Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith

cornnifer

sweetpotato wrote:

based on personal experience, i don't think you can call faith your own until you've questioned it. otherwise it's just inherited, which is the opposite of earned.

exactly. In most cases, when those with faith go through valleys in that faith, when they struggle with it, when they question it, they usually emerge with faith stronger than ever before, and its much more "real".



If anyone deserves respect, from even the most faithless, for God's sake it is Mother Theresa! Leave her alone.

gue_barium

cornnifer wrote:

exactly. In most cases, when those with faith go through valleys in that faith, when they struggle with it, when they question it, they usually emerge with faith stronger than ever before, and its much more "real".



If anyone deserves respect, from even the most faithless, for God's sake it is Mother Theresa! Leave her alone.

If you have faith in yourself then why oh why do you have to hide behind "God," "Mother Theresa," and Sweetpotato in a post proclaiming to acknowledge "real" "faith"?

I think you're full of shit.

You dont know what Mother Theresa's faith was. It was hers alone. What she shared was what she knew and cared to share of her own humanity.

sweetpotato

gue_barium wrote:

If you have faith in yourself then why oh why do you have to hide behind "God," "Mother Theresa," and Sweetpotato in a post proclaiming to acknowledge "real" "faith"?

I think you're full of shit.

You dont know what Mother Theresa's faith was. It was hers alone. What she shared was what she knew and cared to share of her own humanity.

it's all just opinions. we're not the ones who will be judging her saintliness, the vatican will.

gue_barium

sweetpotato wrote:

it's all just opinions. we're not the ones who will be judging her saintliness, the vatican will.

Um, I think you judge that for yourself. Whatever the fuck "saintliness" is.

sweetpotato

gue_barium wrote:

Um, I think you judge that for yourself. Whatever the fuck "saintliness" is.

knucklehead, i'm referring to what all the hoopla is about. they're questioning whether the vatican will beatify her or not. no need to be crude. if you don't understand something, just ask. i'm not catholic, but some of this is more or less common knowledge, isn't it?

Collin

cornnifer wrote:

i also read that she had requested that these letters be destroyed. Instead, they publish them. i think its pathetic. Ignore her wishes in an effort to make a buck and seek to discredit one of the finest human beings to ever live. Sad. Shameful, in fact.

I don't think they want to discredit her but use her as an example of faith. This is from the Time article:

Mother Teresa, quoted in Time wrote:

If I ever become a Saint — I will surely be one of 'darkness.' I will continually be absent from Heaven — to [light] the light of those in darkness on earth

time wrote:

Teresa considered the perceived absence of God in her life as her most shameful secret but eventually learned that it could be seen as a gift abetting her calling. If her worries about publicizing it also turn out to be misplaced — if a book of hasty, troubled notes turns out to ease the spiritual road of thousands of fellow believers, there would be no shame in having been wrong — but happily, even wonderfully wrong — twice.

cornnifer wrote:

If anyone deserves respect, from even the most faithless, for God's sake it is Mother Theresa! Leave her alone.

Why exactly? I've read and seen quite a few things that deserve very little respect. Watch the link I provided, I know it's not much proof of anything because they show only 5 minutes of edited stuff but as I said from what I've read she doesn't seems like a saint to me, literally or figuratively.

cornnifer

gue_barium wrote:

If you have faith in yourself then why oh why do you have to hide behind "God," "Mother Theresa," and Sweetpotato in a post proclaiming to acknowledge "real" "faith"?

I think you're full of shit.

You dont know what Mother Theresa's faith was. It was hers alone. What she shared was what she knew and cared to share of her own humanity.

??????

Not hiding behind anything or anyone. i seriously don't get this one. Oh well.

gue_barium

cornnifer wrote:

??????

Not hiding behind anything or anyone. i seriously don't get this one. Oh well.

Your statement comes across as offensively, to me, as a teen ne'er-do-well who thinks he's got an answer, yet knows nothing.

cornnifer

gue_barium wrote:

If you have faith in yourself then why oh why do you have to hide behind "God," "Mother Theresa," and Sweetpotato in a post proclaiming to acknowledge "real" "faith"?

I think you're full of shit.

You dont know what Mother Theresa's faith was. It was hers alone. What she shared was what she knew and cared to share of her own humanity.

It doesn't matter what the faith is. It was never the point. Point is, regardless of what you have faith in, when you reclaim it, after struggling with it, it will likely be stronger than before. Don't see how anything i said could be offensive to you or anyone else.

sweetpotato

sweetpotato wrote:

knucklehead, i'm referring to what all the hoopla is about. they're questioning whether the vatican will beatify her or not. no need to be crude. if you don't understand something, just ask. i'm not catholic, but some of this is more or less common knowledge, isn't it?

sorry, i meant to say "canonize". she was beatified by John Paul II.

gue_barium

sweetpotato wrote:

knucklehead, i'm referring to what all the hoopla is about. they're questioning whether the vatican will beatify her or not. no need to be crude. if you don't understand something, just ask. i'm not catholic, but some of this is more or less common knowledge, isn't it?

I don't do 'hoopla'.

sweetpotato

cornnifer wrote:

It doesn't matter what the faith is. It was never the point. Point is, regardless of what you have faith in, when you reclaim it, after struggling with it, it will likely be stronger than before. Don't see how anything i said could be offensive to you or anyone else.

yes, that's what i meant also.

i think barium's just looking for a fight! too bad he's having a hard time finding one here.

sweetpotato

gue_barium wrote:

I don't do 'hoopla'.

i wasn't referring to you, i am talking about the bigger issue of whether they will finally saint the poor woman. apparently there has been some concern over this crisis she suffered. but i believe they need to be able to credit her with another miracle before they can canonize her, if i'm not mistaken.

gue_barium

sweetpotato wrote:

yes, that's what i meant also.

i think barium's just looking for a fight! too bad he's having a hard time finding one here.

No, not looking for a fight. I'm on a mission from god.

gue_barium

sweetpotato wrote:

i wasn't referring to you, i am talking about the bigger issue of whether they will finally saint the poor woman. apparently there has been some concern over this crisis she suffered. but i believe they need to be able to credit her with another miracle before they can canonize her, if i'm not mistaken.

You implied I lacked the insight of knowledge to understand what is being said about this issue. I say otherwise.

Abuskedti

deadnothingbetter wrote:

interesting read. thought some might be interested.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415-1,00.html

This is just an indication of how strong her faith was. She didn't let her doubts stop her from doing her part.

Awesome lady

deadnothingbetter

Collin wrote:

I'm sorry if I go off topic here by not calling names or anything and just address the actual topic.


I just read it (I said I'd wait till now because I prefer reading it in print than on a computer screen) and I must say it's an interesting article to say the least.

It seems to me that Time deliberately stays away from more agnostic and atheistic points of view on her crisis of faith, though. But maybe that's because they follow the direction of the book. The book sounds really interesting as well and I think I'll pick it up one day.

I've read and have seen a lot of stuff about Mother Teresa being a fraud, that she didn't care about the dying at all (or that she didn't care about relieving them of their pain) and the she didn't use the donated money wisely or effectively. Perhaps the lack of god in her life came through in her actions i.e. her carelessness.

People said she was obsessed with suffering and these letters seem to confirm this.

Also watch this: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=8q1m-8npkJ4

yeah, obsessed with suffering sounds very strange.

i'm not catholic... so i've never really paid much attention to her works and what she's done. and i'm not at all surprised that she denies God's existence... there are so many people who are catholics and practice catholicism but don't even believe in the bible, or much more rather believe that a god created the universe with a divine purpose. might not be true for all catholics... but i've heard it said before, "a good catholic doesn't read its bible."

i don't know if she ever was a fraud like the link says, but it sure is interesting. i come to wonder though... from the link you provided there are other links that also show ghandi and dalai lama as fraud... maybe those dudes from the clips are just completely biased. it's really hard to conclude that it's a fact.

cause even though i'm not a hindu, a buddhist, or catholic it's hard for me to believe that just because there are religious people they are ALL going to be frauds. cause stemming from the links, at least it's what it seems like they are trying to say. and i'm not trying to defend religions by this... i'm not religious myself.... although many would find hard to believe

gue_barium

gue_barium wrote:

You implied I lacked the insight of knowledge to understand what is being said about this issue. I say otherwise.

In other words, there isn't a person or a god or anyone that can do anything now for mother theresa. she's dead.

gue_barium

sweetpotato wrote:

sorry, i meant to say "canonize". she was beatified by John Paul II.

nothingness.

deadnothingbetter

Abuskedti wrote:

This is just an indication of how strong her faith was. She didn't let her doubts stop her from doing her part.

Awesome lady

probably.... i don't know.

but collin has provided other links that suggest otherwise. maybe you should look into them.

a friend of mine who is a pentecostal referred me to the link. all it says to me though is that you can't really trust a human being. ever. buddhist, hindu, atheist, pentecostal, catholic, agnostic... no matter who or what... you can't put your faith in a single human being.

except jesus