Does God exist? Part 14: Dealing with Remaining Doubts about God

Eleven disciples saw Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead and “they worshiped him, but some doubted” (Matt. 28:17).¹ This encapsulates the earthly sojourn for many followers of Christ. There is the undeniable reality of Christ’s resurrection. What was seen, heard, and felt was faithfully passed on to us. Yet, we are still prone to doubt. This present life is immersed in all sorts of troubles and doubt happens. How are we supposed to deal with it?

Doubts come in all shapes and sizes. Some doubts are intellectually driven, whereas others are emotionally driven. Christians generally experience one form of doubt or another.

Intellectual or philosophical doubts comes when beliefs we are certain about are called into question by a defeater. Travis M. Dickinson explains that “a defeater…is a contrary claim that either directly or indirectly lessens, degrades, or even destroys one’s reasons for holding a particular belief.”² For example, supposed we got some ingots identified as gold bullions, and believed they were genuine. Then someone else comes along and says, “You know that is fake gold!” This is a defeater. It is a counter to the belief about the ingots that calls us to question whether or not they are genuine gold. However, prior to discarding the ingots, it is wise to get them tested, since the defeater can be false.

Defeaters typically call into question the Christian exegesis of the Bible. Traditional interpretations of passages are challenged by innovative speculation. For example, the glory of God described in Ezekiel 1 is misinterpreted as the launching of a space craft.³ Defeaters also call into question essential Christian doctrine. Skeptics dismiss the divinity of Christ as a myth that the Church developed well after the first century and purport the historical Jesus who actually lived was just another human male, albeit one with extraordinary influence upon others.⁴ Defeaters even come in the form of philosophical arguments against the existence of God or the goodness of the Christian God.⁵

Critical thinking skills are needed in grappling well with the intellectual doubt generated by defeaters. One needs to critically examine the premises that lead to the defeater’s conclusion. It is actually a faulty premise that leads one to the wrong conclusion. For example, an anti-supernatural bias leads a skeptic to reject a priori the historical authenticity of biblical accounts, ;like the virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus, and then relegate them to the realm of mythology.⁶ Presupposing miracles never occur, the skeptic is committed to only embrace interpretations of the Bible with a naturalistic twist. Rather, we are to be open minded to both natural and supernatural happenings in this universe.

Doubting the doubter is also a wise move. In other words, the defeaters that we come across are never to be taken at face value. For example, a doubter can say all day long that “Jesus is a copy of other mythological pagan gods that died and rose again,” but that proves nothing. The Christian can simply respond, “I skeptical about that assertion. Where is the proof for that assertion? What is the evidence?” Of course, when one examines the defeater claim, there is very little resemblance between the resurrection of Jesus and the pagan accounts, such as Osiris myth. The dying and rising god myths even post-date the emergence of Christianity, as in the case of Mithraism, which means if there is any borrowing, it is the other way around.⁷ One can doubt the doubter until the doubter can provide good reason to embrace the defeater as the truth.

Keep in mind that “doubt, when we embrace and explore it, is an extremely valuable experience. Rather than being treated as an illness or a vice to be avoided, it is something of an intellectual virtue, since it can lead us to greater knowledge and greater faith.”⁸ Intellectual doubt challenges us to investigate a matter. The positive results that we gain include a better understanding of our own faith, it can be the occasion for us to weed out our own misconceptions of Christianity, and it reinforces our trust in the faith delivered once and for all to the saints. Failing to grapple well with intellectual doubt can result in abandoning ship too early.⁹ Grappling with intellectual doubt is something virtuous.

Emotional doubt is more common. This is a second guessing of an idea despite all the evidence to the contrary. Gary Habermas indicates, “Emotional doubt is much more closely interconnected with one’s feelings and often surfaces in distressed expressions. Questions quite frequently emerge as distraught ‘what if’ challenges that concentrate not on the actual evidence or answers as much as the mere prospect that we could just somehow be misguided.”¹⁰ This sort of doubt is less about having sufficient evidence and more a second guessing of what is abundantly clear from the evidence. Befitting is the cry of the father whose boy was possessed by demons, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24).

There are a variety of ways emotional doubts can arise. Overwhelming guilt and self-loathing over a past transgression can be a source of emotional doubt. The guilty party may pray for forgiveness but still feel as if the unpardonable sin has been committed. The suffer will say, “Yes, I believe Jesus died and rose again, I believe I am saved by grace, but what if my life is a disappointment to God?” “What if God stops forgiving me for all the bad things I do?” “What if I’m beyond hope?”

A traumatic experience can also generate emotional doubt. Experiencing a natural disaster, the death of a loved one, physical injury, violent altercation or the like can leave a person wondering why a good God can all such things to happen to them or anybody else. Painful experiences connected to Church can leave a person in despair and disinterested in God and the things of God. This is a volitional doubt.

Emotions are notoriously deceptive, and the negative thoughts they generate are at the root of many doubts. False beliefs about ourselves cause immense emotional doubt. The remedy, according to Habermas, is “replacing false beliefs with truth.” This is the “chief approach found in God’s Word.” He writes, “In dozens of Scripture passages, believers are commanded to cease their worry and change their downcast demeanors due to the disagreeable aspects of life, and replace these undesirable and destructive thoughts with God’s truth, including prayer, worship, and meditation on such topics as God’s Word, His promises, creation, miracles, and eternal life. Many other times, God’s people are commanded to reject reckless words, anxious or depressing speech and behavior, anger, complaining, envy, or other emotional fixations that lead only to heartache. In place of these practices, we are to teach truthful and uplifting notions, bringing healing and peace to both ourselves and others.^”11

Renewing one’s mind is a clear teaching of the Scriptures. Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2; cf. Eph. 4:21-24; Col. 3:1-4). Part of the Christian’s earthly sojourn is to renounce the lies of the Devil and to hold fast to every spiritual blessing that God lavishes upon us through Jesus Christ.

Illness and pain can become the occasion to curse God and die. This is truly a deception of the Devil. Here is the truth: Prior to the fall Adam and Eve knew nothing of illness. Sickness, suffering, and death was never part of their experience prior to the Fall. The Fall ultimately brings into their experience sickness, suffering, and death. All of Adam and Eve’s progeny experience the same problems. Jean Claude Larchet rightly observes that “perfect health never exists in absolute form; health is always a matter of partial and temporary equilibrium. We can even say that health in this present age is simply a matter of lesser illness.”¹² We will all perish from our last illness.

The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and Christians are to glorify God in their bodies (1 Cor. 6:19-20). What good is a finely tuned, optimally functioning, aesthetically pleasing body if it is used as a vessel for evil? Health in the sense of the physical body without sickness or suffering is desirable but never really the greatest good. Larchet contends that health “is evil if it contributes to making a person indifferent to his salvation, keeps him away from God by giving him the false impression that he is self-sufficient, and bestows on him that strength of the flesh which actually weakens, rather than giving him that weakness in which God reveals himself, which constitutes true strength (2 Cor 12:9-10). Health is an even greater evil if it is used to give free rein to the passions, thereby becoming an instrument of iniquity (Rom 6:13).”¹³

It is never wrong to cry out to God in distress. “My God, my God why have you forsaken me!” (Psa. 22:1). God is there with us in our deepest and darkest despair. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psa. 23:4).¹⁴

Emotional doubt can arise out of the experience of sickness and suffering but Christians are to counter the lies of the Devil with truth. Rather that cursing God and dying, the follower of Christ, whether in sickness or wellness, is to always proclaim: “Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Dealing with emotional doubt is always a work in progress, but the ongoing process of replacing false beliefs with truth is key to grappling well with the problem. Christian hope is ultimately in the resurrection to eternal life. Even if the body is destroyed, Christ will raise it to life again in the last day (Jn. 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:12-20; 2 Cor. 4:7-18; Job. 19:25-26; Hos. 6:1-3).

Christians experience doubt. It is simply incorrect to suppose the genuine followers of Jesus never ever experience any doubt. Rather, Christians are to grapple well with their doubts. Intellectual doubts can be an occasion to examine why we believe what we believe. Faith defeaters generate doubts which can drive Christians to reexamine their beliefs, but the reexamination never has to end negatively with the abandonment of faith. Instead, the reexamination can be useful in refining our beliefs, discarding error and uncovering truth. The flames of the faith defeater can be used to purify the gold of truth. Emotional doubts are best dealt by replacing the lie with the truth.

— WGN

P.S. This is the final part to this series of blogs on the existence of God. I hope you enjoyed them.

 

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1. All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
2. Travis M. Dickinson, “Doubt As Virtue: How to Doubt & Have Faith without Exploding,” Christian Research Journal, 39, 4 [2016]: https://www.equip.org/article/doubt-virtue-doubt-faith-without-exploding/
3. cf. Craig Evans, “Why the Followers of Jesus Recognized Him as Divine,” Christian Research Journal, 37, 3 [2014]: https://www.equip.org/article/followers-jesus-recognized-divine/ Robert Velarde, “Did Ancient Extraterrestrials Visit Earth?” Christian Research Journal, 37, 6 [2014]: https://www.equip.org/article/did-ancient-extraterrestrials-visit-earth/
4. cf. Paul Hartog, “Jesus as God in the Second Century,” Christian Research Journal, 29, 1 [2006]: https://www.equip.org/articles/jesus-as-god-in-the-second-century/
5. Douglas Groothuis, “Darwin’s Rottweiler: Fierce Barks, Feeble Bites,” Christian Research Journal, 30, 6 [2007]: https://www.equip.org/articles/the-god-delusion/; Douglas Groothuis, “Christopher Hitchen’s Sledgehammer Rhetoric,” Christian Research Journal, 31, 3 [2008]: https://www.equip.org/articles/god-is-not-great-how-religion-poisons-everything/
6. cf. Hank Hanegraaff, “The Search for Jesus Hoax,” Christian Research Journal, 23, 2 [2000]: https://www.equip.org/article/the-search-for-jesus-hoax/
7. cf. Lee Strobel, “Defending the New Testament Jesus,” Christian Research Journal, 30, 5 [2007]: https://www.equip.org/article/defending-the-new-testament-jesus/
8. Dickinson, “Doubt As Virtue.”
9. These books are very helpful for addressing questions on the historical Jesus and Bible difficulties: Craig A. Evans, Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2006); Timothy Paul Jones, Conspiracies and the Cross (Lake Mary: FL: Front Line, 2008); Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company, 1996); Paul Copan, Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2011); Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan, Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2014) Lee Strobel, The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007). Excellent responses to philosophical arguments against God’s existence and God’s goodness can be found in J, Warner Wallace, God’s Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2015); William A. Dembski and Michael R. Licona,Evidence for God: Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy, and Science (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2010); Mitch Stokes, How to be an (A)theist (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016); Clay Jones, Why Does God Allow Evil? Compelling Answers for Life’s Toughest Questions (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2017); Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000); Lee Strobel The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998).
10. Gary Habermas, “When Religious Doubt Grows Agonizing,” Christian Research Institute, 36, 2 [2013]: https://www.equip.org/article/religious-doubt-grows-agonizing/
11. Ibid.
12. Jean-Claude Larchet, The Theology of Illness (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002), 53.
13. Ibid., 55-56.
14. cf. Clay Jones, “Why Did God Let that Child Die?” Christian Research Journal, 38, 1 [2015]: https://www.equip.org/article/god-let-child-die-2/; Barry Leventhal, “Holocaust Apologetics: Undoing the Death of God,” Christian Research Journal, 28, 4 [2005: https://www.equip.org/articles/holocaust-apologetics/