Skip to main content

Pangs of Doubt

Have you ever suffered pangs of uncertainty regarding your faith?

For some, uncertainties can grow into agonies of doubt, wrestling with the believers earnest desire to be sure of their faith.

How does one become certain about their convictions? Can one?

Of course, 'agony of doubt' is not unique to believers. Uncertainty is also found amongst unbelievers, especially those that hold truth as criteria for their particular world view(s).

Can we know the truth with certainty?

Jesus certainly believed we could. He clearly said in John 8:32 that, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” However, to understand the key to such certainty, one must read his words just prior to these:

“If you abide in my word, you are my disciples in deed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

This is a profound truth, that unshakable conviction can only come about as one proves the truth of ones convictions by living according to them.

As a Christian, my faith grows in its certainty as I trust ―in obedience― what God has said.

E.P.Dickie once wrote, 'God's revelation is a unity: every obedience brings clearer insight into His will.' Likewise every disobedience just muddies the water. In other words, to know if there is a God, live as if there were. To remain unsure, live as if there weren't.

 Desiring certainty concerning ones convictions while failing to live according to those convictions, is to remain shackled to doubt concerning them (both for believers and unbelievers). Put another way, to claim faith in Christ exclusive of the lifestyles and choices required of such, will ultimately only lead to doubt riddled faith.

Bottom line, Jesus was who he said he was, or he wasn't. According to him, certainty requires not just reasoning  it out in our heads (philosophising), but also exercising some trust, putting his words to the test by obeying them. For reasoning can only take one so far towards certainty, the rest takes faithful obedience. For though God speaks to reason, he does so to say that which is above reason; and reason must be ready to be called upward.

And God is always true to His word, if you choose to trust Him. Unless you know someone better to trust.


Oh, taste and see that the lord is good, Oh the joys of those that take refuge in Him. 
Psalm 34:8

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Navigating Nuances

Religious or otherwise , all men possess an inherent moral compass. A conscience that either accuses or defends within them. However, possessing a compass is not the only prerequisite to morality.  To be truly moral, one must have confidence that their compass points true, and then, by virtue of trust, let it lead them. I've read that magnetic compasses are easily offset by local magnetic fields, and that these nuances of deviation have lost many a man to sea. Thankfully, this interference can be neutralised by placing correcting magnets around the compass. Analogously , the Bible tells us that we live in a morally hazardous world, where man's fallen nature interferes with his moral compass tempting deviance from what is good in Gods sight; and many a man has been lost due to it. However, to neutralise this influence, God has made provision through Christ, and his word. Together they become, for us, the correcting magnets for our moral compass. Many cite the evil th...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is evil?

Evil is one of those immaterial concepts that everyone acknowledges but struggles to define. How do we know evil to be evil? By what standard do we measure it? And how do we agree on what that standard should be? Does evil exist in and of itself, or does it only exist as the result of something else? Good questions. Biblically , evil might be defined as  that which opposes God's revealed will. Of course, humanity has expanded on this definition to encompass anything that opposes human will also; and sometimes the two are in harmony, but more often they are not. However , sticking with first causes, if evil is that which opposes Gods will, then the question is not, 'How can a holy God allow evil to exist within his creation?' But rather, 'How can he not?' For how can you disallow the existence of something that only exists as the antithesis (opposite) of your own will? In other words, something that exists because something of you exists. There is...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mud puddle illness

" Get some rest. If you haven't got your health, then you haven't got anything."  Count Rugen The Princess Bride Truly , if you don't have your health it's hard to appreciate the rest. An axiom of life most have experienced to some degree. Of course, many crushing waves can pummel us in the sea of life, taking their toll; rocking, upturning and threatening to sink us. But we cope, clinging more dearly to what remains afloat of ours lives.   Yet being robbed of health is more like a flood than a wave, a simultaneous inundation over our whole playing field. Whether it be from the pain, the delirium, or simply profound exhaustion, we no longer have the physical, nor often mental, ability to enjoy anything else of life. We simply breathe and hope. Of course, we're talking disabling illness here, the kind that sweeps you up and lays you very low. Not just for a few days or weeks, but months, years, longer... From my own experience of ...
Post a Comment
Read more