Anybody else experiencing grief related to religious disappointment?
Dear brother 2fruition,
It is a sordid mess out there, and there's no denying that. I've heard or read pretty much every point you made over the last 40+ years, and you've done an absolutely amazing job putting it together with the heart-wrenching part about how it's impacting your family. I share your grief in that my family faced many of those things one after the other, and you've had the whole load dumped on you in short order.
Here's what comes to mind as I think of your post and respond from my own experience. As I write my thoughts so you can consider them, I'm going back to pick up the Scriptures that informed my thoughts along the trail. It may sound like I'm presenting them as the answer to you situation, but I'm not bossy like that in real life. I'm just offering you what comes to mind, and I hope it brings you some encouragement.
In my mind there's only a little time left. The End of life as we know it is still in the control of the Eternal God, even if to us it seems it is yet to be determined. (For example, Nineveh was warned of an end in 40 days, but God have them extra time because they repented in Jonah's story). We were given a set of clues and indicators (Matthew 24), but He clearly told us to be wary of setting a time or a schedule. It might be that the main point is not that we can pinpoint "The End," but that when He comes, or when it's the End, we are found faithful, trusting Him, and living like Him (
Luke 18.8, and think of the story of the Lord who gave His servants assignments while he was gone like in
Matthew 25.23). It might be that the main lesson for you in this whole collapsing paradym is that what you had before is not the foundation on which you can safely build, and your daughter and her husband couldn't safely build on it either. We won't find safety in trusting in the picture we've built from the evidence we've read, even if a whole lot of us come to the same conclusion. Our safety is not found in our own understanding but is found in Him - in the Eternal God and His Son Jesus Christ (no matter what language you use) - and we can fully trust Him (
Proverbs 3.5-6).
That sure foundation is our obedience based on love, and we love because He first loved us (
1 John 4.19). If we love Him, we'll keep His commandments (
John 14.15 and
1 John 5.3). We'll let His words light up our path so that we don't stumble in this dark world (
Ps 119.105). Is it dark out there? You just described it beautifully: it's really dark out there. Can hearing His words and walking by the faith that His words bring make a difference (
Romans 10.17)? It's the only way through the darkness. All this awfulness you've written about brings me to that one simple fact. Every battle where the few believed on The Eternal in His purpose against the multitude, they prevailed: Joshua's battles, David's battles, Jonathan and his single servant against a host, all those stories demonstrate to us that it's simple: we simply trust Him, we do what He says to do, and we live in His commandments, which is living out a life of love, mercy, and justice, just like The Eternal describes of Himself (Exodus 34. 6-7,
Psalm 145.8-9 and
Jeremiah 9.24).
It is likely that's the answer for your daughter too. It may be that your strongest strategy is to just love her, love her husband, and when you communicate with them, love the fact that God gave them reason and choice, and appeal to them in love as the unique people they are, created in the image of The Eternal God, people for whom He sent His Son to redeem their lives. It looks like an innumerable host of evil is sucking them away, but He Who is in you is greater than any of the forces trying to convince them (
1 John 4.4). It seems there were several who spread their concerns out before The Eternal God before facing that same enemy, and Jesus Himself prayed for His disciples. Your prayers on behalf of this joined couple are amazingly powerful because The Eternal God set it up that way.
We don't wrestle with flesh and blood but the armor we've been provided is necessary, so be careful to don it daily. (Ephesians 6). Prayer is in the list there too.
I hope you find encouragement in the power and love of The Eternal, brother.