Christian Prayer Room

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Got Doubt? Get Truth

The renowned historian Will Durant mailed questionnaires about the meaning of life to a number of famous people. After reading their answers, he published them in a chapter he titled, "An Anthology of Doubt". Who hasn't contributed to that chapter?

Researcher George Hunter says, "The number one factor in the secular audience today is not guilt but doubt. Secular people doubt the claims of the gospel, partly because of the plural truth claims confronting people today. They also doubt the intelligence, relevance, and credibility of the church and its advocates."

Christians are certainly not immune from such doubts. When early Christians met the risen Christ, "they worshiped him, but some doubted" (Matthew 28:17).

What do we do when we doubt our salvation or our faith or our God? How can we help someone else deal with their doubts?

Four Practical Responses:

One: Be prepared for your doubts.

According to C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, the stronger your faith, the more likely you will be subjected to attack by doubt. Doubt is part of Satan's strategy for paralyzing and crippling your faith and preventing your use by God. The stronger your faith, the greater a threat you are to the Enemy. So be prepared for doubts to come not because your faith is weak, but because it is strong.

Two: Be realistic about your doubts.

Our doubts and questions about God often come from asking questions whose answers we cannot understand. We want to comprehend the nature of God, or his eternal plan and how this crisis fits into it, but our minds are finite and fallen. St. Augustine was right: "If you can comprehend it, it's not God." And Tennyson added, "Nothing worth proving can be proven."

So be realistic about your doubts. Do you question what you cannot humanly comprehend? Are you asking for proof that cannot exist?

Three: Be honest about your doubts.

The only doubt which does permanent damage is the one we won't admit. Isaiah 1:18 in the original Hebrew records God's invitation, "Come, let's argue it out". God knows your questions, your doubts, your struggles. Be honest about them with him.

Four: Be biblical about your doubts.

Judge what you don't know by what you do: God's word is true, and Jesus is his Son and our Savior. Find the help of God's word and his Son for your doubt, your question, your problem. Ask a trusted Christian friend to study Scripture with you and pray for you. Don't let the doubt linger and fester in your mind. Bring it into the light of God's word, now.
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~ excerpt from: The Denison Forum (https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/land-walking-sharks-and-city-killer-asteroids-four-responses-to-doubts-that-imperil-our-faith)






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