Gospel Life Learning: Doubting God? How to Overcome and Strengthen Faith In a Season of Doubt

Doubting God? How to Overcome and Strengthen Faith In a Season of Doubt

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You may wonder – well how do I genuinely seek God, even when I have doubts?

I have a few recommendations for that.

If you are having doubts about whether or not Jesus really did die and was resurrected; then that is very important for you to gain some clarity on. I recommend you research and read on “The Minimal Facts Argument” for the resurrection of Christ. You can google it or find a video on that topic on Youtube. Even Paul taught that if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, then the Christian faith is meaningless and a lie. So if you are having doubts about Christ's resurrection – then yes – study the evidence and decide for yourself. The “Minimal Facts Argument” lays out all of the evidence that all scholars – even non-believing scholar historians – agree actually happened related to the claim that Jesus was resurrected. Remember, that the Bible clearly teaches that faith is based on evidence. The Bible teaches that “Faith is the....evidence of things not seen.” Faith is not a blind trust. Faith is a decision to believe Jesus based on the evidence we have about Him, about His life, death, and resurrection. True faith does have room for areas of doubt. Not complete doubt. Complete doubt would be unbelief; but areas of doubt.

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The second recommendation I have is for the person who did have a strong faith but then suddenly finds themselves with huge doubts. I would also recommend this person review the “Minimal Facts Argument” for the resurrection; but I would also recommend following the example of Billy Graham and what he did when He had major doubts. I read Billy Graham's biography several years ago, and there was a time when Billy when and his best friend and ministry partner, Charles Templeton was the man's name, lost his faith and left the ministry completely. Graham said that he listened to his friend's skepticism and reasoning; and it caused Billy Graham to have major doubts too. Billy Graham wrestled with this doubt when at a certain moment; he called out to God and told God, “From this day forward, I choose to believe that your word in the Bible is true and that you are true.” And that made all the difference in the lives of those two men - from that day forward. It's actually a really sad story for Billy's friend who left the faith and died as an outspoken athiest who even wrote a book against the idea of God shortly before he died. Have you ever been at a similar crossroads before? I have- and after reading about Graham's example years ago; his example really helped me just take my own stand and say – I'm not going to know it all on this side of heaven. I won't have all the answers. But I choose to believe God and that His word is true. I have some questions, yes. I could go back down the road of agnosticism or I can just choose to follow God in decisive faith. Over 25 years ago; I chose the path of faith; and I have not had one day of regret for doing so; and God has revealed Himself to me since then; and that is all I need. No opinion, no rationale, no skepticism can change my mind at this point – because once you have had a true glimpse of God's work in your own life – its all you want.

So my first recommendation is to learn about the evidence of the resurrection through the “Minimal Facts” approach; then second – my recommendation is to follow the example of Billy Graham. Make a consious and finalized choice! Remember the song many of us sang as children? “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back.” Remember the words from Joshua: “Choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Because it is true that you are always serving something or someone's worldview. Again – you are always serving something or someone's worldview. You may think you are just not taking a position at all and “keeping an open mind;” but you really aren't in netural. Jesus taught there is a wide road that leads to death and destruction; and its the default road. It's the road most of the world's population is on just because – they are following everyone else. Then there is a narrow road that leads to life and the fruits and gifts of the Spirit. Jesus says you have to find it; and it is work to find it. You have to decide to walk down it, and not turn back. That makes all the difference.

Finally, the next recommendation I have for dealing with doubt, is to determine the underlying source of where the doubt is stemming from. Lee Stroebel teaches that there are three main underlying sources of doubt within a person – and yours could be one of these or a combination. Doubt can be from the mind, from our emotions, or from our will or desires.

If your doubt is coming from your mind, or from intellectual reasoning, then you may wish to talk to or consult a book written by someone who has gone through something similar or to a Christian who specializes in discipling others through doubt. Lee Stroebel is one who has written the “Case for Christ” books. C.S. Lewis “Mere Christianity” is another. J Warner Wallace is a former police detective that has such a ministry through books and through an online ministry. Mike Licona, Frank Turek, and of course, if the Christian philospher William Lane Craig is another you may want to look up. There are many more. The book that helped me was Peter Kreeft's book the Handbook of Christian Apologetics. It's written at a college level of vocabulary but it addresses 100s of area of doubt you could have – everything but does God exist to did Jesus really resurrect to does God answer prayers; were the miracles real and all of it. I was in a season of doubt and saw the book as I was checking out of a bookstore. Kreeft's book played a huge part in my decision that there was more than enough evidence to believe Jesus was who he said he was; will do what he said he would do; and is still available to us today.

If your doubt is coming from emotion; it's actually your thoughts and emotions tied together. Using truths of scripture combined with cognitive behavioral strategies will be most helpful. You may want to work with a Christian coach or counselor who specialized in Christian discipleship or mentoring, to help you hold up what you are feeling against what God has revealed is true. This is the practice of “taking captive” our thoughts and their related emotions to Christ. Many churches also have free or very low cost counseling to help disciple you during emotional crises that result in faith crises.

Finally, if your doubt is coming from your will; or from your desire to live in a way that you know or have been taught is outside of God's will and best plan for you. In other words, if you desire sin more than God – you know - I honestly don't know anyone who has changed their mind in this situation until they have met some sort of unwanted consequence from their sinful choices. In fact, someone who is actively doubting for this reason, probably wouldn't even be reading this post or listening to this. This is the person who is actively hiding from God like Adam and Eve in the garden. They don't want to go even really want to hear the word of God. This person is actually caught up in a spiritual battle; and typically they will need a consequence before they “wake up” and return back to God's ways. Unfortunately, many times this person comes back to God only when they receive news that they are dying or shortly before they die – when they are looking into the door of eternity. This person will be saved if they return to God at the end of their life. The Bible talks about them being saved just barely, “like through the flames of fire.” If you know someone caught in this spiritual trap – the prayer to pray is that God arranges their life to bring them back to Him, sooner rather than later. And I talk about this type of doubter with respect and with deep care; because this was the type of doubter I was. I've actually experienced all three of these areas of doubt, and worked through all of them. Well, the last one – where I was doubting because doubting validated my desire to sin - I didn't work through that one. I hit rock bottom and that's where God found me and spoke directly to my soul, “Hey, why don't you come back to me? I'm still here and I love you.” I deserved to be thrown out of his kingdom and away from His blessings. But instead, He filled me with His supernatural love and peace. It was a conviction of my wrongs so clear; yet the conviction was given to me wrapped in complete love.” I was at the bottom of the pit; crying in fetal position, wondering if I had the courage to end my life. And God picked me up; set my feet forward and said, “Let's try this again. I'm not giving up on you. You have another chance. I still believe in you, and I'm not holding this against you.”

So to sum up – with intellectual or logical doubt or with emotional doubt – there are ways to overcome that doubt by researching the evidence and making a decision based on the evidence. Remember the Bible tells us that faith is the evidence of things not seen. If the doubt is stemming from a desire to live in sin – then you probably aren't even reading or listening to this unless you've recently experienced a major negative consequence in life – but if someone who loves you is reading or listening, the solution is to pray that God arranges the path of their lives to lead back to Him sooner rather than later, but still in His timing.

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