Reasonable Doubts

Here are a number of thoughts from someone dealing with doubt. I feel like every Christian feels their faith being tested from time to time. Doubt is something we all experience and it rears its ugly head to work away at our mind. I stand to think that most Christians don’t have the capability to stand without some reason of doubt.

Doubt is so abstract we can’t defined because it’s so complex and it’s always in some form or shape in our life. The key is separating good doubt from sinful doubt. I’ve had considerable doubts about my major, church, friends, life style, and yes even faith. I feel like a lot of life can be filled with doubt and it’s kinda scary to think about. People will never get over various fears and doubts mainly because I assume if we did we would begin to become self-righteous. So what do we do with these feelings, thoughts, and insecurities?

Technically there is a large chance that we are going to be wrong about a lot of things. Then it occurs to us that we might be wrong about the things that really matter to us and this captivates our emotions. We cannot make our thoughts an emotional connection since our emotions can leave us and then we won’t have any understanding to fall back on (Matthew 13:20-21). We often say “I don’t feel God, He must be gone”. This doubt becomes a subjective emotion giving us confidence to believe things that are misleading, creating a BIG PROBLEMS (James 1:6). If our thoughts become less leaps of faith but instead trust that is earned because we have seen what God has done and who He is the facts for the belief become the foundation. This assurance should always be present underneath our doubts. If we have doubts we need to go back to the reasons why we think it is true then rehearse these things and make sure they are still in place (Matthew 13:23).

Is it crazy to say that some doubt repairs your beliefs? A Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamunol seems to agree with me when he says “Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.” I understand that I have beliefs that are incorrect but the reason for this is that I haven’t found them to be untrue yet. But I have found that we can’t let these doubts drive us into despair. Statistically 85% of Christians say they have doubts and the other 15 % lie because none of us are impeccable of doubt. No one will ever have all their questions answered in this life. The key to victory in Christian life is not having all your questions answered. The key is how to learn how to live with unanswered questions.

“Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.” -Paul Tillich