52. How Do I Deal With My Doubts?
There is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.
BLAISE PASCAL
Have you ever doubted your faith? If so, you aren’t alone. Doubt isn’t an exclusively Christian problem. It’s a human problem. To be human is to be susceptible to doubt.
Atheists doubt.
Pluralists doubt.
Buddhists doubt.
Hindus doubt.
Muslims doubt.
And yes, Christians doubt too.
Ours is a world of uncertainty, and that can create a bit of a fit for some of us who belong to the doubters’ club. Doubt is no respecter of beliefs; we’re all vulnerable. That’s because we’re human.
Human doubt harkens back to the Garden of Eden, where the serpent deceptively posed the question, “Did God actually say…?” (Genesis 3:1). And this question has been posed billions of times ever since. Doubt is replete in Scripture. Be it Job, Sarah, Abraham, Habakkuk, David, Gideon, Zechariah, Thomas, Peter, or even John the Baptist, doubt has a way of catching up with all of us at some point during our earthly sojourn.
Here are four shades of doubt that people often bump up against.
First, there’s emotional doubt. This is the doubt you feel when you experience or observe evil or unbearable suffering in the world, and you find yourself thinking, “How can a good God allow this to happen?” Emotional doubt is what you feel when you doubt the security of your own salvation. Or the angst of losing a loved one or finding out that you’ve got a terminal disease. It’s taxing, and God often feels totally absent during this season.
Second, there’s intellectual doubt. This is where you find yourself doubting the validity of the Christian faith. You catch yourself asking, “Can I trust the Bible? Are miracles possible? Did Jesus really die for me?” Intellectual doubt was what Thomas experienced when he doubted Christ’s resurrection. This type of doubt can make you feel like you’re losing your mind as you throw your hands up in despair.
Third, there’s volitional doubt. This is a battle of the wills. There’s God’s way and our way, and unfortunately these two often clash. We wonder, “Does God really know what’s best for my life?” We think, “Should I really lay down my desires and trust God to lead me?” The volitional doubter is in a spiritual tug-of-war with God, but must yield to discover true blessing. Jesus beautifully modeled the surrendered life when He prayed, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
Fourth, there’s moral doubt. This shade of doubt is frequently caused by sin or even questioning whether God’s moral standards are legit or up-to-date enough. It may be related to premarital sex or homosexuality or smoking dope or cross-dressing or pornography. You name it. Moral doubt grips us when we’re tempted to relativize God’s moral truth. As a result, people frequently cave in to sin, and God’s moral standards are ignored. Sin has a heart-hardening component to it that can spiritually blind us to truth. It has a way of deceiving us. So be on guard and take hold of the lost art of confession by keeping short accounts with God.
In my book Doubting Toward Faith, I deal more in-depth with these shades or facets of doubt. (I also discuss there what I call evidential doubt.) Given these varieties of doubt, how can we deal with our doubts?
Here’s some quick advice:
• Recognize your shade(s) of doubt.
• Identify what’s triggering your doubts.
• Find some trusted friends who will help you process your doubts out loud.
• Write your particular doubts down and rank the ones that trouble you the most.
• Begin chasing down the answers to the questions that most disturb you.
• Relentlessly seek after God’s heart.
• Discover your doubt patterns through consistent journaling.
• Realize that no belief system can completely close the doubt gap, so don’t demand certainty, lest you set yourself up for disillusionment.
• And remember that God can use your doubts to strengthen you and help others.
That should get you started.
So get after it.
Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Unbelief is.
Memory Verse
Have mercy on those who doubt (Jude 22).
Question to Consider
Why do you think there’s such a rise of doubt in today’s culture?
One-Minute Apologist Video
Os Guinness, “How Can a Christian Deal with Doubt?”