"By doubt I mean anything that inclines us not to believe some statement, or at least to be less certain of it. There are a couple different questions I want to explore, both biblically and in discussion with each other. First, when is it appropriate to doubt what facts, particularly those related to our Christian walk? And second, what do we do with doubts that we experience, whether they be internal or external, general or personal, related to faith, hope or love, rational or irrational? I hope to make this discussion very practical and the lessons you bring away like a rope for when you're in a tight spot."
Read the full post to see some notes I've taken. (Unfortunately I could only be in one discussion group so I don't have everything written down) And any feedback is appreciated :)
And remember to scroll over the bible passages to read them.
(imagine a 2x2 square grid)
x axis = Current state: yes | no
y axis = Incliners to: believe | disbelieve
If something inclines you to believe in something you
already believe in, that’s confirmation
If you are inclined to believe in something you don’t
believe in, it’s called credulity
If you are called to disbelieve what you believe in, that’s
called doubt
If you re called to disbelieve something you don’t believe
in, that’s called skepticism
Only incline yourselves to believe that which is true. Just
because something is said in church doesn’t mean it is definitely true (Sam
refers to the book Good News for Anxious Christians) Also, do not
believe just what you feel like believing.
What are some things to believe/doubt: (ppl start
contributing/listing)
-Resurrection of Jesus
-Historical claims of Bible
-Characteristics of God (loving, powerful, etc.)
-Your own salvation
-Existence of the devil, hell
-Particular interpretations of Scripture
-Ahistorical claims of Bible
-God’s calling on your life
Yan Choi mentions that people tend to want to believe things
that are pleasant to believe in (eg. heaven) while not wanting to believe in
the less pleasant things (eg. hell)
After throwing out some ideas and writing them on the white
board, Sam addresses several of the points and leaves all the harder parts for
us to discuss at the end:
1) Why should we believe these things rather than doubting them? Why convert rather than remaining skeptical?
2) What reasons do people generally have for doubting each of these things?
3) How should we go about addressing doubts when they come up?
Why believe the resurrection of Jesus? The historical claims
of the bible—and should be believe all
of them?
Sam highly recommends The Reason for God à
answers why should we believe in
these things (why Christianity is the one true religion, how can a good God
allow suffering, history of the church, loving God sending people to hell,
Christianity and science, why can we trust the bible, etc.) And that’s the
topic of apologetics.
In the personal aspects, what is God’s calling in your life
We turn to the bible to address question 1)
1 John 5:13. John believes that you can know you have eternal
life—you have reason to believe you have eternal life.
Romans 8:28-39 The only reason Paul could say something like
this is not for some kind of pep talk to the Romans but because nothing could
stop Jesus (they even killed him, and he’s still made it through!). This
confidence comes with the knowledge that Jesus conquered death.
Jeremiah 29:10-14. verse 11 it’s talking about Israel , but it
also talks about us…
Romans 4:16-17 Paul is drawing a lot between Abraham’s faith
and Christian’s faith. Therefore it is okay to see the words spoken to the Jews
as spoken to us as well.
Addressing question 2). Why do some people doubt? Matt
Chandler says in a sermon that it could mean that you are not saved. Some
people may try to suppress someone’s doubts so that that person would think
they must be Christian. Another reason could be that you think your salvation
depends on yourself. If you think your salvation depends on a partnership
between you and God, then you’ll be failing a bunch and be full of doubts about
your own salvation.
Ephesians 2:1-5 It is by grace you have been saved. You
didn’t do it, it was not you who saved you. This may seem kind of bleak and
dark, but it’s actually extremely full of hope! We don’t have to rely on
ourselves, but only completely on God.
Another reason why some people doubt could be habitual sin.
Some people may think that I cannot be saved because I’m a horrible sinner and
I keep sinning.
The heart of the matter is, how do you respond to sin? Do
you take an ax to it and execute it, do you let it live…
1 John 1:1-10 It’s not saying don’t ever sin b/c if you sin
you’ll never be a Christian, rather it’s saying that you need to confess those
sins. Following Jesus’ commands and walking in …. And it addresses loving your
neighbor. So the three tests for yourself are: are you confessing your sins,
obeying his commands, and loving your neighbor?
Mark 9:17-27 Help me with my unbelief
Jude 1:22-23 Be merciful to those who doubt. We should show
compassion to those who doubt. Often times we can be afraid of doubt, and that
can lead us to be compassionless.
At this point we split into two groups and discussed several
different
Discussion Questions:
1) Apologetics: Why do you believe Christianity?
2) What specific doubts do you have? Have you had?
3) Apply these questions to those doubts
4) What should someone do if they don’t think they are a
Christian by these examinations?
5) Is it good enough to want to believe?
6) How do you deal with things without reasons to believe?
People believed in Christianity for a variety of reasons: it resonated with them, the eyewitness testimony seemed reliable (not saying that it can go under trial and pass through unscathed beyond a reasonable doubt, but it is confirmed that there was a man named Jesus who was alive at that time, and that's a start!), it gave people a greater purpose, you can see the drastic changes in peoples' lives, etc. An analogy I liked which someone mentioned was: you know the sun is risen not because you see it, but because you see all the things that are revealed by it.
Someone pointed out that in regards to having faith, you usually base it on personal testimony and the logical/apologetics aspect of Christianity. As Caltech students, most of us may tend towards the logical/apologetics reasoning, but we should remember that it's not good to have just one or the other, because we really need both to have faith.
There was quite a large variety in doubts as well. One person doubted his/her own salvation, another doubted the fairness of God (people not hearing the word and still being judged for it), and others just doubting the validity of Christianity at certain times in his/her life. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and never got past the second question, because discussing such things is just so darn fun so all of you should come to large group if you can :P
God bless!
People believed in Christianity for a variety of reasons: it resonated with them, the eyewitness testimony seemed reliable (not saying that it can go under trial and pass through unscathed beyond a reasonable doubt, but it is confirmed that there was a man named Jesus who was alive at that time, and that's a start!), it gave people a greater purpose, you can see the drastic changes in peoples' lives, etc. An analogy I liked which someone mentioned was: you know the sun is risen not because you see it, but because you see all the things that are revealed by it.
Someone pointed out that in regards to having faith, you usually base it on personal testimony and the logical/apologetics aspect of Christianity. As Caltech students, most of us may tend towards the logical/apologetics reasoning, but we should remember that it's not good to have just one or the other, because we really need both to have faith.
There was quite a large variety in doubts as well. One person doubted his/her own salvation, another doubted the fairness of God (people not hearing the word and still being judged for it), and others just doubting the validity of Christianity at certain times in his/her life. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and never got past the second question, because discussing such things is just so darn fun so all of you should come to large group if you can :P
God bless!
No comments:
Post a Comment