3. Die wêreld, geloof en geloofsgemeenskap
Wat sien ons vandag in die wêreld om ons? Ons sien groot kontraste. Soos nog altyd sedert die Sondeval. Welvaart en armoede, vrede en stryd, ontwikkeling en besoedeling. Ons sien ‘n gebroke wêreld. Op geestelike gebied sien ons in die Westerse wêreld en die voormalige Oosbloklande ‘n proses waar die grootste deel van die bevolking sedert die Tweede Wêreldoorlog die Christelike geloof verlaat het en apaties of afwysend daarteen staan.
En ons sien hierdie kontraste in ons eie lewens en die van ons familie en vriende. Siekte en gesondheid, vreugde en verdriet, depressie, selfdood, beproewing en vrede. Geloof en ongeloof.
Ons sien mense wat in gevaarlike lande met groot persoonlike opoffering en risiko die Evangelie gaan uitdra en ons sien mense hier om ons wat die geloof van ander afkraak.
In dele van Afrika en sekere Oosterse lande is daar ‘n beduidende ontvanklikheid vir die Christelike boodskap. Kerke en geloofsgemeenskappe groei daar daagliks. In die VSA is die kerkgemeenskappe nog veel meer aktief as in die res van die Weste en in die voormalige Oosbloklande.
Suid-Afrika - ‘n tradisioneel Christelike land Waar staan ons nou? Dink na oor jou kollegas en vriende en familie. Hoeveel van hulle besoek die kerk selde of slegs per geleentheid? Hoeveel van hulle volwasse kinders kom nie meer na die kerk nie, behalwe miskien om te trou of ‘n kind te laat doop? Hoeveel van hulle sê hulle glo in God, maar dink nie dit is nodig om deel van ‘n geloofsgemeenskap te wees nie? Hoeveel van hierdie mense het geen aktiewe geloofslewe meer nie?
As mens vandag ‘n opname onder aktiewe lidmate van al die denominasies sou doen oor wat hulle van hulle volwasse kinders se geloofslewens dink, dan sou daar ‘n duidelike kommer tevoorskyn kom.
Die Afrikaanse gemeenskap is tradisioneel as baie godsdienstig beskou. Min Afrikaanssprekendes het vroeër openlik hulle ongeloof bely of openlik verklaar dat kerk en geloof nie ‘n aktiewe rol in hulle lewe speel nie. Dit het by wyse van uitsondering gebeur. Maar hierdie wiel het gedraai en daar is vandag baie voorbeelde van openlike ongelowiges, waaronder bekende persone. Dit lei tot vraagtekens in mense se gemoedere en maak dit vir sommige mense makliker om ook in daardie rigting te beweeg.
Baie van hierdie mense maak die sagter uitspraak dat hulle nie ongelowig is nie, maar dat hulle geen behoefte aan kerklidmaatskap of aktiewe geloofsbeoefening het nie. Sekularisme is ‘n groeiende verskynsel in Suid-Afrika in die algemeen en ook in die Afrikaanse gemeenskap. Dit kan beskryf word as ‘n benadering wat apaties, afsydig of vyandig staan teenoor godsdiens. Nie net teenoor die Christelike geloof nie, maar enige geloof in ‘n opperwese. Spottende en neerhalende uitlatings oor geloof en teenoor gelowiges verskyn toenemend in die Afrikaanse media en ook op sosiale media.
3. The world, faith, and the faith community
What do we see in the world around us today? We see great contrasts. As has always been the case since the Fall. Prosperity and poverty, peace and conflict, development and pollution. We see a broken world. In the spiritual realm, we observe in the Western world and the former Eastern Bloc countries a process in which the majority of the population has abandoned the Christian faith since the Second World War and stands apathetic or hostile towards it.
And we see these contrasts in our own lives and those of our family and friends. Illness and health, joy and sorrow, depression, suicide, trial and peace. Faith and unbelief.
We see people who go to dangerous countries with great personal sacrifice and risk to spread the Gospel, and we see people around us who tear down the faith of others.
In parts of Africa and certain Eastern countries there is a significant receptiveness to the Christian message. Churches and faith communities there are growing daily. In the USA, church communities are still far more active than in the rest of the West and in the former Eastern Bloc countries.
South Africa — a traditionally Christian country Where do we stand now? Think about your colleagues, friends, and family. How many of them attend church seldom or only on occasion? How many of their adult children no longer come to church, except perhaps to get married or have a child baptised? How many of them say they believe in God but do not think it necessary to be part of a faith community? How many of these people no longer have an active life of faith?
If one were to conduct a survey today among active members of all denominations about what they think of their adult children’s faith lives, a clear concern would emerge.
The Afrikaans community has traditionally been regarded as very religious. Few Afrikaans-speaking people previously openly professed their unbelief or openly declared that church and faith play no active role in their lives. It happened only as an exception. But this wheel has turned, and today there are many examples of open unbelievers, including well-known public figures. This raises questions in people’s minds and makes it easier for some to move in that direction as well.
Many of these people make the softer statement that they are not unbelievers, but that they have no need for church membership or active practice of faith. Secularism is a growing phenomenon in South Africa in general and also in the Afrikaans community. It can be described as an approach that is apathetic, aloof, or hostile towards religion. Not only towards the Christian faith, but towards any belief in a supreme being. Mocking and demeaning statements about faith and towards believers appear increasingly in Afrikaans media and on social media.