Posted on 08/11/2015 6:28:18 AM PDT by metmom
Do you have doubts about the faith? “No,” you say, “I’ve been a Christian for years.” You don’t understand. I didn’t ask if you were a Christian or not. I asked if you had some doubts, perhaps a nagging question in the back of your mind, “Is this stuff really true?” It’s okay to ask that question. In fact, it’s normal.
For both the doubting Christian and the searching skeptic, let’s look at some prerequisites for faith as seen in the life of “doubting Thomas” (John 20:24-31). What was it about Thomas that caused Jesus to deal with his doubts?
Risk
Thomas was a man who was willing to risk. Thomas was not a mere dabbler in religion. He was a Christ-follower, and he was committed to following him to the death. He was willing to risk in order to discover. If you aren’t willing to risk, forget it.
Socrates, Plato’s mentor, had a student who came to him while he was kneeling by a stream. The student asked Socrates, “What is truth?” Without hesitation, Socrates grabbed the boy, held him under water until the boy began to struggle, pulled him up, and answered, “When you want knowledge the way you just wanted air, then you shall have it.”
If you don’t believe something and your disbelief doesn’t bother you, then forget about resolving your doubts. You don’t want answers badly enough yet.
Refuse
Thomas was a man who refused to run on someone else’s gasoline. If we had been around when the disciples said they had seen the risen Jesus, many of us would have said, “Oh, really? What a great experience. Can I vicariously share it with you?” But, you see, you can’t vicariously share anyone else’s belief or experience.
I know a man who became a Christian a number of years ago. What led up to his conversion illustrates my point. One day he went to his backyard, his Bible in tow, and looking up to the sky, said, “Lord, I’m not trying to put you to the test, but if you don’t speak to me, I’m going to take this Bible and throw it away.” Now that’s not an appropriate way to go before God, but his heart was right. He was saying, “I’ve been playing a game. I’ve been running on the gasoline of others. Now I have to meet you or I’m going to die.”
Question
Thomas was a man of questions. I believe that the only dumb questions are the ones that aren’t asked. God would say that too. Questions that concern your doubts do have answers, but when they aren’t asked, you won’t find answers.
Will Rogers once said that he believed in college because it took kids away from home just at the point when they started asking questions. There might be something to that, but if the home or the church can’t be open enough to any question that anyone asks, then we have a serious problem.
Verbalize
Thomas was a man who verbalized his doubts. One of the problems with the church is that when we are hurting—and doubt is one of the greatest hurts we can have—many of us play pretend. We keep quiet about it, never getting our needs met. That’s like going to the doctor because you have stomach pains and when the doctor asks you, “Where does it hurt?” you say, “I’m not going to tell you because you will think I’m sick.” How foolish! How foolish for those of us in the church who do the same thing.
If you have doubts, don’t go off in a corner and lick your wounds. Be like Thomas: verbalize your doubts, and let the church come to your side with some answers.
Accept & Act
Thomas was a man who, when he found answers, was willing to accept them and to act on them. The reason for speaking up about your doubts is to get satisfactory answers that lead somewhere—to a changed life. You ask questions, not to show how deep your philosophical nature is, but to get answers. The reasons you risk should have nothing to do with showing your courage, but they should have everything to do with finding the reality of God.
Jesus answered Thomas’ doubts exactly, precisely and totally. And Thomas didn’t even know Jesus had heard the question. Jesus met his doubts in two ways.
Jesus gave him an evidential answer. He showed Thomas his wounds and allowed Thomas to check them out himself. If you believe there’s no evidence for the truth of the Christian faith, then you believe a lie. The Christian faith is credible, evidential, it hangs together, and it is totally open to questioning.
One reason so many believers have such terrible doubts is that they’re afraid it may not be true. So they don’t probe and find out. They would rather hang on to what may be false rather than risk to confirm that it’s really true. If that’s you, I’ve got some good news for you. The Christian faith is true. Go ahead. Check it out. Truth never fears investigation.
Jesus gave him an existential answer. He didn’t just give the facts; he gave himself too. That is the magnificent fact of Christian apologetics. The evidence is there, but the One about whom the evidence speaks is also there.
I heard that C.S. Lewis said that every time he sat down to write, he felt someone standing behind him watching. He described the experience this way: “To say that I was searching for God was like saying that a mouse was searching for a cat.” Jesus comes, the evidence is presented, and then he says to both the shaking believer and the confirmed atheist, “Consider the evidence, but don’t forget that I’m here also.”
God doesn’t play games. He’s in the business of answering honest questions, meeting honest doubts, honoring genuine risk. When you go to the Father, expect answers to your questions, but if you don’t really want to know, don’t ask.
Time to Draw Away
Read 1 Kings 18:20-45 & John 20:30-31
What spiritual doubts do you have? Write them down and then begin to search for answers. Ask for help in your search from some trusted, mature and earthy Christians (the kind who won’t be threatened by doubt and who are honest about their own) who can come alongside you and point to some resources. But more important than that, go directly to God, praying for a strong sense of his presence and peace. He loves to answer that prayer with a “yes.”
I know God loves me. I know He is guiding me, with gentle nudges and firm shoves, in the way He wants me to go. I know that for me to be with Him forever is the ultimate goal.
But why we are traveling this path with the mud rather then that one with the pretty flowers? I have to admit, I am clueless and likely will remain so this side of Glory.
There are “doubts,” there are questions, and then there are ultimate mysteries.
I agree with you. This author is sketchy.
I struggled with doubts in the past and asked God for a sign and He gave it to me. The problem was that my doubt wasn’t a result of lack of proof but from my own unwillingness to believe and trust in God.
As simple as it seems the way my doubts were resolved simply by trusting God the best I could, not from a sign.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Prov. 3:5-6
I didn’t mean to pick on you, netmom. I see your faith all the time. It’s just that this is a big issue with me. I had to fight against this cancerous teaching several years ago.
What if He places in one’s heart ‘doubt’ about Christianity and its teachings and traditions and directs one’s path out of it and out of religion altogether?
Like the command He gives to come out of her my people?
Is there a way to doubt without losing faith? Doubt that leads one to see they had misplaced faith- faith in inherited lies like Jeremiah 16:19 speaks to? A journey that actually strengthens one’s faith in Him but not in what others tell about Him?
If I tell people I met Him as the Roman Jesus but He didn’t let me stay there, that would make little sense to people like the Pope or Billy Graham.
And He led me to doubt things that cause me to see all religion in the world like Islam,Judiasm and Christianity as babel. And that fits with the rest of the counterfeit babylonian world we live in.
I was a protestant who unlearned about Rome’s Jesus and learned about the genuine Joshua/Yahshua..
And Judaism and Christianity would have trouble telling that story with what they follow today.
But I am peculiar. I don’t call it Woden’s Day (wednesday)anymore like the world does.
I call it His 5th Day. A day that commemorates Him making the creatures in the Seas and birds of the Heavens.
I ‘doubt’ religious people would be willing to go that far in their journey - it would mean unlearning even the most innocent things we were taught as children..
And what a change when I never used to doubt good Friday and easter Sunday before..
But now, I have big doubts about it because I know that isn’t true.
But I know what is Truth- Passover and First Fruits. Just as Paul taught.
One is based on the world.
But the Truth is based on scripture, as Paul taught.
And not sure that difference would make sense to the Pope and Billy Graham.
It made a world of difference in my faith. Faith I used to have in another Jesus and another gospel compared to my faith now in the Way, Truth and Life.
And He was gentle in leading me out. It didn’t make sense at time. Now I know.
Doubt isn’t bad if one learns to doubt the world and trust Him and His Word.
It can lead one to amazing Truth that only He can teach..
HalleluYah!
God is never going to place doubt about Himself in people’s hearts.
Push your Hebrews Roots stuff or whatever it is somewhere else.
Nobody is interested in what you can’t back up with Scripture anyway.
I am glad you are happy. When we all stand before God to give Him an account of our thoughts, words and actions, I am glad that I will be measured on Christ’s merit as my substitute, like the passover lamb or the ram given in substitute for Issac.
You can stand before God on your terms. That is religious freedom.
As for doubt, obviously the object of faith must be God’s Truth. We should always be studying and searching the Scriptures and praying for understanding. That is not doubt. That is obedience that comes from faith.
The Old Testament says plenty about faith and doubt. By faith Abraham left his home for a promise God gave him that he believed. By faith Noah built that Ark while his neighbors mocked him. By faith Joshua led that march around Jericho. On and on. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” is in the Old Testament.
What Jew and Christian can share in the area of faith is that God is real, He is loving, He is just, He hates sin, He is faithful to His promises, etc. What we do not share is the means by which we get His approval. Of course we both say faith is the means, in one sense. But the object of that faith for me in in Christ, God’s Son. God the Father raised Him from the dead and gave Him the name above every name, that at His feet every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER. I will worship Him with every part of my being as my Savior and Lord.
Your faith I will let you explain, of course I could but it is not my place. In the realm of politics, I am very grateful for the truths that we do share. They are significant.
I am not Hebrew Roots.
They need Rome too if they thought about it..
Passover can’t be backed up with scripture?
First Fruits can’t be backed up with scripture?
Historians say that Paul didn’t have Mathew, Mark, Luke or John, when he wrote his letter where he detailed the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15- ‘according to scripture’.
Places like Leviticus in the old scripture might be a good place to start.. The scripture he was an expert on..
And everything Rome peddles as truth in their catechism would go bye bye.
People like me needed Rome to tell the story. They do it well in the catechism and their calendar. Each piece is needed and no one need doubt it. Or dare.
He caused me to dare.
I can offer you reasons to doubt everything about Rome .. Not to doubt God. But what man teaches..
That is proper doubt. That is required if we are to hold fast to what is good.
And scripture can be used to doubt Rome.
Even using current bible translators sloppy work, they question the sacredness of the Greek name Jesus with two new testament verses where they erased the name jesus for an English name(Joshua)
Jesus, december 25, good Friday, Easter Sunday..
That pretty much sums up Rome’s version of events.
I could say:
Joshua, New Moon Day-1st Day of 6th month, Passover, First Fruits
those may not be the same by simple observing year to year as Passover floats - even though the words and deeds attributed to the King of Kings would be exactly the same with each.
Would some call it too picky?
Too scriptura?
When one realizes Passover is always the 6th and Final Work Day of the Father’s 2nd Week, it will seem clear why times and laws were changed.. And the Son finishing His Work on the 6th day shouldn’t shock people. Most assume (thanks to Rome)that is a Friday every week.
Amazing when Passover falls on a Monday to show His Sabbath is a Tuesday and First Fruits a Wednesday..really messes up Rome’s version but explains His perfectly and confirms what He says in scripture.
It may seem insignificant, but it is all designed to cause people to break the 4th Commandment without them knowing it.
Which is the Commandment that has the Father’s seal (name,title,territory) .
one of the 4 Commandments that the enemy causes people to break in Revelation 13 (1st 4 Commandments- that deal with worship)
And one of the ten Commandments Israel heard with their ears after 60 days, when Hethundered from Mt. Sinai in the wilderness.
And one of the ten Commandments they received on the tables of the covenant, when Moses came down the mount, after 100 days in the wilderness.
Some of those numbers should be familiar to christians. 60/100. Add in the 30 when manna came down from heaven (according to scripture after 30 days in the wilderness) and that is the parable of the sower, describing The Kingdom..
may be some puzzles and mysteries Judaism and Christianity can’t put together, but things start to make more sense we He says in Scripture that those who would break and teach others to break the least of the Commandments, would be called Least in the Kingdom (30fold-least, 100fold-great)
And why so many don’t see daniel 7:25 or Revelation 13 happening today..
But that takes eyes to see. And ears to hear. And a willingness to test and prove all things. And He will lead us to Truth..
And that may not be a comfortable journey but it is an awesome one that He is willing to lead anyone on..
Even me..very humbling..
Doubting Rome is different than doubting God.
Unless one thinks Rome is an authority on the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-
I don’t believe they are- I believe they are an authority on counterfeiting the things of the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob..
And the whole world is affected. Muslims, jews, catholics, protestants, secular humanist, atheists, etc..
That may not mean anything or it might mean everything.
I would be happy to show you some of those places where Rome could be questioned..
It seems to happen a lot on forums but it would be a little odd in this case because ‘Rome’ in this case represents the whole world in my premise.
My Catholic neighbors are as just deceive as my Muslim neighbors and my Jewish neighbors and my Protestant neighbors.
The real enemy is Satan and he uses all religions as vessels..powers and principalities like Rome, not flesh and blood.
I hope you are interested..
I posted a reply to another in #29 and it may explain a little more of where I was coming from.
The Lamb takes away the sin of the world and what a blessing to meet Him as Savior! We have been blessed for that!
That ‘faith’ is a gift that I thank Him for each night.
I spend a lot of time reciting Trust Him will all my heart because I believe He does direct our paths when we do the three things He Commands us to do before His promise!
Love that promise He gives and I have leaned on it for the last 3 years.
Because so much of where He has lead me is at odds with religion and the world today. Like going against the grain..
It isn’t popular to call today His 5th Day.
But due to some in post #29, that was birthed from Him leading me to doubt Rome, not Him..and Him leading me out of the world.
I pray more can be given the gift of faith before the lake of fire .. I think the more we question in the world of religion and rely on the plain scriptures, more will see genuine Truth and how it all fits- Genesis to Revelation..
And see why the enemy is at work counterfeiting Truth..
May He Bless you more!
Bookmarked
Well, aren’t you just so spiritual now?
We’re just all so impressed at how much better you are than everyone else.
Good for you....
Does your belief have a name so that it might be researched or is it entirely your own?
Not better.
Just willing to humble myself and submit to Him. For everything. And it is humbling. Very humbling.
But that is His Work too. Tough to repent when you don’t know what to repent from. Tough to preach the gospel of the Kingdom if we don’t know what it is all about.
And it is all about Him.
All about His Kingdom and all about spending eternity in His Kingdom with Him.
If you think this is about me, here and now, you couldn’t be more wrong.
A faith step we take of not being conformed to the world will transform and renew the mind He gives each of us - a step we take that leads to His promise of transformation in how we think.
And come Pope Gregory sunday(if the sun,moon,star signs hold their pattern) you too could know that that day is the anniversary of His real Birth- the 1st day of His 6th month. A day, 30 years later, He was baptized..a Holy Day. A set apart day He gave Israel (you can see the Jews will miss it)
And you can then see how the following Sunday will be the ‘8th Day’ of His 6th month.
And that was the day He was circumcised- the weekly Sabbath.
And 40 days after His birth, Jewish law says He was to be dedicated in the temple.
40 days from the 1st day of the 6th month will be the 10th day of the 7th month. A day scripture says is the Day of Atonement! Another Sabbath.
See a pattern? Like the Word made flesh? Literally!!
New Moons, Sabbaths Feasts..it is all in there..
Do people want to know Truth or live in Satan’s lies?
I would warn you not to trust the calendar on your wall when it says Yom kippur, if you look ahead to September.
That is based upon judaism’s use of Rome’s calendar.
The real day of atonement will be a day later, unless the new moon is spotted Friday. (These are Holy appointments and yet Judaism allows Rome to set their schedule- go figure)
I do suspect some sarcasm and that is expected. you may not be willing to ask,seek and knock but amazing Truth comes to light when one does..
Ignorance in this case only appears to be bliss..
You can keep calling today Thor’s Day and following Rome’s Pope Gregory calendar all the while battling Roman Catholics on everything else.
I used to be that hypocritic..
I prefer to worship Him in spirit and Truth. And that meant coming out. Not of Roman Catholicism. Out of the Babylon religions.
Tomorrow is His 7th Day Sabbath and the ‘pesky’ muslims with their Friday prayers will keep part of that day Holy without knowing it.
Jews who were taught all this, will wait until the sun goes down after His Sabbath Day ends, and keep their Sabbath-
all the while working on His real Sabbath.
And it makes all the religions look like they take their orders from Rome.which they do because Rome controls the calendar.
Satan controls the worship of the whole world..
That may not sink in to most.
It did to me
And sometimes the different religions will stumble into one of His Holy Days..and sometimes they don’t .
Amazing How He is merciful and loving kind to all.
And it endures forever..
And without His Mercy and Grace, no one would be saved. Because none of us are good.
Let us love Yah with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Imagine if the whole world assembled on the same days and worshipped Him and His Creative and Redemptive Work?
Satan doesn’t want that. His Kingdom will have that!
And now that is why we have things like December 25, good Friday and Easter and not the genuine days..
All about worship. That is the battle of Revelation. Who will we worship?
may He bless His 6th day for you and all.
Just a disciple, student..
No church. No synagogue. No temple except the one He gives us that we walk around in..
I thought I was going to take the next faith step a couple years ago and become a member of an orthodox Presbyterian Church, but He stopped me..
I now know why. That is why my suggestion would be to come out of the world. Not go back in it and Satan is heavily involved in all religion. Satan has people divided into camps, that isn’t His Will.
And what He has taught me may not pass muster in Jewish temples or Christian churches..I mentioned some of it in another post (#34 I believe)
It may sound like it would but it is more prophetic that Satan deceives the whole world.
I admit I was deceived.. But I know how and why now.
That is a blessing and why I now call today His 6th day- by faith, just like I used to call today Thors Day,by faith..
My faith was misplaced..
I can see so much about the Kingdom that is blinded by the world intentionally.
And the more one is not a friend to the world, the more they will see Him and His Kingdom’s Freedom and Liberty is different than the counterfeit kingdom and the freedom and liberty that the enemy sells.
Mathew 13:52
Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
We have much to learn and the Bride need not be in the dark about things.
Satan didn’t need organized religion to deceive people. He started in the Garden of Eden. He can deceive your own mind.
Faith is not aided by doubt. Neither is it aided by error. I think it is a bad sign to see everyone else as wrong and only yourself as correct. Surely God has enlightened others.
I think your belief has a name and you do not wish to share it. You should be proud of it if it is so helpful. Is it perhaps what is known as Christian Hebrew Roots? Something different from just Hebrew Roots. Does it have a leader by the name of Armstrong?
Faith must be grounded in truth or it is worthless. Your feelings that you are correct above all others is not something I would ever put my faith in. Besides, you seem ashamed of those your are associated with.
His teaching is along the lines of the Emergent Church. His recommended books are Emergent authors. BEWARE. Sometimes error is very subtle but it will lead to greater and greater error if followed.
God has punished doubt in many ways. The Israelites had to wander in the desert for 40 years because of their doubt. Abraham tried to fulfill God’s promise of a son with Hagar because of doubt that Sarah could have a child. That has been an ongoing disaster. Zachariah lost his voice over doubt. Peter began to sink in the water over doubt. On and on and on and on. God was merciful to Thomas. That does not mean doubt is not a dangerous sin that displeases God greatly.
Doubt is sin.
Well, I don’t see the tone of the article going that far myself.
Granted he could has emphasized more about dealing with the doubt, but I simply don’t see that he was endorsing it, encouraging it, or anything.
What I see in the article is encouragement for people who are dealing with doubt to admit it, confess it to someone else, and deal with it to get rid of it.
People DO struggle with doubt and it consumes them.
As far as the Israelites, it was always my understanding that they wandered in the desert for 40 years because of rebellion, not doubt.
I have no use for the Emergent church movement. There’s plenty wrong with it, and I don’t need convincing about that.
However, I don’t see the article doing much more than encouraging people who struggle with doubt to not keep it inside, but to admit it to someone and get over it.
And no, I do not see Jesus upbraiding Thomas for his doubt. He met him where he was, provided something for him to over come his doubt, and Thomas did. If Thomas had persisted in it, that would be a different issue. But he didn’t.
If there is a group out there that calls today His 6th Day,I don’t know it..
I know there are some Jews, some Christians and muslims who look for a new moon each month and report it online..I don’t think they are wrong.
Which is why your opinion that I think only I am right and the rest of the world is wrong, is inaccurate.
I think He is Truth and the world has been peddled a Roman counterfeit and lies that are half truths that leads down meaningless paths.
I have observed muslims and jews from a distance (I knew Christianity’s pratices- well except for Mary and her rosary but I learned all that too)
Muslims, some Jews and some Christians do check for things like a new moon and I asked Him what a New Moon Day was-
what it means to Him.
Because places in scripture like Ezekiel 46 detail a new moon day (a good question to ask by the way because they are in Scripture and reading over Ezekiel 46, there is an odd thing that may be missed by most)
And just observing those diverse people search and report a crescent moon each month, isn’t meaningful or too biblically instructive if it isn’t all about Him.
But it is all about Him when people understand His Word and His Creation.
seeing how He fits into it,brings it full circle and can show what is error and what is truth..
and believe it or not, there are groups who debate what a new moon is- dark,crescent,full.. Doctrinal debates that would seem silly until one realizes that Truth and wisdom, knowledge and understanding can be gained from it all.
It may sound silly to most but when one understands the Savior was born on a new moon day, and there are hints big things might happen on a future new moon day, maybe it would be good to ask seek and knock to see what else we may be missing - lest we get caught unprepared by the thief in the night..
And isn’t that our job as believers? To be Bereans? To be watchers? To be on alert?
And testing these things that Rome sells seemed to be prudent when I began testing Mary and her promises for praying Rosary..
And that is why I don’t think it’s insignificant to say that Rome has created another Jesus.
Not by Word or Deed, but by everything else. A birth day, the day He died, the day He rose. Little false teachings that are traditions of men that lay aside the Commandments of Yah. And isn’t that what He acussed the religious leaders of doing 2,000 years ago?. Today, Rome is that place..like it or not..
I can be accused of one thing- doubting Rome. Guilty as charged.
His Word records the sign in Creation of when He was born.
(And it was a New Moon Day) the last time that sign occurred was on September 26 in 2014 (nowhere near December) and it actually represents a new moon day of the 7th month now (Revelation 12 is the sign)
because with the movements of all His Creation over time, that sign isn’t in the same place today than it was 2,000 years ago.(you may see a 2014 calendar and see how Judaism was off by a day-like Maxwell smart- missed it by that much)
And if there is a group that knows that, I don’t know them..
Is a birthday a big deal? Is the Lamb laying His life down on Passover too ‘technical’?
Truth has no agenda.
And if I may paraphrase, if someone has Truth revealed to them and they realize they were honestly mistaken, they will either cease being mistaken or cease being honest..
Is it wrong to test and prove all things or just wrong to test things religion or the world hold as givens?
It is not about joining a church, synagogue, etc. I have no website, church, body of believers to show you to say hey, check these guys out..
If I have any advice it would be get a bible, a concordance and maybe get a free application for a device on a computer,phone, tablet that will show you the movememts of the sun, moon and stars. And watch them.
And ask Him about everything. Even what day it is..
And don’t be afraid to come out if He leads you..
You may be humbled like I am..
I see all religion as Babylon.I see Babylon in Rome, DC and Jerusalem.
I don’t trust that what is in Israel today is even legit..
I don’t have a problem with calling the world counterfeit..
Most wouldn’t go that far.
Don’t believe me or anyone. Seek it out yourself.
I can’t help but see religion as babel, I am sorry.
Thousands of denominations, debates over doctrines while all still accepting the same initial premise that Rome has anything to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
It all starts with a false premise as I believe Rome is a counterfeiting operation. Not the people, the power and principality.
I see Rome more along the lines of the first reformers. Which with now 500 years later, a new Roman calendar named after a pope - signs point that those men were on to something...
Because you and I don’t start with the same premise,we will not be able to come to the same conclusions..
Which is okay. He called me out of a sleeping body of believers that didn’t know they were asleep. I didn’t know at the time either.
And that may be why Eve came out of a sleeping Adam. A prophetic picture of the Savior’s Bride coming out of His sleeping body of believers.
I am wide awake- halleluYah!
You are free to accept the world as it is..
I see it completely different.
I pray more see Him in what Israel was commanded to do as a way to lead deceived muslims,jews, christians, secular humanist, even atheists to our Redeemer.
The Way, Truth and Life
Blessings to you for a peaceful, restful Master’s Sabbath Day tomorrow ..
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