Fait in the today world.

1. Doubt and Faith – How a Man Approaches to the Question of God Who today talks about faith with people who are only Christians by name and who cares little about faith, will soon know how difficult and difficult it is to challenge them. His attitude is aptly described by the famous short story of philosopher Kierkegaard, about a clown and a burning village, which was briefly presented by Harvey Cox in his book »A City Without God? * .1 A fire broke out in a circus in Denmark. The director sent a clown who was already wearing a fool’s suit for the show to get help from the neighboring village. There was a danger that the fire would also jump to the village. The clown begged the villagers to hurry to extinguish the fire in the circus. But people thought it a trick to lure them into a circus performance. They applauded and laughed to the tears. The clown was not crying, trying to explain to people that the circus was really burning, but in vain. People laughed even more, praising how well they could play – until suddenly there was a scream that the village was burning. There was no help. The circus and the villages were ashes. Cox tells this story as an example for the theologian’s situation in today’s world. In the clown, to whom people wish little hearing, he sees the image of a theologian. The theologian in the “clown suit” of the Middle Ages or from the past can say what he wants, but nobody takes it seriously. He may try as he wishes to point out the gravity of the situation, but everyone considers itas a clown playing, and in the viewer’s view, his speech has nothing to do with reality. They can listen to him benevolently, but they don’t have to worry about what he says. Yes, this picture is a reflection of the oppressive reality in which theology and theological language are found; the impossibility of breaking the habitually created templates of speech and thought and noticing theology as expressing truly serious situations in human life. But let’s think about it more seriously – even more thoroughly. Perhaps this picture – though very true and forcing to think – simplifies things a bit. It looks as if the clown – theologian – knew everything as if it came with a clear message. And villagers, that is, people without faith, as if they knew nothing and had to learn what they did not know. Then the clown could only swap the costume, take off the make-and everything would be fine. Is it really that simple? Does theology need to adapt to modern man? Make up, take another coat, choose a secular language or Christianity without religion – and everything will be all right? Is it enough to change and people willing to run a fire that the theologian says is here and is very dangerous for them? We can see that this theology is modernly disguised here and there – and deprives us of seemingly all hope. Yes – you already know the truth: who is trying to talk to today’s people about faith, people with worldly mentality, sometimes feels really like a clown, or rather someone who stepped out of an ancient tomb dressed in ancient clothes and with ancient thinking into the modern world, whom he does not understand and who does not understand him. If the herald of faith is critical enough, he will soon notice that it is neither a form nor an outfit in which theology is stuck. Those who take faith seriously feel a stranger among modern people. He sees how difficult it is to give this faith to people, and he will experience the uncertainty of faith and the oppressive power of unbelief. Therefore, if he wants to bring the Christian faith closer to himself and others, he must realize that it is not just a change of clothes that is sufficient for the proclamation of faith to be successful. He would soon realize that his situation was not much different from that of others, he thought. In believers and non-believers, they have the same influences, the same powers – albeit in different ways.Thus, even for believers, there is a danger of uncertainty that at some point can rise to the surface and show the fragility of what always seemed to be self-evident. For example, even Saint Teresa of Lisieux, the gentle saint, at first glance without any problems, grew up in absolute religious certainty from a very young age. From the beginning, she even believed so strongly in all the truths of faith that the invisible world seemed part of her everyday life. The spirit of faith in daily life was as obvious to her as material things. And this saint, living in the certainty of faith, made an appalling confession in the last week of her life, before her death, which somewhat softened the nurses in her biography. Theresa says: »The thoughts of the worst materialists come to me. «Her reason was attacked by all evidence against faith; it seems that the sense of faith has disappeared, and it seemed to be the greatest sinner.2 What does that mean? In a seemingly solid and inexperienced world, the abyss suddenly appears in front of man, lurking beneath the solid foundation of the underlying certainties. In such a situation, we are no longer interested in the individual issues that are the subject of disputes – Assumption of the Virgin or not, confession in one way or another – all this is completely secondary. Here it is all – yes – all or nothing. This is the only option left, and it seems as if there is no fixed point that one could catch in his fall. There is only the bottomless abyss of nothingness – wherever you look.