Is It Wrong to Doubt as a Christian? | Ep. 63

[MUSIC] Thanks for listening to the Haley See a Podcast, where together we consider the truth of Christianity, episode by episode, week by week. Regardless of where you are on your journey, whether you're someone who's not sure what you're about God or maybe wants to believe but if since change, I'm glad you've chosen a few minutes of your day to learn alongside me as we discussed Christianity and how it brings clarity to the understanding of our existence, truth and our current cultural topics. Don't forget to go to apologetics.org and submit your questions and comments and welcome to Haley See a Podcast. [MUSIC] Hello and welcome to the Haley See a Podcast where we take a few minutes to consider the case for Christianity. I'm your host, Emily Morosco, and in this episode we are going to discuss doubt. So the question that we have today that we're going to answer is, is it okay to doubt Christianity or what do we do when we have doubts about Christianity? Okay, well, so this question came up recently where somebody asked, I think I was on a panel or I was somewhere, and somebody asked this question, I thought this was a good question because it does come up from time to time but it's also like a reality for a lot of people including me. I have doubted several times in my life and I think the reasons why people have, why the reason why people doubt is going to be different depending on your religion or depending on, like it'll be more specific to your religion. So for example, if you have questions about the Bible that are leading to doubt, okay, so you're probably a Christian who's questioning Christianity. But if you have questions about the Quran and you're starting to doubt it, then you're Muslim who has doubts about that. So I think people doubt for a lot of reasons whether they're questioning their text that they follow, maybe there is prayers that they asked God for and they were not answered. And unentered prayer is a really hard question because there's oftentimes a feeling of like betrayal or disappointment in God or just like God doesn't care about me, He doesn't love me or just the feelings of, I don't know, God abandoned me or I'm just not important enough to him that he would even help me out. So he must want these bad things to happen to me or whatever it might be. So unentered prayer can make people doubt because they feel like, well, God, if you're good, you would help me out. Similarly, suffering, if they're suffering in your life or maybe you see suffering around you that can lead people to doubt. Another one is God's quietness. Maybe it feels like God is silent and you don't hear from Him or ever or He feels far or He feels distant. That can definitely cause people to doubt and question. And really, there's so many, right? But another one I could think of would be critique. There's a new critique or a new book that comes out attacking your religion or a new, I don't know, YouTube video that comes out attacking your religion or somebody points out something in your text that you realize, you know, send you kind of new information, maybe that you hadn't heard that can cause you to doubt. So there's so many reasons why you write people doubt. And there's reasons why I've doubted. And so is it okay to doubt Christianity? Well, first let me ask you. So do I have I doubted before? Do you doubt? Yes, I have doubted a couple times in my life. I've been able to work my way through those. And one of the ways that you work your way through moments of doubt is you try and find answers to the doubt. Or you begin to say, okay, I know I'm just going to look at a scale of 0 to 100 or 1 to 100. I know these 60 things to be true. But I've questions about these two or three things. And you're like, okay, well, I've got certainty for 60 out of 100. You know, there's three things that I just don't quite can't quite sort out right now. But then there's another 37 that I know there's answers to is I just haven't gotten to them. But there's answers out there. I know people have answered I might have gotten to them. But you look at those three and you're like, look, I can't imagine there's an answer to this or maybe nobody thought about this. Or maybe you don't like the answer is that you've heard. And so that leads people to kind of to look at that 3% and just say, well, you know, there's a lot more here than maybe I can give way to. And maybe I should just doubt all the rest of it. But I think in this situation, the thing that we want to do is say, but why I know 60 other things are true. And we need to be careful to not throw out everything else. We know it's true because you hit something that you think you can't answer. Or you don't like the answer about. So yeah, so one thing to do is we feed out in goal. And the second thing is to look back at the information that you do know is true and say, okay, there's so much pointed to this being true. I need to not dismiss all of that because I have, you know, a couple doubts here or there. So is it okay to doubt Christianity? I would say 100%. I think it's I think no matter what religion or non-religion you are, I think you everybody needs to question what they believe in at some point in their life. Whether it is whatever your parents raised you at, whether whether it's what you believe now as an adult, you need to question whatever it is that you believe in. And I think that's people oftentimes think that that's just what religious people have to do. And I would fully disagree with that. I think everybody needs to question what they believe in and everybody needs to know that what they're believing is true. And that's ultimately what doubt is doubt is saying I have questions about truth. I've got questions about truth. And so what that saying to me is truth is important truth matters to you. And you want to believe in something that is true. So interrogate whatever your believer non-belief is. Look and see if there's any historical data to make it up to back it up. Look and see if it has any internal consistencies. It says one thing here, but it contradicts itself somewhere else as an example. Look and see if there has been evidence of it in the world around you or in your own life that somehow it is manifested as truth. So a simple example of this would be like a miracle, right? Jesus walked around. So speaking about Christianity, he walked around. He did miracles. And he did this for the sake of the people that were sick or hurting or dead in certain situations, but he also did it to demonstrate to people that what he was doing that he was who he says he was, that he wasn't just an ordinary human. If that wasn't a part of it, then he would have done all his miracles in private and said, don't tell anybody. He just would have been all about the person he healed. But many of the stuff that he did was in public. And he knew that people would see this and that they would then believe certain things about him. So you want to know, okay, well, what is it then that I can see evidence of even in the world around me or in the experience of my life, have I experienced the healing or do I know somebody that's experienced a hearing or some sort of miracle. I think that that matters as well when you're trying to interrogate your belief. And also, does it, how does it impact your life? Like, how does this belief impact your life? Does it really impact your life for good? Does it impact your life at all? Is it insignificant to your life? Like, I just think that's worth thinking about to it doesn't necessarily determine whether or not something's true. But if a belief is so insignificant in your life that it doesn't impact your life, then I would my question would be why does that belief even matter? Why would it even matter? Like, would your life be any different if it wasn't true? And so how does it affect your impact your life? I think it's something worth considering. So yeah, looking at history, looking at evidence, looking at archaeology, looking at various written documents, looking at evidence for it in terms of miracles or things like that can all help us begin to interrogate whatever the belief or non-belief is that we hold. And for every atheist is out there, I really, I find that religious people are oftentimes the ones in the hot seat who are defending their view. But really, if you're an atheist, you need to defend yours as well. And I know that I've heard so many things about that. Oh, I don't have to defend my view because I'm just denying your view. No, the only person who doesn't have to provide evidence for their belief is an agnostic. The agnostic person says, I don't know what's true. They're not taking a stance either way. And so they are the only ones who really don't have to provide any evidence. So if you're an atheist, I would encourage you to interrogate, why do you believe atheism? Why did you take that position instead of instead of a religious position? Why did you take that position instead of an agnostic position? And what has led you to that? So I think we all should interrogate. And this is where I think doubt is really helpful and really healthy. You don't want to believe in something because somebody tells you it's true because what you've always done. Doubt raises to the surface. Why you should give it more time and maybe help you to think through why you hold a particular belief is true. Also asking questions is good. And I do this all the time and keep in mind, you're never going to have every question about your belief or non-belief answered. There's just no way. There's just too many questions out there. There's no way all my questions about Christianity are ever going to get answered. And I can't imagine it's going to be true for anybody else that we would have 100% answers on everything. You know, there's a lot of questions when it comes to life. you know, the afterlife and how do we get here in morality and meaning and identity and value and all of these things are so many things. So I don't think we'll ever find all the answers and you have to be okay with that. Like you have to be okay, whatever view you hold to not know every answer, but you do have to know enough that helps you determine not that belief is true. So it's one thing to say I have enough information to know this is true, but I have some questions that I can sort it out. That's different than saying I have a bunch of questions and I can't even determine if the the belief is true because all these questions I have, there's no good answers even help me believe in this thing is true. That's different. Okay, you can know something is true and so not understanding everything about it. There's probably people in your life that you you know they exist. You've talked to them, but then they do things you're like, I can't explain that. I don't know why they did that. I don't know why they said that. It doesn't make them not like not exist. If they just because you can't explain something about them, why their behavior was what they was and why they did what they did. It doesn't make them not exist. You already you have enough evidence to know they exist. You're just trying to say I can't explain this part about them and sometimes you have to say, well, we're just moving on and I just won't figure that out and that's gotta be okay. So we say that about things that are less significant in regards to whatever belief or non-belief we hold. And so just finally, just as I speak about Christianity specifically, I think my favorite example of this whole concept of doubting has to do after Jesus rose from the dead. So Jesus rises to the dead and he appears to his disciples. And when he appeared to his disciples, not all of them were in the room. So Thomas was not there when Jesus came and appeared to his disciples. So Thomas shows up later on and the disciples are like, guess what? We've seen Jesus. And Thomas, my kind of guy here by the way, says, oh no, no, no, I don't believe you. I'm adding an Alicia translation here. But he's like, no way, like what do you, what do you think you're talking about? Like this man was dead, right? Here's what he says. He says, unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it. All right. So what does Thomas say? You can say whatever you want, but I know dead people don't rise. So I'm hearing what you're saying, but I'm not buying it. And I will be open to buying it. I will be open to believing what you're saying. If I have evidence, I want to see the nail marks in his hands. I want to put my fingers where the nails were. So he wants to put his, see it and put his fingers in the marks and Jesus hands where his nails were. And I would put my hand into his side. So Thomas is like, I need to see something physical. I like Thomas, my kind of guy, give me some proof, right? The good criminal justice major that I was, right? Give me some proof. So then a week later, disciples in the house again, Thomas is there with them. And then Jesus comes again. And what does he say? Does he say Thomas? You moron. How could you doubt me? How could you question me? You saw me raise you from the dead Thomas. You saw me walk on water or heal the sick or the blind or whatever. Whatever Thomas was and whatever Thomas saw. You've seen these things in my love and that you've seen these things with your eyes. He didn't say what's wrong with you? Why would you doubt me? Why would you question me? He doesn't tell him, don't ask these questions. You're not allowed to ask questions of me. You're not allowed to ask questions to try and understand me better. He doesn't tell him to stop asking questions. So he doesn't criticize him. He doesn't try making him feel stupid. And he doesn't tell me he shouldn't be asking what is Jesus response? Hey, you need a little bit of help? I got you. You want some evidence, Thomas? Don't you worry. I've got you. And he says to Thomas, put Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. And then he tells them stop doubting and believe. In other words, Jesus first gives him evidence to help Thomas overcome his doubts. And then he tells Thomas to believe. He doesn't tell Thomas, get it together. You've seen enough and what's wrong with you and believe. No, he helps him out. And so speaking specifically about Christianity, I think it's great to question. I think it's great to wonder. I think it's great to try and understand more. And I think you see a great example here of Jesus engaging with somebody who is doubting, not pushing them away, not making them feel stupid, but saying, don't worry, you want some more proof? Let's do that. Let's give you more proof. And what was Thomas' response? Five beautiful words. My Lord. And my God. Thomas believed because of the evidence. And he saw the evidence and that helped him deal with his doubt. Absolutely. But doubt. And then look and say, okay, what can we, what do I do? Like don't just doubt and sit there in it. Go try and find the answer to your doubt. There are so many answers out there, so many questions out there, so many books, so many videos, if there's a really good chance that somebody's already raised that doubt and is actually already answered it, you just don't know the answer. So when you doubt, because you don't know answer a question, don't just say, I don't know the answer, oh well, or don't say, there is no answer. Just simply say, let me go find the answer. Just because you don't know the answer, doesn't mean there isn't an answer. It just means you don't know the answer. And so don't, you know, and I understand, you know, questions like suffering and unanswered prayers and all of these lead to further questions about, you know, does God hear me and is God there? And so there are all these reasons as to why we doubt. And we may not be able to fully have an answer like Thomas had a great experience with Jesus to be able to go over his doubt. We may not all have that. But do we have enough to know it's true? And then we also have to hold some of the things that we can't quite sort out. As things that let's say, well, let me investigate, let me spend more time thinking about it, because there's enough here that I know is true. So let me not throw all that away. And I want to actually, Emily, ask you a little bit, because I've not asked Emily this. I actually need to have no idea what her answer is. But have you ever doubted or like, have there ever been a time in life for you question? And like, if so, how did you deal with it? Well, I appreciate you asking. I think the most prominent example I can think of in my life this far is when my grandmother passed when I was 13 years old, she struggled all her life pretty much with current disease. And she was bed ridden shortly after she had my mom and my uncle. I think she was maybe about 25 or so. So my current age. And after that, she could hardly move. She was incredibly weak. And she never complained a day in her life. I never heard that from her. She, my mom would say that her and her husband, my grandpa, he was like a bull in a china shop because she was so delicate emotionally. And he was kind of this rough, you know, veteran of the war. But they worked really well together. But the point is that when she passed, I think she was, I want to say she was 70 years old, 71 or 72. I was really young. I was 13. And she weighed 75 pounds when she passed. She was in such a depleted state. And even though that I had confessed that Jesus was Lord long before then. And I was baptized at seven years old. And I fully believed. And I had good reason to believe that Jesus Christ did die in the cross. And he did rise again three days later. And the scriptures are reliable. I just didn't understand why God would allow one of his, what I thought would be his most faithful servant to suffer for all her life and then to pass in such a painful way. And sometimes I still don't understand that. But I think what has helped me is understanding the character of God. And that this is the same God who is both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. And I look specifically at the book of Job. And I think this is really why at least and I could go on Tandens about how much you love the book of Job. Yes. That was one of the first instances where I really understood what redemption was. And I understood that even though Job didn't have any of his questions that he asked God, none of them were answered in the way that Job wanted them to be answered. And yet God still displayed the magnification of his love for Job. And even when he's responding to him, I forget what chapter it is, but God uses this very maternal language to show Job that he loves him in a way that no other God could. He loves him in a way that none of his friends could not his wife could none of his children could. And yet God shows that love in redeeming absolutely everything to Job 10 fold and 100 fold. He gets back everything that he lost. And even though Job on this side of eternity may not have understood why God allowed, excuse me, for these things to happen. He did ultimately understand God's character. And that was the thing that healed him from his fear and his anxiety. And I still carry that with me today. And it's one of the reasons why Job is probably my favorite book. Yes. It's not in the whole Bible. Yes. And the whole test is my favorite of people. So yeah, I think the problem of suffering, whether you're, whether you identify as a Christian, or a Buddhist, or a Hindu, or Muslim, Muslim, that is a question that every worldview is going to have to answer. What about suffering? What about the bad things that are going on in this world that we can all agree no matter where we come from or what we believe we can all agree. Hey, this is pretty bad. This is not as it should be. And so Christianity has an answer to that question. And so does every other worldview. But only one worldview is right about the kind of God who justly permits certain things even though we don't understand why he does so. So for you, it helps you to your job. Was basically this idea that while your grandma still died and you couldn't change that, you could trust God's character even in something like that that was unexplainable. Yeah. And I had good reason to do so because it, I had seen examples of that woven throughout Scripture. This wasn't a one-time thing. I saw this miracle where she was miraculously healed and all of a sudden I believe, oh God is real because he answered my prayers. I had good reason to believe that I serve a good God who loves his people and he wants the best for his people and the very best thing that he wants for his people is himself. And there are numerous examples in Scripture of people who deeply suffer and they pray these prayers. And it seems like God doesn't answer them. But then sometimes God does, but he doesn't say, here's why I answered this specific prayer. But I even think about the prayers that did eventually get answered. They were either answered on this side of eternity or the other side of eternity. And I still think about, for example, God's promise to Abraham and he said, I will make you a great nation. Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. They will be as numerous as just the tiny little grains of sand. And that promise that God gave to Abraham even though he waited, I think what was it? How old was he a hundred when he had? No, I think it was 110 by the time that Isaac came around if memory serves me right. He was a hundred and then a hundred. I don't remember the age, but he was old. And in that ancient time period, it of course would have been so unsettling not to have any descendants whatsoever. And so it seems like God didn't answer that prayer, that desire. And then he did. And even today, that promise is being fulfilled because think of how many hundreds and thousands of descendants there are from Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob and so on and so forth. And we see more examples, in scripture of things like that, where God, who really loves his people in a way that people can't love one another, he either answers their prayers on one end of eternity or another. Or instead of maybe answering them in the way that that individual would have wanted, he answered them in the way that that individual needs. I actually think I almost want to say it's Dante. There's a excuse me. I think it's an autobiography. I don't remember. But he talks about how his mother actually know it's not Dante who wrote confessions. It wasn't a coiness. I think it was a guess. Yes. Sorry, all of these big name Christian guys. That's good. You read so much. I know they all just literature. They merged together. But the point is that in confessions, Augustine talks about his upbringing, how his mother had prayed over and over and over again that he would be saved and that she would live to see the day that he would come to Christ and she never got to see that day. That was her most fervent prayer. But she never got to see that day on this side of eternity. But when he passed, she did get to see him in eternity. He was completely healed and he was completely restored unto God. So, so for you, the really powerful stories that have helped me when I find out. So for you, it's like when the doubt happens, you rest on all the other things that you know it'll be true essentially. So that was kind of that other example of, you know, when you doubt, it's like, then I'm going to see if I can find an answer or maybe even doubting your doubt. Sometimes you just doubt your doubt and say, wait, why am I doubting this? This is really legitimate. Sometimes you have to doubt your doubt. But also, you know, falling back on, okay, but I know that these 60 things are true. So you need to have these two or three questions that I'm struggling with. I know enough that these 60 things are true. And maybe that will kind of keep pushing me, you know, towards and that Emily, it sounds to you like you're one of those examples. And even more so, like it was for you as out of pain, pain and suffering and that kind of thing, which is a big reason why people doubt. I'd also encourage everybody's listening to, I think we did an episode on deconstructionism. I don't even know when it was. But it's in 2025 at some point. So you can listen to that one and that's going to have some some stuff in there too. If it'll be helpful. But thank you, Emily, for sharing and letting us hear kind of a little bit of where your struggle lied. And you guys got to hear a little bit of where mine was as well. So thanks for tuning in. Please continue to send in your say what I love seeing, you know, kind of where you think I didn't quite get it right. And or where you think maybe I forgot to add this in or I should have, you know, said things this way or whatever, feel free to send those in. And that helps helps us to continue to refining it better. And also to just think about different angles and on things. So feel free to send those in, apologetics.org to the under the hey Alicia podcast and we will see you all next time. Thank you for tuning in to hey, Alicia, where we take a few minutes to consider the case for Christianity to submit your questions and comments, go to apologetics.org or click the link in the show notes. [BLANK_AUDIO]