Sorry that today’s post is a bit late. I’ve been trying to get over a cold for the last few days and had a busy weekend on top of it. I’ve lost my voice, so be glad you’re reading my words, not listening to them.
We should all be searching for truth, as such no topic should be beyond the reach of doubt. However, doubt is scary, something I’ll cover more in depth on Wednesday, so it requires some tools.
Follow the evidence. If you are seeking truth, then you should see where it leads. A closed minded rejection of the evidence because you might not like where it leads will leave you with a hollow existential faith, for a truth seeker that should not be an option.
Suspend belief that Satan is trying to get you off track (if this applies). Say a prayer asking for help working through your doubts. Trust that if there is a God, then he is giving you wisdom and push out the fear that you are falling into Satan’s hands. That does nothing to help, it just creates a much higher level of cognitive dissonance, something that you need to keep to a minimum if you plan on maintaining your sanity.
Read the experts. Christianity (or substitute your religion here) is very old and is built on a long tradition of systematic theology. Very smart people have thought through every nuance of doctrine and fortunately they have left behind lots of books detailing their work. Find books and papers written by experts from various traditions and denominations to help clarify what your doubts are and to try to make sense of it.
Read the Bible (or substitute your scripture here). Use a good concordance to find the texts that deal with the issue that you are struggling with and read those texts in context. Keep in mind that the translation process requires a lot of interpretation, so you are actually reading the interpretation of the translators. Use a parallel Bible or compare several versions, I would recommend including the New American Standard Bible and New Revised Standard Version as they tend to be more literal and offer good footnotes of variant readings. I had the benefit of being able to use my knowledge of the original languages to study the texts directly, but I still found other people’s translations to be of benefit.
Find someone you can bounce ideas off of. Friends, family, teachers, professors, pastors, and bloggers can all be good resources. Keep in mind how they might react before confiding in someone. Professors who would be advising potential employers (if your a theology major or seminary student) would not be advisable and neither would family that you are financial dependent on that might cut you off. I had a few friends that I was comfortable talking to about this stuff and that helped a little bit. There were also a few seminary professors who I could tell had dealt with similar doubts themselves that I was able to talk to, unfortunately their advice proved useless as they had essentially closed their minds and accepted an existential faith, not something I was willing to do.
See what the other side has to say. If you’re reading my blog then you’re already doing this, so kudos. Most atheists used to be Christians, so we’ve been there before. Read atheists blogs and books and check out other religions. If you want to bounce ideas off me I’ll do my best to help. You’ve likely noticed how aggressive I can be on the blog, but with conversation I take each situation differently. For example, if you were struggling with the doctrine of salvation, I would be happy to point out some good books on it, different models of salvation, look at the Greek on a few of the verses for you, and either support your doubt or play devil’s advocate and support what you’re doubting.
Reassess and redefine your doubts frequently. As you become more knowledgeable about the issues, your doubts will gain more specificity. Resources that were on your list to get to may no longer be valid because that part of the issue has become trivial. Write it down so you can see where your at and take the search where the evidence now leads.
Follow the evidence. I know this may seem like I’m repeating myself, but this is the information age. There is so much junk out there not worth your time. There comes the time to assess all of the evidence gathered and decide.