My opinion is that we continuing believers need to reach out and show him that he is still accepted and a vital member of our community. We know and have known of many who have that crisis of faith; it is not just Biblical; it is real. You might jettison Kosta? I consider him more Christian than most of the so called Christian posters on FR.
Try rereading the OT prophets including Psalms and find out how many of them experienced abandonment and wrote agonizing verses of Scripture.
I haven't "jettisoned" Kosta at all. I have been communicating with him for over a year both on open forums and through FreepMail. I pray often that he sees the truth. I just question why it seems few Catholics here do little more than praise his every post even when it makes their own faith out to look like it's based on myths and no different from any other of the myriads "manmade" religions. I would think this is an area where we can stand together as believers to counter the disbelief. We have plenty of ammunition we can use to give an anwswer to everyone that asks us of the reason of the hope that is within us.
And, yes, many people go through periods of doubt. My junior year of Bible College brought me to the point of asking why? I seriously thought about quitting. And because my heart was open to him, the Lord gave me the answers and the assurances that I was in the right place and that what I was learning was the truth.
Even in times of despair and heartache where it would be so easy to chuck it all, a child of God will never lose his deep heart faith. He may run from God and try to live his life the way he wants, but it only leads to more heartache and after enough time goes by, he returns home. That is because his Heavenly Father has never given up on him, never stopped drawing him back, never stopped loving him and stands there waiting with open arms to welcome back and fully forgive because that is the kind of God he is and he never breaks his promises to us. God is NOT afraid of our doubts but is willing and waiting to answer everyone of them. We just have to trust him.
Mark you are so kind. It is not so much the faith itself as I do not deny God (for that would be another form of faith) but simply admit that I do not know what God is. Boatbums, you will never see my posts casting doubt as to the existence of God. Most of my posts have to do with factual issues concerning the Bible, the history and other tangible subjects, where evidence casts doubts on some aspects of what people traditionally believe based on them.