doubt and faith
If I have doubts, does that mean I don’t have enough faith? If I doubt, am I displeasing God? Can doubt and faith co-exist? These questions can provoke much discomfort for a person exploring a relationship with God. This playlist takes these questions seriously and offers perspectives to help you re-think your notions about doubt and faith.
"We are closer to God when we are asking questions than when we think we have the answers."
--Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
--Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
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Faith and Doubt by John Ortberg
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Judges 6:11-24
Read Judges 6:11-13
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"Doubt as a Spiritual Discipline"
Read the following excerpt from this article. If you wish to read the entire article, a link is provided. “Through the years, I have heard many church leaders using language that positions doubt in opposition to being a Christian; that when the individual should encounter doubt, they are to get rid of it; that you can not have doubt and faith at the same time. This is a misunderstanding of the nature of faith. I believe we should not flee from doubt, but run towards it, embrace it, and confront it for what it is. “For Christians, doubt should not be viewed as negative, but a positive protective mechanism that helps us to evaluate what we hear, read, and how we practice our faith. When people tell us not to doubt, what they are saying is that we should not evaluate our beliefs; that we should blindly accept what we have been told. “In reality, the opposite is true – our beliefs are defined and strengthened through doubt.” https://www.patheos.com/blogs/unenlightenment/2021/01/doubt-as-a-spiritual-discipline/ |
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Struggling With Spiritual Doubts
"Be patient with all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers...Live the questions now." --Ranier Marie Rilke from Letters to a Young Poet Click here. |
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"Dark Night of the Soul"
In the darkest night of the soul, The bleakest veil of blackness Is pulled down over the sky. You look out with piercing gazes, But the Lord hides himself from your eyes. Doubts well up inside you like cumbersome tears, Suffering over the meaning of it all And bound by your deepest fears. You cry out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” But your words don’t reach his ears. And each morning you rise hopeful That the Son will rise along the eastern sky. But another day passes, your bitter “whys” festering In the cold, damp darkness. But to have a dark night One must have first had a bright day. We lay in the midst of solitude Because we recognize we weren’t always alone. What we breathe our numbered breaths into Leaves us vulnerable and open to attack Because our life’s meaning hangs by a thread And is defined by the object of our heart’s desire. And during those numbered days, When all hope has been vacuumed from the soul, The strength to carry on is a burden few understand. But you push on knowing God is there, Even when he can’t be felt. Then, when that dawn comes, It’s too beautiful to describe And harder to fathom – For faith flows freely once again. The captain of your heart and soul Never jumped ship and abandoned you, But let you steer for awhile So you’d come to appreciate And depend on his presence all the more. -Poem Written by Justin Farley To read the entire article, click here. |
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For Further Study
Read this article about how one person wrestled with doubt and faith. Click here.
Read this article about how one person wrestled with doubt and faith. Click here.
