Why Are Christians Afraid To Doubt?

Bruce:Now this is the most pivotal issue of all... I ask that you give me a excruciatingly fair hearing here. Because if this is actually true, it is the most monumental discovery in our journey home. So bear that in mind...God did create us in His own image. And that means many things Bruce. It means that He is Father Son and Spirit, and we are body, soul, and spirit. It means more importantly, that we are meant to be Godly in the moral sense. And this is where I would invite you to read C.S. Lewis' book 'Mere Christianity'. I won't get into it here, but it is pivotal in the discussion of the subject.It also means that you are absolutely essential. You are irreplaceable. Your uniqueness is unmatched and unequalled.You mentioned the freedom to be you. But I ask you, how do you even know who you are, without knowing what reality is?Without the purpose you were made for, you cannot be you! Without the origin, meaning, morality, and the destiny that defines you, how can you be free to be you?I ask you consider this... you are already a slave! You are posessed by yourself. And as a finite being with a finite capacity to understand, we are posessed and restrained by incomplete knowledge.Richard Dawkins, the vocal Naturalist at Oxford, wrote a book (which I have not read). And in defending against certain moral systems he said, "We are all just dancing to our DNA. There is no such thing as right and wrong, we're all just dancing to our DNA."I became aware of this quote in another message of Rabi's called 'The Loss of Truth and a Proposal for it's Recovery'. As a truck driver, I have a lot of time to listen to these lectures and think without distraction. (remember that the next time you see a dirty and unshaven truck driver )Ravi is not one to be reactionary, and his response to Dawkins struck me. He said, "Ok, I'll accept that! We're all just dancing to our DNA... How much more profound then, are the words of our Lord that 'you must be born again'?"You see Bruce, that is the central theme of Christianity. And that is why I came to that place where I could ask Him to come into my life. Because I was a slave to the system. A slave to my own passions, and a slave to my own sin. I wanted freedom. And I could not know the way myself. I could not figure out infinite truth with my finite mind. And because of that, i did not know what life was...And here comes this Christ, who claims to be all of that. What did I have to lose? If nothing happened, then I was no worse off.But If it was true, the only thing stopping me was my own desire for power and control of my life... which I realized was the entire problem with my life. I was posessed by myself. A selfish wretched little hitler (lower case 'h') just like the rest of us...And rather than condemn me for it, this Christ paid for my sins, and offered the way out.Believe me when I tell you that I was astonished when He made Himself manifest to me... I cannot describe it. But like John Newton (the former slave owner), who wrote 'Amazing Grace'... I was blind but now I see. that song meant nothing to me before as it likely does you at this time. Such lyrics are not composed out of wishful thinking... They are a result of being liberated from prison.When you make that transaction with Christ, you are gaining everything in Him, and still aquiring your self. Do read C.S. Lewis 'Mere Christianity' for more on why... it is real intellectual meat on the matter.I do hope I am not overdoing it Bruce. But as a kid who grew up Catholic... never once hearing the words of Jesus about the new birth (or much else from the Bible for that matter), and as one who had abandoned the faith for lack a use for religion.... at 33 years old, I began to listen again for myself, and I am still perplexed that it is not more obvious to everyone what is really going on...The Bible makes it so clear... John's Gospel says it as plainly and as deeply in condensed fashion.A man in Southern Humboldt County Ca told me recently that he was waiting for the aliens to come and save us from ourselves. Some real and manifest life greater than ourselves to learn truth from.I told him that it happened two thousand years ago, but that we didn't want Him. We were so offended that he claimed to be God that we crucified Him. And those who preach His reality are ridiculed to this day. We're not all charlatans...We want our own way, truth and life... And that is more informative of our intrinsic evil than the deeds that manifest from the ideational into the physical as a result.It all goes back to interpretation of the facts because of motive, ends and means..."I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; and consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics. He is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do.For myself, as no doubt for most of my friends, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom. The supporters of this system claimed that it embodied the meaning--the Christian meaning, they insisted--of the world. There was one admirably simple method of confuting these people and justifying ourselves in our erotic revolt: we would deny that the world had any meaning whatever."
(Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means, 1937)Please do think about it seriously for yourself Bruce. God will give you what you wish for either way. The question is, if we ask to have it our way, do we know what we're asking for?

Rob writes:We should not be afraid to be skeptical of our own worldview.

Isn`t it a tad sad that Christians hesitate to take the plunge, yet castigate those who have. I won`t trade my present serenity for the constant fear that I may not have done sufficient to please a non-existent god.

jar writes:Is there any reason someone could not say "This is what I believe to be true but I realize that I might be wrong and understand that no one living is likely to ever know for sure."?

Rob writes:We should not be afraid to be skeptical of our own worldview. What is completely taken for granted, is that that is only because we are admitting that it is fundamentally neccessary to put truth above our own desires which are biased and subjective.So this whole notion of questioning ourselves, is really an acknowledgement of truth's exalted status over all of heaven and earth.Implications such as this are completely missed if we do not use our whole mind (intuitive and deductive) to examine ourselves...

Ringo writes:We should also be willing to throw out the junk that got in there somehow and is no longer useful.

Totally agree.But then you go a blow it by writing the rest of the post!More irrelevent preaching.

CTD writes:doubts about His love or His ability to keep His Word are usually overcome as soon as the thought occurs, before it can even grow into actual doubt.

CTD writes:Doubts about specific issues are different.

CTD writes:The Holy Spirit has no problem suggesting thoughts; and as I understand the situation, Satan & co. can also put thoughts into our minds.

CTD writes:For myself, I'm very reluctant to doubt anything regarding the Bible; but should a full-blown doubt arise, I'm confident it will be part of a learning experience and I will benefit in the end. Should a doubt arise concerning God's desire or capacity to help us, I think it's prudent to make it a high priority, and patiently, prayerfully seek to resolve it.

CTD writes:For myself, I'm very reluctant to doubt anything regarding the Bible; but should a full-blown doubt arise, I'm confident it will be part of a learning experience and I will benefit in the end.

Rob writes:What objective standard of reality do you use to measure such things?

Rob writes:First of all, what gives you the right to judge my words as irrelevant?

Rob writes:What objective standard of reality do you use to measure such things?

Rob writes:Secondly, my post was for Phat. I don't expect that you would agree, and I have no interest in convincing you otherwise.

Rob writes:But once again, thanks for the prescriptivism and your personal opinion leveled out as authoritative.

Rob writes:It was uplifting and courageous...

"Reality" is what is useful and "irrelevance" is what is not.So why be afraid to throw out that old box of calendars? And instead of using that C. S. Lewis quote-a-day calendar as a crutch, why not think for yourself?

Rob writes:Any suggestions on what I should think about all these facts you call reality?