew 4: 1-11). He allows the spirit to lead him completely, absolutely. He goes into this barrenness with nothing. And to the temptation of the bread (money) or of security how do you respond? Do you tell your children look for the meaning of life, seek the Lord and his Kingdom? Hardly, you do just the opposite. Study, son, study; get into the right schools and secure your life by teaching or whatever, but secure it; no one else will; you have to do it.
And to the second temptation of throwing yourself off the steeple of the temple what do you do? Many often reject the life God has given them. The devil says do something more spectacular to get attention, to be different, to stand out. Don’t do what your father did; he was a nobody; you have to make a name for yourself. And many lead their lives this way.
The third temptation is the one of idols, bow down before me Satan tells Jesus and I will give you all the kingdoms of the world. And Jesus sends him away, but what about you? You have many idols: things that you think will bring you life, and you put them ahead of God. Money, exercise, health, job, vacations, free time all of these things are not bad in themselves but somehow we think they will give us life, and they cannot.
These three temptations are a summary of all the temptations of life; we face them every day, and usually we give in to them. So in this way we live like atheists, like pagans, even though we have all our sacraments. These readings today are so powerful. They reveal the truth that most people never see. Often people do these things subconsciously and never arrive at the true reality.
God sees this and wants to help us. He doesn’t tell us to act like Jesus Christ; he knows it is not in our nature. He is the one who will give us his spirit so we can live in a new way. The only thing you need to do is to see that I act like a practical atheist in my everyday life. I live as a pagan, not trusting that God will provide food, clothing and everything for me. And because of this I suffer a lot; looking for life from all the wrong places..
Come and listen to this series on the Sundays in Lent; bring a friend. Also there are small groups of six to eight people to watch a video and speak about this reality. Sign up for one in the back of church. This situation of living my own life does not change overnight, and you cannot do it alone. God will do it for you because he wants you to have the freedom of children of God.