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Nov 17
2009
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Photos by Stefan Matis - www.stefanmatisphotography.com
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Subscribe to this comment's feedLove the photos!
So great to see the Alive community with life!! Blessings to you all as you reach into this important age group for the sake of Christ!
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October 05, 2009
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faith & doubt
Certainly faith and doubt can coexist. Throughout the gospels we see Jesus encouraging his disciples in the midst of the doubts that they struggled with.
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:31
It really comes down to understanding faith and the nature of your concerns. I would say that the main categories are intellectual/evidential and emotional doubt, I have struggled with both. We need to remember that when Christ died the apostles did not say no problem we know he well rise again, on the contrary they scattered and seemed reluctant to believe even after the initial reports and appearances. They were skeptical but responded to the evidence. For my self this has involved a lengthy search into the debate over intelligent design, the historical evidence for Jesus, and philosophical issues surrounding radical skepticism/postmodernism. My search for truth has given me a confident faith, but not one without continued doubt.
There is also and perhaps more painful emotional doubt. In my own case this has revolved around trying to live with disappointments. I had heard all of those messages telling us to follow our dreams and do great things for God; I sought ministry for fifteen years with limited success and eventually hoped to become a bible college professor. I was able to do an amount before drowning in debt and now years later I am 40 and still working in a physically exhausting construction trade. I don’t have all the answers but I do know that we are often painted a picture that sets us up for disappointment. The apostles certainly were not known to have lives of easy success (1 Cor 4:11). I struggle immensely with emotional doubt, but I choose to believe in light of the evidence of his reality, and in light of a knowledge that in God’s eyes “what we do with what we are given, is more significant then what we are given.”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:31
It really comes down to understanding faith and the nature of your concerns. I would say that the main categories are intellectual/evidential and emotional doubt, I have struggled with both. We need to remember that when Christ died the apostles did not say no problem we know he well rise again, on the contrary they scattered and seemed reluctant to believe even after the initial reports and appearances. They were skeptical but responded to the evidence. For my self this has involved a lengthy search into the debate over intelligent design, the historical evidence for Jesus, and philosophical issues surrounding radical skepticism/postmodernism. My search for truth has given me a confident faith, but not one without continued doubt.
There is also and perhaps more painful emotional doubt. In my own case this has revolved around trying to live with disappointments. I had heard all of those messages telling us to follow our dreams and do great things for God; I sought ministry for fifteen years with limited success and eventually hoped to become a bible college professor. I was able to do an amount before drowning in debt and now years later I am 40 and still working in a physically exhausting construction trade. I don’t have all the answers but I do know that we are often painted a picture that sets us up for disappointment. The apostles certainly were not known to have lives of easy success (1 Cor 4:11). I struggle immensely with emotional doubt, but I choose to believe in light of the evidence of his reality, and in light of a knowledge that in God’s eyes “what we do with what we are given, is more significant then what we are given.”
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October 26, 2009
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