#doubt doubtwell

Uh Oh

           Oh no.  It’s happened.  You have doubts.  What do you do with them?  What will people think?  A lot of times it is taught and thought of that doubting and asking questions is bad. The church seems to have given an image of negativity towards doubting or having questions about things concerning the faith. I am not talking about those that criticize the faith and make fun, I am talking about those that have genuine questions.  If you have doubts you are doing something wrong or something is wrong with you.  But let’s be honest we all have doubts.  If you don’t think you have any then I highly doubt that.  Is this the way that doubt should be viewed?  Let’s examine the ways doubts are usually handled and the results that come with it, and then maybe a new honest and refreshing way to deal with doubt.  

Doubts Ignored

           My grandpa often talks to me about faith issues and different concepts related to the bible or Christianity.  He is not a Christian himself but says that he has a lot of questions and doubts.  But whenever he has asked people including those that are in leadership in churches they tell him that he just needs to have faith, all the while ignoring his questions and doubts.  This is something I have experienced and I am sure that you have to.  I even heard a Christian one time hear someone bring up something that they had questioned or couldn’t understand about Christianity and their response was “Oh I’ve just always believed this, I’ve never thought that way.”  This obviously leads people to be very angry and to not want to talk to Christians or about Christianity.  It seems ridiculous because when there is an issue or question we have we are led away and just ignored.  The thing that is bothering us or holding us back from further understanding is just seen as unimportant.  It leads people like my grandpa to not even want to hear what people have to say about the bible because he has just heard so much bullshit and rejection of his doubts.

Doubts Suppressed

           There are also those that have doubts but don’t want anyone to know.  It would be humiliating to let everyone know that you feel unsure about some of the things in your faith.  What would they think of you?  They could see you for who you really are, that’s scary.  They then suppress their doubts and push them away when they come up. This leads to unanswered questions and possibly an immature faith.  Because you haven’t sought out answers or actually put thought into what you believe your faith can seem pretty immature, especially when people ask questions and you avoid them or ignore them.  

Doubts Heard

           This is what I think is the best way to deal with doubt, from someone who has doubts and someone who hears doubts.  First of all doubts need to be expressed, it’s not like God doesn’t know you have them anyways so you’re not hiding them.  Also I guarantee others have struggled with whatever you are struggling with as well they just never had the balls to share it. Secondly we need to realize what we believe is crazy!  There is no way that God becoming a man, Jesus, is not crazy.  There should be some questions and further trying to understand if were going to use our brain.  Thirdly, people’s doubts need to be heard so that you can actually be real with them.  These are people who have real thoughts and real concerns; to ignore them is foolish and stupid.  

Doubt Well, Have Faith

           Now notice the last section was called “Doubts Heard.” I don’t want it to be misunderstood that if we are honest with our doubts and seek out answers that we will always find them.  I think there really are times when we need to have faith.  I just don’t think the “have faith” needs to be used to suppress or ignore doubts.  We can be real and struggle to believe things, God will bring us to faith in time. But there are also things that don’t necessarily have to be doubts there can be answers to them if one seeks and learns more about the bible and Jesus.  It is possible that some of your questions and doubts have answers.  It is possible that there isn’t any answer and we won’t know until heaven.  The only way to know is to doubt well, being honest with yourself and pursuing the truth, all the while trusting and having faith that Jesus has the answer one way or another.  So let’s doubt well and have faith.