Introduction to the Doubting Christian

I have long been fascinated with Christian apologetics.  For those that are not aware, Christian apologetics is the practice of defending the truthfulness of the claims of Christianity.  For many Christians, this is merely icing on a cake that has no need of it.  Theirs is a faith of belief regardless of evidence or argument.  For some non-believers, apologetics is a chasing after the wind.  One cannot possibly argue for the truth of something that simply is not true.  Then, there are those who honestly doubt.  They may ultimately believe or they may not, but they have questions and they have doubts.

Ultimately, apologetics exist because doubts exist. 

For the most part, the art of apologetics has been applied to the doubts of the non-believer.  This is a noble task.  After all, if Christianity is true, then everyone’s eternal destiny is dependent on how they respond to the claims and acts of Jesus of Nazareth.  All believers are called to make Christ known and to make disciples of all nations.  Apologetics plays a critical role in these endeavors.  Some have intellectual stumbling blocks that need to be removed before they can seriously entertain the claims of Christ.  This was the case even for myself.  I needed to realize that science and naturalism did not have all of the answers and that the faulty theology I was introduced to growing up was not the theology of the Bible.  Once these stumbling blocks were removed, my life became fertile ground for the Gospel.

But there is another role of apologetics.  Doubts are not restricted to the minds of non-believers.  Christians doubt as well.  If you have ever spent a great amount of time in Church, you may have realized this is something that isn’t necessarily a focal point of 21^st century American Christianity.  There seems to be a pervasive idea that strong Christians shouldn’t doubt.  If one is filled with the Holy Spirit, one should not question basic tenets of the faith.  This is the corporate claim, but individually we know this to not be true.  We have questions.  We have doubts. 

How do we know our Bible is factually accurate?

What is the real age of the earth? 

Why do we and chimps look so alike if God created us in his image?

Hasn’t science disproved a great deal in the Bible?

Is Christianity really as intolerant and hateful as my coworkers say it is? 

Etc…..

Some Christians may not struggle with doubt.  This is not the case for me.  Nor, if I may be so bold, do I think it is the case for most Christians.  This is why I have decided to start this blog.  The solution to overcoming doubt is NOT to ignore it.  We must attack it.  And in attacking it, we do not merely attack it by plugging our ears, closing our eyes and screaming in the hopes it will disappear.  In short, we need apologetics just as much as the non-believer.  If our faith is based on reality, then our arguments ought to be better than the arguments made against it.  The way to overcome out doubts is to dig deeper into them, reason through them with logic and the Word of God, and come out with a faith that has been meaningfully strengthened.

This blog is not meant to be addressed to non-believers per se.  Of course, if one who has not come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior finds these articles helpful, that is a blessing.  Nor is this blog meant to make political statements.  I will make every effort to keep our eyes on the eternal Jesus and not on the contemporary issues that mar our world today.  Of course, having an accurate Biblical worldview will shape how one sees the world, and this includes viewpoints one may call political, but that is not my aim.

Rather, it is my hope and prayer that we may be able to come together and ask some of those hard questions that some may be afraid to voice in Church.  Doubts plague our spiritual lives.  They deprive us of closer fellowship with the Lord.  Under them, we are tossed about like waves in the sea. Let us therefore attack them so that we may overcome.