Tag Archives: Doubt

September 10, 2020 · 8:50 am

A Person of Faith

You cannot be a man of faith unless you know how to doubt. You cannot believe in God unless you are capable of questioning the authority of prejudice, even though that prejudice may seem to be religious. Faith is not blind conformity to prejudice – “ a pre-judgment.” It is a decision, a judgment that is fully and deliberately taken in the light of a truth that cannot be proven. It is not merely the acceptance of a decision that has been made by somebody else.

~~~Thomas Merton

Merton has a fascinating premise when he says,”You cannot be a man of faith unless you know how to doubt.” Most of us have been brought up to think very differently, and that statement will require some thinking. Doubt is a bad word in most church cultures. Church people are taught to believe and leave the rest to God. If we are to accept doubt as an essential part of faith, then there are some things we need to consider.

We must first question the prejudice of following stagnate authority. Merton calls it the authority of prejudice. Things never change and ,quite honestly, that makes it easy. This authority assumes that we will walk in lock step with tradition, no matter how strange or harsh it may seem. We are trained to accept the thinking that comes from the authority, because it is just what we do. Why rock the boat?

Boat rocking begins with thinking for yourself. Maybe, just maybe, things have changed. That rule or practice was designed for people who used a horse and buggy to get around town. Perhaps that practice was started out of the prejudicial thinking of someone who never really learned to think for themselves. If we are to be independent thinkers, we must be people of prayer and study.

Prayer is simply talking to God and waiting for an answer. All of us need to develop a prayer life that will make us feel like God is listening to us and is concerned about our lives. The longer we know someone, and the more we talk with them, the more comfortable we will be. We are comfortable because we know and understand them. This concept is no different when it it comes to our relationship with God.

There still remains a rough spot. No matter how well you know someone there will always be things you do not know or understand. God is God, and we can never understand everything about him. God’s existence is a fact that cannot be proven. We can try, but we will always fail. He ,therefore, remains a mystery. It is in the acceptance of that mystery that true faith begins. When we get to know God and accept the ambiguity of his actions and existence then true faith begins to flourish in our souls.

Lord, Give me the courage to examine the cookie cutter answers that I was taught about you. Give me the determination to begin to know you for myself. Give me the wisdom to ask the hard questions that will refine my faith. Give me the drive to move forward in the mystery of being a person of faith.Give me the strength to move forward this and every day as a seeker of truth.

Amen

Doubt

The poet Kahlil Gibran teaches us, “Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.” Most of us spend a lot of time doubting many things. We were taught to think of doubt as inherently evil force in my life. The advice of the poet leads us in a new direction. He tells us that perhaps doubt is a gateway to faith. To have a great faith, we must look carefully at what we believe and allow the discernment of our God-given image to speak to us.

Doubt is not the enemy of faith but the partner of faith. In our doubts we get to understand what and why we believe. All true faith begins with doubt. As we examine our doubts and fears, we begin to seek solutions to them. The upfront and obvious solution to doubt is faith in the God that made us and his ability to deliver us.

Jesus says over and over, “Why do you doubt,” but it was their doubt that caused them to seek him. When doubt overtakes us, we examine our thoughts, our actions and our motives and are driven to seek an answer.

Doubt can also be the great killer of ambition and progress. As doubt and fear join forces, they produce the personal “perfect storm” that has led to demise of many a person A “doubt storm” can prevent us from fulfilling God’s creative purpose for us. Doubt is tricky but necessary because without it we never really know who or whose we are.

Next time you are in doubt I urge you to look at why you are doubting, who you are doubting and what you are doubting? By asking these questions you can determine your solution. Serious introspection allows us to seek the wisdom and take the time to access our situation. Such an assessment allows us to know if our doubts are from within or without and thus leads us to call on that image of God that we all possess for a solution. Our God image can really allow us to prioritize our lives in quick fashion. I hope these observations will give you few things to ponder this week.

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin
brother.

~~~Khalil Gibran

One of the ego’s favorite paths of resistance is to fill you with
doubt.

~~~Ram Dass

Love is strongest when we learn to trust in spite of the
doubts.

~~~Anonymous

When in doubt, throw doubt out have a little faith.

~~~E.A. Bucchianeri

Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.

~~~DieterF. Uchtdorf

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.

~~~Sylvia Plath

Uninstall self-doubt from your mind.

~~~Anonymous

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of
today.

~~~Franklin D. Roosevelt

When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.

~~~Honore de Balzac

Never let self-doubt hold you captive.

~~~Roy Bennett

Worry, doubt, fear, and despair are the enemies which slowly bring us down to the
ground and turn us to dust before we die.

~~~Anonymous

If you are going to doubt anything in life, doubt your own limitations.”

~~~Dan Brule

Doubt everything. Find your own light.

~~~Buddha

Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have
worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them.

~~~T. Harv Eker

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of
the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

James 1:6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In
all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise
in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to
your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Proverbs 3:5-8

And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt,
you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to
this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will
happen.

Matthew 21:21

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of
little faith, why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:31

Truly,I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the
sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come
to pass, it will be done for him.

Mark 11:23

And have mercy on those who doubt.

Jude 1:22

Fearnot, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen
you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right
hand.

Isaiah 41:10

And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your
hearts?

Luke 24:38

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own
understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not
for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come
and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek
me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not
seen.

Hebrews 11:1

LORD

Relieve me of the guilt of doubt when it allows me to discern.

Allow me to see doubt as of way of growing in faith.

Give me the strength to cast away my doubts that cripple me.

Never allow my doubts to define me.

Relieve me of the pain of feeling I have to always be perfect and please Lord guide me as I go through this day.

AMEN

Doubt and Despair — February 28

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

—-Jonah 4:1-3

Question—Have you ever doubted God to the point of despair?

Prayer Lord, we all have Jonah moments. Help me when I’m so down that life doesn’t seem like living. Allow me to see your hand in things I don’t understand and learn to rejoice in them. Let me take the time to look for your imprint on events that take a different path than I think they should. Allow me to look beyond my thinking in search for your wisdom. Amen

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March 7, 2014 · 7:31 am

4 Things Jesus Never Said

This is a reprint of an article by Michael Hidalgo in the current issue of Relevant Magazine. I hope you can gain some insight from it. Irvin

Here are a few things I hear frequently hear that we may need to rethink …

If You Had More Faith God Would Answer Your Prayer.

There was a man who had a son who suffered from convulsions, and was unable to speak. The father brought his son to Jesus for healing and said, “If you can do anything … help!” Jesus replied to the father, “If you can? Everything is possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23).

The father then said to Jesus, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

What happens next is interesting. Jesus does not say, “I’m sorry, I’d love to help you out, but you need more faith before I can do anything” – not at all. Rather, he heals the boy in the midst of the father’s struggle to believe.

In fact, if we read through the Bible we see God at work in the lives of people in the midst of their doubt and unbelief. We see this with Sarah in Genesis 18, the people of Israel in Exodus 14, Naaman in 2 Kings 5, and Zechariah in Luke 1—to name a few.

We cannot forget the Bible is the story of God’s work, renewal, faithfulness and redemption in the midst of the unfaithfulness of humanity. He does not demand we believe and trust so he can work. He works, and invites us to believe and trust.

Doubting Is Dangerous.

Did Jesus say “Stop Doubting?” Yes. Is there more to the story? Yes.

Of all the disciples, the only one who was has an enduring nickname is Thomas, a.k.a. “Doubting Thomas.” We have traditionally thrown him under the bus for doubting Jesus rose from the dead, and condescendingly shake our heads at his resistance to believe.

But let’s not forget, he is not the only one who did not believe. When the disciples first hear of Jesus’ resurrection from the women who went to Jesus’ tomb, “they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (Luke 24:11).

All the disciples doubted, but Thomas was the only one with the courage to admit he needed proof. He said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). And when Jesus finally encountered Thomas, he did not rebuke him. Rather he gave Thomas what he needed. He invited Thomas to touch his wounds, and only then did Jesus tell him he could stop doubting.

The beauty of this is Thomas had an encounter with Jesus none of the other disciples did. He is the only one who touched the wounds of Jesus, because he had the faith to doubt. Nowhere does Jesus condemn doubt; rather he meets people right where they are in it.

Here is How You Can Get To Heaven.

What’s remarkable about Jesus is how little he talked about what happens to us when we die. He was far more concerned with what happens to us while we live here and now. I say this, because Jesus commented very little on heaven as a place somewhere out there we can go when we die.

However, Jesus talked nonstop about our life here and now. Make no mistake Jesus proclaimed the gospel, and the good news about the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven). But his desire was to see this Kingdom come to earth. By comparison we speak about the gospel being how we can leave earth to get to heaven and have eternal life after we die.

Which raises a question: Why does our gospel get us ready to die while the gospel of Jesus gets us ready to live?

Perhaps we should listen closely to the words of Jesus, and move from being consumed with where we will go when we die to being consumed with how we live here and now. How would that change, not only us, but also our world?

There Will Always Be Poor People Among You. Period.

I have a t-shirt that has the words “End Poverty” on the back. Several times when I have worn the shirt I’ve had people say dismissively, “Jesus said, ‘The poor you will have with you always …’” True, he did say that. But that is not all he said.

According to the gospel of Mark Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want” (Mark 14:7). Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 15 where God told his people, “There need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you … he will richly bless you” (Deuteronomy 15:4). God told his people there is no good reason for poverty to exist.

But God seemed to know how we operate, so he said, “If anyone is poor among your people in any of the towns … be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need …” And “There will always be poor people in the land … be openhanded toward those of your people who are poor and needy in your land” (Deuteronomy 15:7-11).

If anything, Jesus’ quote about the poor is a challenge to be generous, lending freely and openhanded toward them.

Jesus certainly had a lot to say; it’s no wonder he is often misquoted. However, when we take the time to truly hear what he has to say to us we will be both comforted and challenged by his words. And when we truly hear him, we will have much more to rethink.

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Tagged as Bible, Doubt, Jesus, Lent