Big Questions – Living Answers
"Can I Still Be A Christian If I Have Doubts?"
Sometimes in life I wish for a greater confidence. Sometimes I have
questions that dog me - uncertainties that tempt me to hold back from doing
things that are good. I may have found the answer. You see, one
time while I was on vacation, I noticed on several occasions an item designed
just for me. I first saw it before we left the
I like sleeping in my own home in my own bed. So that night in the hotel, I pulled it out again. I kept it close to me while I slept. I felt better. I even found it handy while eating out. It gave me protection from drips and spills. I felt better. I'm not sure how it works, but I seem to have more confidence since I found my security helper. Sometimes I just carry it around in my pocket. I just haven't figured out why they only give them out in bathrooms!
Ok, so that would be a little weird. But wanting more confidence in life isn't weird at all. It's a very normal desire, shared by every human being on earth. What about confidence in our faith? Do you ever long for more of that? I do.
Let me tell you a story that may surprise you a bit. You all know of Billy Graham. Let me take you back to the early days of his ministry. The year was 1949. Billy had not hit tv yet, so he had not been launched into a worldwide or even national ministry yet. He was just beginning to do tent revivals, and he had a companion, a partner whose name was Charles Templeton. They had met in 1945 at a Youth For Christ rally. They alternated preaching at the tent meetings they held. Actually, most people felt that Templeton was a better preacher and would eclipse Billy Graham. In fact, Templeton had started a church prior to this that had drawn crowds of over 1,000 people.
In 1949, Graham found himself grappling with some uncertainties about his faith. You see, by then, Templeton had been plagued with doubts about his faith and had come to the place where he had lost his faith altogether. He was now challenging Graham to reconsider the direction of his life. Templeton had been unable to answer certain objections that had arisen in his mind about the existence of so much evil and suffering in the world that God seemed to turn a deaf ear toward. He felt that Christianity was an absurd faith in light of the advances of science and philosophy. Graham was beginning to be disturbed himself as he considered Templeton's course. He didn't feel he could continue to preach if he could not trust the Bible.
On the other side of the tug of war was Henrietta Mears, the woman Graham
planned to marry. She was a godly woman who was assuring Graham that
there was more than sufficient evidence to assure us of the trustworthiness of
the Bible. It came to a climax one night in San Bernadino as Graham
walked in the moonlight. Gripping a Bible, Graham fell to his knees and
confessed he couldn't answer some of the philosophical and psychological
questions that Templeton and others were raising. He prayed,
"Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word - by faith! I'm going
to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will
believe this to be your inspired Word." It was a pivotal moment for
Billy Graham. For Templeton, it was a bitterly disappointing turn of
events. History has already shown what happened to Graham in the next 50
plus years. He would become one of the most effective and persuasive
evangelists of all time. Templeton, on the other hand, went back to
Why did it happen this way? Why did one man's doubts drive him to atheism and another man's doubts drove him to his knees and to a greater faith? That's what I want us to examine this morning and in the many weeks to follow.
Types of Doubters and Doubt
1. Congenital Doubters - doubt by nature - always asking "why" or "what if?" Always expecting the worst. For them, faith doesn't come naturally.
I read a great story about a woman who was cooking Thanksgiving dinner for her family for the first time. Her name was Helen Hayes. Before serving it, she announced to her husband and son, "Now I know this is the first turkey I've ever cooked. If it isn't right, I don't want anybody to say a word. We'll just get up from the table, without comment, and go down to the hotel for dinner." So she went back to the kitchen to get it all ready. When she came back to the dining room, bearing the turkey, she found her husband and son seated at the table, wearing their hats and coats. Now that's a congenital doubter.
You can tell a person like this that there are 107 trillion stars in the universe and he'll believe you, but he sees a sign that says "fresh paint" on a park bench and he has to touch it to believe it.
2. Rebellious Doubters - They have the attitude of "I'm not going to let somebody run my life or tell me what to do." Teenagers often enter this stage and consider rejecting their faith because it is the faith of their parents. But for this kind of doubter, the issue isn't the lack of evidence to believe but pride. They attack Christianity because they don't want it to be true, not because it isn't true. If they admitted it was true, it would mean a threatening life change.
3. Intellectual Doubters - The person who feels they have to have all their ducks in a row before believing - all the answers. The problem here is that faith requires that we act on what we don't know completely. Hebrews 11:1 Says that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." It need not be a blind faith. In fact, it should be well informed. But the intellectual doubter has a problem with the whole issue of faith itself.
4. Undecided Doubter - wants to keep his options open. Fears commitment. And after all, the ultimate commitment in life is commitment to God. But in our Baskin Robins culture, the most dreaded sentence would be to serve up life with no options. Some people doubt because they fear being pinned into one choice. They want to be accepted by their peers. They don't want too much responsibility.
The Process God Wants Our Doubts To Take Us Through.
Mark 9:24 - "I believe. Help my unbelief." I love that verse. Faith can coexist with some doubt.
1. Investigation - The facts show that in the case for Christ, the overall magnitude of the evidence that points to Jesus being who He claimed to be is so solid. God does not call us to respond to His Son in blind faith. He never calls us to throw reason out the door. In fact, He calls us to investigate.
It is not the purpose of this series to examine closely the evidence for the claims of Christ to be the Son of God and Savior. However, there are many good sources out there to help you do just this - that help you examine the trustworthiness of the Bible as a historical document of the life of Jesus and His teaching,
The "trilemma," as C.S. Lewis called it, helps us to logically put Jesus' claims into one of three categories - Liar, Lunatic or Lord. We have to choose. When we examine his life, only one makes logical sense - Lord. The historical evidence for the resurrection is powerful - such that any lawyer would be comfortable taking it to a court of law. The changed lives of the apostles is another powerful clue. The scientific evidence continues to corroborate the idea that the universe had a beginning and was designed by an all powerful being. The existence of morality itself necessitates a standard outside of ourselves that imposes that standard upon our consciences.
There are also questions I may never get a thoroughly satisfying answer to while on earth - why a baby dies in its crib - why millions of innocent people get slaughtered in a dictators cleansing campaign. Why is hell eternal? I may not get answers that completely satisfy questions like this, but I have confidence that it will someday make sense because I have more than enough evidence to take Christ at His Word - to trust Him on the things I do not fully understand. I can live with some tension with a Savior who has proven Himself so trustworthy.
Some people concentrate so much on one obstacle that they cannot see the big overall picture. Like Templeton, they cannot understand the existence of evil and suffering in the world while accepting that there is an all powerful and loving God in control. They focus on this one obstacle, insisting to understand or to refuse faith - but in doing so they ignore the mountains of evidence that would help them to believe while waiting for a clearer picture.
Disproving Christianity takes more than just trying to poke a hole in it by raising an objection, because the backdrop of other relevant evidence creates a strong presumption in favor of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.
God never tells us to ignore the evidence. Investigate your doubts.
2. Decision
What is beneath the surface of doubt? It is the person who wants to know God that God reveals Himself to. If a person does not want to know God, well, God has created the world and the human mind in such a way that he doesn't have to.
Why is it that one person can look to answered prayer and see the hand of God while another just sees a coincidence? Why does one person see a miracle where another finds a rational explanation for it? Dallas Willard, one of the most influential Christian thinkers of our time said, "God ordained that people should be governed in the end by what they want." That is profoundly true. God wants you to want Him. He will not force you into it.
John 7:17 - Jesus said, "Anyone
who wants to do the will of God will know whether My teaching is from God or is
merely My own."
John 12:37 - "But
despite the miraculous sign He had done, most of the people did not believe in
Him."
In other words, faith in God is a choice - a decision of the will that God allows us to make by His grace. Ultimately, faith isn't about having perfect and complete answers to every single question we have about God and His ways. After all, we do not demand that kind of complete knowledge to act in any other area of life. In then end, the point is that we do have sufficient evidence about God from which to act. Faith is about a choice, a decision of the will to want to know God personally. It is saying "I believe, Help my unbelief!" You don't have to throw out your intellect to be a Christian. But you do have to exercise faith in the unseen and unknown. That's why God tells us that it is impossible to please Him without faith that He exists and rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). And to those who take this step, God reveals to them that He is there. He meets our faith with more of Himself! David wrote in Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Go ahead, try it.
I like to joke with my sister in law Betsy about her dislike for elk meat or any meat that is not beef or chicken. She won't try it. She is convinced that she won't like it no matter how it is prepared - like green eggs and ham I guess. God says in regards to faith in Him, "try Me." Step out in faith, a reasonable faith and try Him. You don't have to give up your intellect, but you do have to give up your pride.
3. Transformation
God brings change and hope to those who step out in faith to meet Him. God doesn't change your life so that you will come to Him. He tells you to come to Him so that He can change you. You have to want it, seek it.
Just look around you this morning and you will see lives that have been changed by God.
Testimony of working through doubt – Ryan Sievers
Conclusion:
Proverbs 2:3-5 - "If you scream
for insight and call loudly for understanding, if you pursue it like you would
money, and search it out as you would hidden treasure, then the Lord will be
awesome to you, and you will come into possession of the knowledge of
God."
God is not upset with you when you have questions and when you face doubt. Most Christians find great encouragement in the Psalms, but did you know that about 60% of the Psalms are David expressing his anguish, lament, fear, uncertainty, even anger with God! - David - a man after God's own heart - often expressed his doubt and uncertainties directly to God. But David never gave up on God. And it brought Him close to the heart of God.
Abraham is called the father of faith. He wasn't always faithful. Sometimes Abraham was downright unfaithful to God. He feared. He was uncertain. He sometimes acted out of his own wisdom in direct contradiction of God's prescribed path. But Abraham never gave up on God. He always got back up - and God rewarded his faith. Abraham learned to trust God even when it went against all human reason (sacrificing his own son Isaac through whom he was to become a great nation). The apostles and first disciples witnessed the resurrected Christ. They saw these things first hand. And when Jesus appeared to many of them to commission them it says in Matthew 28:17, "When they saw Him, they worshiped Him - but some of them still doubted." They still had questions without answers, but they knew enough to worship Him as God the Son - to place their faith in Him and to serve Him.
Madeline L'Engle - "Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God Himself."
Faith is not a perpetual spiritual high. In fact, true faith acts even when it doesn't feel.
In the weeks to come, we will allow faith to stare doubt in the eye and see which one blinks. We'll examine the toughest objections that have been leveled against Christianity. In some cases, you may hear answers that fully satisfy and resolve an issue for you. In others, you may not see all that you want to see. But I believe that in the process, you will see more than you need to be able to stare down doubt and thrive in your faith in God. You can taste and see that the Lord is good.
Hebrews 11:6 - "it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him." The biggest issue is do you want to know God - to come to Him?
Ephesians 2:8-10 - "God
saved you by His special favor (grace) when you believed. And you can't
take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward
for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."
The biggest issue is pride, isn't it? Faith in God, and in His Son demands that we lose our pride - our self-sufficiency, and in faith we trust that God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves - remove our sin - draw us close to Him.