Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-089

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR DOUBTS (1)

From ‘Sunrise Sunset’ (HarperCollins/Harper San Francisco), Rowland Croucher’s book of daily meditations. Feel free to use or adapt it.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair. 2 Corinthians 4:8.

There are four things we can do with our doubts:

(1) Admit them. If your doubts are real it’s stupid to admit they’re not there. They won’t just run away. They’ll continue to lurk in the shadows of your mind. But when we honestly face our doubts, often they’re not so terrible; when examined in the light of day, they turn out to be only harmless shadows. To pretend you’ve never had any doubts is to be mindless (or a hypocrite). I once heard of a preacher who couldn’t face his doubts. In the margin of his sermon notes he’d write ‘Point weak – shout!’

(2) Examine them. The unexamined life is not worth living. Christianity is making some remarkable claims, when you think about them. Like, only one human of the thousands of megalomaniacs who’ve claimed to be God is actually right! His friends claim he came back to life after being truly dead. He will come again to wrap up history… There are various books by lawyers and others who couldn’t swallow these preposterous claims, and set out to examine the evidence… and were convinced! The strength of Christian evidences may surprise you.

I ask for the gift of honesty, Lord. And once I am convinced about the basic evidences for Christianity, help me to move on from there. Amen.

(Continued next week)