But we cannot ignore all the stories where God’s people doubted. The book of James points toward doubt–laden prayers not being answered and Jesus told his followers to pray with confidence. Rather they earned their title because they had faith WITH doubt.Īt the same time, there are also plenty of stories where doubt led to trouble. Oftentimes the “heroes” of the Bible did not earn their title because they believed without doubt.
#Shadows of doubt even full
The Bible is full of stories of doubting people. As often as not, spiritual giants of the Bible are shown contending with God.” – Philip Yancey Throw at him your grief, your anger, your doubt, your bitterness, your betrayal, your disappointment-he can absorb them all. “One bold message in the Book of Job is that you can say anything to God.
Let’s start by looking at how doubt in faith is played out in the Bible. That’s what I want to do in this article, I want to explore the relationship between faith and doubt. It needs to be understood, expressed, and used. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.ĭoubt is not the enemy and not something that needs to be fought. Paul Tillich puts it this way, Doubt is not the opposite of faith it is one element of faith.Īnne Lamott builds on Tillich’s quote, The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. The opposite of faith is certainty where there is certainty there is no room for faith. But that perspective needs to be flipped. You can read more about the process that brought me to where I am here: My Faith Deconstruction and REconstructionįaith is often seen as the opposite of doubt. And when I embraced that my doubt became something that actually helped my faith grow. What do I do with this doubt in faith? Those cheap answers of just have more faith didn’t work or answer the questions I had.Īfter floundering for a while I realized doubt isn’t the opposite of faith, it’s a part of it. And for a while, it sent me into a faith crisis.
Focus on my faith and not my doubt.īut a few years ago I experienced a level of doubt that was just too big to ignore. For much of my life, it was manageable, minimal. I’ve experienced my share of doubt in my faith throughout my life.
Let’s look at what the Bible says about faith and doubt. We should not deny or fear our doubt but express it. It seems God has more of a tolerance for doubt than most churches do. We downplay this pivotal piece of our faith.īut the Bible does quite the opposite, it highlights the doubters. Despite the prevalence of doubt in our spiritual walks it’s rarely talked about or acknowledged.Īnd when it is talked about, it’s brushed off with short answers that excuse what’s really going on. The reality is almost everyone experiences some kind of doubt at some point in their faith journey. If you’ve experienced doubt in faith you know that. And if a Christian finds themself doubting God the solution is simply to replace the doubt with faith.īut it’s not that simple. It’s something that should be avoided, faith and doubt just don’t mix. Many Christians view doubt as something that harms one’s faith.
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