Proud Doubter
Last night I was scrolling through the Facebook posts of a friend. Actually, I wouldn’t exactly call the person a “friend” as much as a former acquaintance. The person I used to know as a young, vibrant Christian student, one who boldly proclaimed his faith, has now become proud doubter.
Look, let me be the first to say that moments of doubt are not uncommon, and far be it from me to cast judgment on those who do. I have had my moments of doubt, and there have been many times when I’ve had to pray, “Lord, help my unbelief.” But one thing I’ve never done is boast about my doubting. G0d forbid!
Yet, as I scrolled through the posts and the comments of my young friend of years gone by, what I saw was one who was proud of the fact that he felt free enough to doubt, even to allow his doubts to affect what he believed about God.
A Blown Mind
Come to find out, my young friend has been doing some study. He has become fascinated with astronomy, specifically the “Big Bang.” As many have done, he has proudly ditched the supposed illiterate belief in a Young Earth creation and taken off full bore down the road of “true” science. He has been blown away by the scientific “evidence” that led him not only to doubt his earlier beliefs, but to look forward to other areas in which his understanding of God may be changed.
In other words, because of what my young friend has now learned, he is looking forward to the de-grandeurization of his God.
Did God?
If you will remember, it was Satan, in the Garden of Eden, who posed the first doubt-inducing question, “Did God…?” This led to Eve questioning the motives of her Creator.
Unfortunately, developments in modern science have been used in the very same way to create doubt, to cause believers to question the abilities of their Creator. They look at the marvelous works of creation and ultimately conclude that it was natural forces which created what we now see, not God. By doing so, they unwittingly fall prey to the gradual undermining of their faith, going from one “enlightening” conclusion to another, saying: “Well, if what I believed there is not true, then what else about God is not true?”
They proudly march forward with a presupposition of doubt leading the way, redefining God and His creation.
The Declaration
Credit: NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)
But here’s the thing: Psalm 19:1 says that “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Even more, Psalm 97:6 says, “The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.”
Is the universe expanding? Yes, it is. But what does that necessarily mean about God? The universe is expanding, and men are made up of the same elements found in stars. Does this mean that believing God created the heavens, including man, “as is” is out of the realm of possibility?
The God I serve is so big, so powerful, so awesome, so grand that when He said, “Let there be…” it was. There’s no reason to doubt, even if it doesn’t all make sense.
After all, the grandeur of creation was created out of nothing. If God could do that, then nothing is impossible for Him. Science doesn’t have to disprove anything; it should be declaring.
I’m a proud believer.
The Recovering Legalist 
Thank you for this post. Doubts and unanswered questions about God and the Bible did not lead me to pride but depression, many years ago. Today, some of those questions remain but I live on the revelation that God is good despite my doubts. The revelation that he is good set me free to love and worship him as well as to reach to the world around me in as humble and gracious a way as possible. That world is culturally as well as religiously diverse and am learning how to dialogue in a way that both enriches me and influences it in an eternally significant way.
Thank you for reading.
Well I hope you are free from doubt now. Its part of the spiritual diet we must give the Church. By providing proofs and facts to build peoples basic belief in the facts helps remove doubt of events and who God is.
Doubt is a nebulous thing.
So its important to nail things down. Did or did not the Apostles creed get written etc. putting pins on a map of facts is an important step to wipe out the nebulous thinking the devil builds into the Atheists arguments. The Garden of Eden is a classic of questioning the facts. But still, nailing it down, either way God said something. The question then was if he was being truthful and loyal to us. This is more complex than just belief.
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Still I have many proofs that God exists and acts. And many proofs that God stands back and lets things happen. It makes me realize he is not my butler. This is also a needed revelation. For the most part he does not heal our bruises or grow arms back on. This in no way changes his existence. It changes the dynamics falsely claimed about what is happening here. Even if Jesus healed every day of his ministry he would not have topped much more than a thousand Miracles. And at no time did he move one single mountain. But some how we attach our lack of ability to move mountains with Gods existence. its taught or implied that if we do not have witchcraft abilities at our finger tips we do not have faith and God is not real. Its a bogus set up.
We are literally living masterpieces. God has acted many times in history and in our lives. And doubt is a quagmire that needs to be systematically dug out of our brains.
If you are trying to make God jump so you can see him move, you have to be doing something where he wants to be jumping. When we started the church in Oshawa, it was Gods will and we one night with some street people prayed for a little fridge so we could put the coffee milk and left over donuts away.
So Frank was out on the street calling people to come in bringing them in to the coffee house and I was inside making sure the place remained in one piece we talked about God and we prayed for this fridge.
At the end of the night Frank and I were going out the front door of the 3 storey building. we were on the main floor. As we locked the door a couple of guys came out of the elevator with a little fridge in hand. They said they were moving out and were putting it out to the curb because they didn’t want it. So If we wanted it we could have it before they threw it out.
We said sure.
So literally the homeless prayed and the church got a fridge delivered to the front door.
Now if Only I could pray and Pizza would show up at my door! LoL. We all want to be able to command God but when we just hope on him,when he wants he will do things for us. Still this is not the purpose of God to be our butler. This was Just to show us that the Church had Gods hand on it.
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If you are not doing anything, not caring to follow God and have church, there is no reason for God to give you a peppy miracle. But If you want to have that sort of thing, you have to be doing Gods intended plan and need his presence.
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we need to occupy till he comes but what if God wants to do some building. And will you be the associate that will do that. If so, He may require you to work on that and will require you to ask for help. The best times are when you need his help.