One of my favorite topics is that of Doubt and Faith. I have long believed that doubt is not bad... but it is a precursor to faith. Recently I read an Islamic article where the writer said that doubt is a healthy first step to Islam with doubt leading to belief. I think I will …
Tag: faith and doubt
Maybe Struggling in Faith is Good?
I was listening to a podcast. It is a series called "God After Deconstruction" hosted by Thomas Jay Oord and Tripp Fuller. The two hosts have gone through somewhat of a "deconstruction" of their faith and understanding of God over the years. Oord was raised up and active in the Church of the Nazarene, while …
Responding to Doubters Inside and Outside of the Church
There have been some recently-in-the-news people who are famous for being Christian, who have "left the faith." One of these is Josh Harris. When I was dating age (decades ago), he wrote a book called, "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." I never read it. Marty Sampson, a member of Hillsong, also publicly announced his loss of …
Continue reading Responding to Doubters Inside and Outside of the Church
A Leading Cause of Atheism? Not Allowing Dialogue and Disagreements | Jackson Wu
Please click on the link at the bottom of this post for an article from Jackson Wu that then links to the related article in Relevant Magazine. It is an interesting case study of a Christian who gradually moved to atheism. The seeming cause was a lack of openness in his church to dialogue and …
Continue reading A Leading Cause of Atheism? Not Allowing Dialogue and Disagreements | Jackson Wu
A Paradoxical Faith
One of my favorite verses in the Bible to meditate on is Mark 9:24. Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” The context is a father of a boy who is described as demon-possessed. The disciples of Jesus have been unable to provide help. Jesus questions the father, …
Instilling Healthy Doubt
I saw on FB another bit of foolishness. Okay, there has been a LOT of foolishness on Facebook lately. A recent post claimed that Satanists utilize "LOL" to mean "Lucifer our Lord." So if we use "LOL" in our posts, we are endorsing Satan. Let's have a reality moment here: I don't use "LOL," so …
Finding a place to ask the tough questions
Very nice article that asks whether the Church (or church) can handle people who doubt. Can it welcome uncertainty. Is it a safe place to form, not just conform. Finding a place to ask the tough questions.
Belief vs Doubt vs Disbelief V (Welcome 2013!!)
Here is another quote from "In Praise of Doubt" by Peter Berger and Anton Zijderveld: "In his classic study When Prophecy Fails (1956), Leon Festinger argued that people who are deeply committed to a belief and its related courses of action won't lose this belief when events falsify its assertions, as when a prophesied event …
Continue reading Belief vs Doubt vs Disbelief V (Welcome 2013!!)
Belief vs Doubt vs Disbelief IV
I was doing some lookups on doubt on the Internet. Very little good information is available. I took a class called "Faith and Doubt" at Asia Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary. Our two main texts were "Doubt: A History" by Jennifer M. Hecht and "In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic" …
Belief vs Doubt vs Disbelief III
Summarizing. Doubt is a necessary and healthy part of faith. Doubt is necessary because faith is necessary. Faith is necessary because we are finite and no knowledge or logic is, in itself, compelling. At some point in time we have to bridge the gap from "reasonable" to either belief or disbelief (at least in some …