Mother Theresa an Atheist?

A few days ago, a book revealing that Mother Theresa was shaky on her belief has just been released. From her letters:

"I call, I cling, I want ... and there is no One to answer ... no One on Whom I can cling ... no, No One. Alone ... Where is my Faith ... even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness ... My God ... how painful is this unknown pain ... I have no Faith ... I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart ... & make me suffer untold agony.

So many unanswered questions live within me afraid to uncover them ... because of the blasphemy ... If there be God ... please forgive me ... When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives & hurt my very soul. I am told God loves me ... and yet the reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul."

Read more from Tim Norwood.

Whose God is God Anyway

Syzygy Mandaea writes on religious intolerance

Speaking of hell. Later on in my school career, we had emotional sessions in the Chapel once every year. These events, titled 'Challenge Weekends' were not for the faint-hearted. Speakers, loud music, dance and the menacing use of scripture was utilised in ensuring only the most obdurate did not attain salvation and give themselves over to Christ. I was most terrified of one movie that was used to drive home the point that if we did not comply with the threats of hell-fire, we were likely to die any day and be punished for eternity. In the movie, a young man of 20 met a gruesome death in a car accident before descending into the burners, eternally damned.

Read the rest here.

Church, not for me

I decided today to make an appearance at my local church after a year away. I expected to receive a welcome like... "Hey! Long time, where have you been?", but no one seemed to acknowledge me.

In the front row was my cousin Ted, in choir uniform! I stood in awe as he approached the front with the rest to lead the choir. Then a flashback hits me! This is the same cousin whom last week I met in a bar in Mombasa, very drunk with a group of football players harassing women. Two days ago Ted came home with Lucy whom he introduced to me as his girlfriend. They spent the night at my place and left the next morning. As he closed his eyes, so engulfed in Holiness and his hands in the air, I asked myself if what I was seeing was real. Suddenly Ted spots me, I could see the embarrassment in his face, but I ignored him and sang along.

Read here as Charity Kivuli describes the hypocrisy of organized Christianity.

Jesus is dead, long live the Church

Two thousand years ago, a roving Jewish teacher, the kind that was quite common in that day was nailed to a cross by the Romans on charges of sedition.

The story, at least according to the Bible goes that he was sold off to the Romans by the priestly class in Jerusalem whose grip over the minds of the people he threatened. He could have extricated himself from this trap, but gave himself up to his tormentors partly in fulfillment of an ancient prophecy and partly as a redemptory act of love for all mankind shackled by the irons of sin to death and despair.

Read more: Violet Nishimisi "The Christian Church is growing, the pews are filling up, Sunday prayers are full of song (and dance), collection baskets are straining with money, but Jesus is dead. Long live the Church."

Spiritual Direction

A very warm greeting to all of you who are marking the feast of Pasaka. Across the world Christians will be attending services commemorating Christ's final hours of suffering on the cross.

The lesson will doubtlessly center on the idea of the ultimate sacrifice that Christ made so that God would wash away our sins forever and we would have everlasting life in the Kingdom to come.

How do we manage our spiritual lives to take full account of His sacrifice. I will look for inspiration to the words of St Francis of Assisi who was speaking to a fellow brother about "Perfect Joy" . He said that it could not come from created things or fame or honors, nor even from prophecies and miracles. It could only come from self-denial and humiliations suffered in imitation of Jesus who suffered so much for everyone.

Don Wainaina on Easter.