Thursday, 07 October 2010
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Doubting God Intellectually, Emotionally and Spiritually
We are intellectual, emotional and spiritual.I was talking to an Alpha guest last year, and he was troubled by the fact that so many Christians said they "knew" Jesus was God and that the Gospel was true because they had experienced it and just felt that it was true - that it made them happy. His problem wasn't in whether or not they felt it, but that other religious persons, regardless of their religion, feel that their religion is right as well.
He said that when approached the idea of other religions from an intellectual standpoint, there was much that he could find to validate many religions and that there was much that he just didn't think made sense.
When I asked him what he thought when he tried to integrate his emotions together with what he knew, he just looked at me with a "?!" expression on his face. I explained that if you assume that some higher being created us, then said being would have given us our emotional and intellectual capabilities, and that if said being was to be discovered, it made sense for them to have give us the ability to do so. Maybe, we're supposed to use everything we have when trying to discover them.
The guest looked at me and went "ok....." and we quickly moved on to another topic of conversation.
Later on in the year, I had a similar conversation, but with a Christian who was doubting their faith. They said much the same thing, but of course added the spiritual aspect to it.They said that spiritually, Christianity just "felt" right, that it filled what they were missing, but they wondered if that was only because they had only seriously been involved in Christianity anyway.
Again, I suggested that maybe they should integrate everything together, and see what they ended up with.
In both cases the guest and my friend were doubting the information they had been given. One religion in general, and the other their specific faith. I'm not sure if what I said was the right thing to say, but I do believe that doubting is good. It means that you're thinking, and as long as you're going to be asking questions and seeking out answers I think doubt can be a great motivating factor. But I also think that doubting as a state isn't so great. I think that there has to be a line...but when does one draw that line? and is it different from one person to another?
How do you usually approach doubts that you have concerning your faith? When do you think doubting goes from being a great motivating factor to a hindrance?
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Comments (9)
i think i get a vague idea of what you're saying here, and that idea i agree with. what i'm getting is that our intellectual doubts mirror our personal doubts about God. that's definitely reflected in my life. i'm not sure if that's exactly what you're getting at, though.
I am not intellectual, academic or a 'student' of the Bible. I read the Bible through every year at least once. The information in the Bible over the years has become a source of security for me. However, I do recall being born again and it was dramatic. I did not become perfect in this life, but I was changed. So, with the Word of God and that 'experience' I 'feel' good about my faith most of the time. I had one tough time once when I almost died 4 or 5 times over a 3 week period in the hospital, but I got past that.
I don't get into discussions with people of other faiths. If they ask questions, I share.
blessings,
FRANK
For sure. When people just base their understanding of religion purely on a experiential/emotional/spiritual basis, they're missing a big chunk. Similarly, anyone basing it purely off of their intellectual understanding is missing out on a huge part of it all. If a religion can't stand up to intellectual assaults and has no experiential basis, one should really question whether there's any validity to their beliefs at all. But the God of the Bible promises people an experience in addition to answers to all their intellectual questions (James 1:5). So seekers shouldn't settle for less but rather set the bar high when looking for a religion. Just because it makes you "feel good" or just because it "makes sense", doesn't mean it's the whole picture.
Good thoughts.
Off topic, but I wonder what you make of this bit of heresy that has been posted this morning at http://dioclese.blogspot.com/2010/10/ratshitter-rap.html
I don't really understand how you could possibly live out your faith every day if you didn't believe it with every part of yourself. ...maybe that's why so many people don't.
@Old Nick - its not heresy certainly...blasphemy perhaps, but not in my mind! Doesn't it seem to you that its merely one man asking some questions of an organization (doubting) perhaps even God...possibly driven by past painful experiences perpetrated against him by said organization.
He seems similar perhaps to the people that came to the OP...doubting and asking questions. What's different for the man who created that video is that he doesn't seem to have found a safe place to go with his questions. Someone like the OP'er who would hear his questions without judgment and not offer advice, but merely ask questions of them and lovingly walk with them through their season of doubt.
Do you know the man who made that video personally? Could you be that safe place for questions?
Praise the living God!
Well, the emotional aspect is what causes people to be religious in the first place, whereas a true intellectual thought process would show that it is impossible to know whether God exists for sure (at least, mine and most people I've met that go through a rational thought process come to this conclusion). As humans, we have huge egos that make us think we are more than just animals with more intellectual capacity, so we feel we are special. So we need some purpose in life. God provides us with this. Then religions play off this by taking advantage of fear of the unknown. We don't know what happens after we die, but everyone wants to be immortal in some way and fears the fact that we may just disappear after we die. So religious leaders tell us we can go to heaven and live forever if we follow their rules, giving us comfort. But they also play off fear by telling us that if we don't abide by their laws, we will have eternal torture. All of this is put into a religion that people follow due to their emotional responses.
Let me go back to a point I made earlier about it being impossible to know for sure if God exists. Just about all religions say God is not part of our world, but rather resides in the spiritual world. This means it's impossible to prove by any experiment or observation that he exists. Religions also say God is inscrutable, that is, that we can't completely understand his actions since that would be like a dog fully understanding our thought processes. So since we can't understand his actions, anything can be explained away by this rationalization. Interestingly, this brings up an interesting point for me: How can we claim to understand what God wants from us if we admit he is inscrutable? Even if God was to speak to our religious leaders in language they understand, God's understanding goes way past anything our language can perfectly portray. This is why I believe that even if God exists, no religion has it right (in fact, I believe they probably aren't even close).
I hope you enjoyed an agnostic's two cents.
It doesn't matter what our opinions or feelings on the issue are.......God's opinion is the only one that counts, and He is pretty clear that sinners (that's everyone) who do not repent and turn to Christ as their only hope and Savior (that's everyone who does not believe in Jesus as Lord) are going to end up in hell. We might feel that is unfair......that the consequence far outweighs the sin......but what we feel doesn't count. When was the last time you saw any criminal or his friends or family tell a judge.......l don't agree with your sentence...far too harsh......I deserve a far lighter sentence.......and get away with it? Ask yourself the question......how much sin is the Holy One going to allow into heaven with Him.......the answer is none....we are either clothed with the righteousness of Jesus and welcomed into heaven....or we will spend eternity in Hell. The Cross is about Divine love.....but it is also about Divine justice. God is Holy and a perfect Judge......His Son had to pay the price of that justice so that we could know that love.
I think your answer was good, God should be sought after in every realm available to the person searching for Him. I think if that person puts that kind of effort into finding God, then God will probably find him (or her).