As a young Christian I had many questions. I’m so thankful that at the time, I had mentors who welcomed any and all of my questions – even if they didn’t have the answers. Most of my silly questions were met with a grin and an honest answer. If they didn’t know the answer I would often be directed to a website or book that might have the answer.
Somewhere along this road of asking question after question, the inevitable happened. I had a question for which I couldn’t find an answer. This obviously led me to doubt. I’m not talking about the kind of doubt that says, “Oh well, I guess I will just have to take this one on faith,” (I’ve never liked that response). I’m talking about the kind of doubt that says, “Is any of this true?” The stress of this doubt was amplified by the fact that I am (and was) a minister in the local church.
The enemy, Satan, has a way of tempting us toward alienation in our doubts. What I mean is, we feel as if we cannot speak of our doubts to other Christians for fear of being deemed “unfaithful”. Perhaps, we will be told we don’t have enough faith. What does that even mean, by the way? This is right where the enemy wants us to be. Alone. Doubting God.
The reality is: we will all have doubts. Whether we think of the tough question ourselves, or hear it from someone attempting to talk us out of faith, we will encounter tough questions. My prayer is that you will not go through this alone. My prayer is that you will allow yourself to have these doubts and honestly seek answers. It wasn’t until I allowed myself to have these doubts that I was able to find the answer to my questions. We serve a big God, he can handle our doubts. Not only can he handle it, but I believe he wants us to doubt. He wants us to doubt in the sense that we seek answers. So I encourage you, ask questions. Seek answers. Ask for help. If you want recommendations on where to search for answers, or if you would like to ask me for my answers, as always, feel free to ask!
Haden Clark 
Thank God for your life… Nice post
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The enemymakes us alone and causes too much pain and then we doubt God.
God , i believe wants us never to doubt him, because if we doubt him and forget, and let go of hus hand, we stop listening to him, then in a time of need he cant help us, because we have left him.. and not ready to hear him…
Doubt moves us away from his protection .. if we hold his hand he can whisper and warn us and save us. But if. We doubt we become alone… and tge evil eats us up and we are like ….what happened
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I agree that it is okay for the Christian to doubt. After all, God gave us these wonderfully complex minds and emotions with the capacity for both faith and doubt. And if acknowledged and addressed properly, doubt can actually strengthen our faith (as it did for you). The key is how we handle our doubt. Asking questions and seeking answers is vital to working through our doubts. It is also vital to building our faith. Yes, we must be careful not to let the enemy use our doubts against us but as you said, God is a big God. He can handle our doubts and ultimately work them for our good – if we let Him.
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Amen!
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And by the way, thank you for stopping by A Couple of Stars and a Happy Face. And for following!
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For many people, it is difficult to read things about their religion that question what their parents and church have taught them all their lives. However, those same people do not know that Jesus advocated for people to think about such things.
Jesus liked to use parables when he spoke to groups of people. He wanted people to open their eyes and see the truth. However, the New Testament reports that when asked why he spoke in parables, Jesus said, “in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’” Mark 4:12. Jesus was quoting from the Prophets:
Isaiah 6:9
He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.
Isaiah 43:8
Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.
Jeremiah 5:21
Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
Jeremiah 36:3
Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.
Ezekiel 12:2
Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.
These words are put in Jesus’ mouth in all four of the Gospels. The Gospel writers were intent on demonstrating that Jesus was the one prophesied in the Old Testament. Certainly, Jesus did know from his knowledge of the Prophets that all people wouldn’t do the work required to understand him. However, doing the work necessary to understand the truth that Jesus spoke is at the heart of Jesus’ use of parables.
Jesus spoke in parables because to understand them, you have to think deeply about them. You have to test them against real-life experience. Jesus wanted the people to think for themselves and test his words, not just accept them blindly as they did with the the words of the rabbis and the Temple priests who were authority figures to them. Jesus knew that the only thing that would convince a people to change their way of thinking and give up old ways that had been grilled into them by the Jewish authority figures of the time was to do the work necessary to understand his parables.
Christians today have had some ever increasing, erroneous notions put forth to them by the church for almost two thousand years, including editing the original New testament manuscripts and the putting of insertions into them. These erroneous notions are very hard to change in Christians just as it was hard to change the erroneous notions that the Jews of Jesus’ time had.
By use of parables, Jesus was saying that we should do the work of getting to the true meaning of both his words and his Father’s words. We should not just blindly accept what authority figures teach us. We should test it all to see if it holds up as the truth based on what our intelligence and life experience tells us. Unlike what most churches have told us, it is not a sin to question and test everything, rather than to accept it all blindly from so-called authority figures.
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Wow! Interesting perspective and awesome post!
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I am yet to have any massive doubts so far during my born again life, but came close to thinking I was crazy lol after chatting to my brother a few times (he is a hard core atheist).
For me the questions were around the trinity, suffering and who is Jesus but I reckon that stuff was just part of my own journey and linked to what I believe is my calling type of thing. God showed me this stuff deep in my heart and mind, cant remember ever intentionally seeking answers to these things but the answers came from me wanting to understand other stuff. God is awesome like that.
But when the time comes I will allow myself the space to doubt cause that’s healthy. Thanks for taking the time to post
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Thanks for your thoughts! I look forward to writing on some of the subjects you mentioned!
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No worries man! I should of elaborated by what I meant. You know when God reveals something deep to your mind and heart in a second and its clear as day and you never have to question it again ( I’m hoping this isn’t just me lol) but when it comes to sharing the revelation with others it takes hours and 5 books. That’s what I experienced with the 3 things I mentioned.
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You do realize that God commands us to believe His Word without doubting in such places as Hebrews 10:22-23 — “. . . let us draw near with a SINCERE heart in FULNESS of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water, let us hold FAST the confession of our hope that it waver NOT; for he is faithful that promised . . .” and James 1:5-8: “But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, WITHOUT doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and TOSSED. For let not that man think that he shall receive ANYTHING of the Lord; a DOUBLEMINDED man, UNSTABLE in ALL his ways.”
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I do realize, thank you!
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Great post! It’s important to know and be reminded WHY we believe WHAT we believe. Sometimes it’s these crisis of faith moments that settle some of those questions for us as we see that God’s faithful hand at work.
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