Do you ever question your Christian faith? Do struggle with doubts? Are there certain issues or aspects of Christianity that you don’t quite understand?
Abraham Piper recently posted about an issue that has been giving him some trouble lately:
It seems far-fetched that God invented a system in which a reasonable/rational/sane person can deny “ultimate reality.”
A great deal of discussion has followed this post as over 100 comments have been posted to date. Abraham drew attention to one comment in particular today via Twitter, however:
Apparently, one 22 Words reader (“john”) wasn’t impressed that “son of one of the greatest preachers of our day” has doubts and struggles.
An unfortunate comment, no?
It seems that, in some Christian circles, there is pressure to be completely free of doubt, question, or confusion. At times, we even put this pressure on ourselves, causing these same doubts and questions to become an internal source of guilt and shame.
Why am I doubting this aspect of my faith? No one else struggles with these questions. Christians shouldn’t have these doubts. Am I really a Christian?
Don’t Be a Closet Doubter
It takes a great deal of humility to acknowledge your doubts, to pose your questions, to openly struggle with your faith. I appreciate Abraham Piper’s willingness to so in the public forum of his blog. One commenter stated:
I commend Abraham for being bold enough to air his questions. He is not concerned with looking like he has it all together, but rather being honest. I’ll take that any day.
Doubts, struggles, and questions are only dangerous if we ignore them, suppress them, or pretend they are not there. Ultimately, doubt can serve to drive us to prayer, the study of God’s word, and wise and godly counsel. Most importantly, doubt drives us humbly to the foot of the cross.
What doubts or questions do you struggle with? In your opinion, is it acceptable and healthy for Christians to struggle with doubt and questions about their faith?
Questions are only dangerous if we answer them. Can the blind lead the blind? If we find the "reason" we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free from the chains of dogma and "blind" faith.
I think it is relevant to point out here that Christians are the intended audience of this post. I certainly don't want to discourage you from posting – I do enjoy dialog and you are welcomed to comment. That said, it seems as if you are attempting to take this post in a direction it was not intended to go. Admittedly, the intended purpose of this blog is not to spark an apologetic debate between Christians and athests. Rather it is largely intended to encourage, challenge, and create dialog between other Christians. I have only a limited amount of time to write here and unfortunately I can't cover it all.
Despite all of this, I will respond to your comment.
It's interesting that you refer to chains of dogma and "blind" faith. It seems that there is dogma and "blind" faith associated with atheism, no? All atheist claims are supported and proven by iron-clad, scientific evidence?
On whom does the burden of proof rest? The professing Believer? The atheist? Both? Neither?
The burden of proof rests on the one making the claim because you cannot prove a negative. You can no more prove Zeus doesn't exist than a Buddhist can prove Jesus is not divine. Atheism is to religion what bald is to hair color. It is the absence of belief, not the presence of a different belief. You yourself lack belief in Zeus, the tooth fairy, and flying reindeer, and I hope would require an abundance of evidence to conclude any of them truly existed. Science could be 100% certain about flying reindeer if there were evidence of flying reindeer. Science, observable reality, can tell us the likely hood of something's existence, but nothing humans can imagine can be proven to not exist.
It is a straw man, to say that atheism is a religion with a dogma, or requires faith. Atheism is a lack of belief in any god, and can not require belief. Babies are atheists, they lack belief. Children of Jews, Muslims, and Christians, are atheist until they have been indoctrinated.
I tell my children "The most important thing in life is to ask questions and find answers." If they can do that, they can find there own way in life and go farther than I could imagine. As adults I feel the best place to start is knowing what a "logical fallacy" is and how to identify them. Not because they are the answer to any question, but because they help identify bad answers on any side of an argument.
Don't get me started on the "straw man." You entire argument about God not healing amputees is a straw man. You ask the question with a horribly shallow understanding of prayer, observe the amputee has not sprouted another limb, and thus tear down the caricature you have created.
Jesus did not pray "my will be done," but rather "thy will be done." Prayer is not self-serving and self-seeking. Prayer is not about getting what I want. Prayer is about God, God's will, God's sovereignty, God's glory, humility, relationship, the cross, the gospel… Prayer is not about me. Eleven of Jesus' 12 disciples died a martyr's death. Do you not think that they prayed?
". Science, observable reality, can tell us the likely hood of something's existence, but nothing humans can imagine can be proven to not exist."
Prove to me, with science, that love exists. Prove to me, with science, that compassion exists. Prove to me, with science, that indifference exists. Prove to me, with science, that belief exists. Prove to me, with science, that faith exists.