I am thinking about looking into people in the Bible who both believed in God and expressed doubt. Would you have any advice or helpful resources to have a study on this?
Biblical Faith and Doubt in Scripture
- Thread starter CherieR
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I don't think that this is what you're looking for, but I'd suggest that you start with somebody like John the Baptist.
I mean, consider the following:
His coming birth was announced by an angel (Luke 1:13).
He leapt for joy in Elizabeth's womb at the sound of the mother of his Lord's voice (Luke 1:40-44).
He was the prophesied messenger of the Lord who was to prepare Jesus' way before him (Mark 1:2, Malachi 3:1) and/or the one prophesied to prepare the way of the Lord and to make his paths straight (Mark 1:3, Isaiah 40:3).
He recognized Jesus as "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
He baptized Jesus and saw the Holy Ghost descending upon him like a dove while hearing God's voice out of heaven testify of Jesus "You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased" (Luke 3:21-22).
He recognized that Jesus was the "Christ" (John 3:28) and "the bridegroom" (John 3:29), and that he "came from heaven" (John 3:31).
He recognized that Jesus not only "spoke the words of God", but that "God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him" (John 3:34).
He also plainly testified in relation to Jesus that "he that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).
I mean, if anybody had faith in Christ, then John the Baptist was seemingly at the top of that list.
Here's the thing, though...
Notice what happened near the end of John the Baptist's life:
Matthew chapter 11
[2] Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
[3] And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
[4] Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
[5] The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
[6] And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
In other words, in spite of all that he had seen and heard, John had doubts near the end of his life.
Anyhow, it's not unusual for people of faith to experience doubt at times, and especially in times of great persecution.
I mean, consider the following:
His coming birth was announced by an angel (Luke 1:13).
He leapt for joy in Elizabeth's womb at the sound of the mother of his Lord's voice (Luke 1:40-44).
He was the prophesied messenger of the Lord who was to prepare Jesus' way before him (Mark 1:2, Malachi 3:1) and/or the one prophesied to prepare the way of the Lord and to make his paths straight (Mark 1:3, Isaiah 40:3).
He recognized Jesus as "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
He baptized Jesus and saw the Holy Ghost descending upon him like a dove while hearing God's voice out of heaven testify of Jesus "You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased" (Luke 3:21-22).
He recognized that Jesus was the "Christ" (John 3:28) and "the bridegroom" (John 3:29), and that he "came from heaven" (John 3:31).
He recognized that Jesus not only "spoke the words of God", but that "God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him" (John 3:34).
He also plainly testified in relation to Jesus that "he that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).
I mean, if anybody had faith in Christ, then John the Baptist was seemingly at the top of that list.
Here's the thing, though...
Notice what happened near the end of John the Baptist's life:
Matthew chapter 11
[2] Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
[3] And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
[4] Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
[5] The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
[6] And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
In other words, in spite of all that he had seen and heard, John had doubts near the end of his life.
Anyhow, it's not unusual for people of faith to experience doubt at times, and especially in times of great persecution.
I just use a computerized searchable Bible now. My mind goes to John Baptist while he sat in prison. I don't know the reference, so I will type in "shall look another" because that was what he asked.
We get:
Matthew 11:3 Context
1And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. 2Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 4Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
God bless you.
Maybe I can beat him to the doubting Thomas post first 
....
John 20:25
“The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
.
....John 20:25
“The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
.
P
pottersclay
Guest
Moses had a bunch of excuses....Jeremiah because of his youth....john the baptist...shall we look for another? Gideon....who me?
The essence of doubt is not a lack of faith as some suggest but the relevance of self awareness.
Im not good enough, i dont pray as i should, im not faithful enough, im not holy enough, ect.
God often creates or leads us into situations that makes us doubt to strengthen our faith in his abilities.
Is anything to hard for the Lord? We have a GOD of the impossible yet it is in our very nature to doubt.
This came from our first parents in the garden......and they saw they were naked...self awareness.
What does it do?....makes us hide.
A good example of this is in the new testament...the morning of the resurrection. The 12 hiding in fear. The same 12 that proclaimed Christ as the son of God. Seeing the miracles...doing miracles now fearing for there lives.
John the only known eyewitness probably sharing the brutality of the event with the others only to increase the fear.
But mary and the others set out to finish what was started..(.intresting) preparing the body.
Im sure you know ...as paul harvey says....The rest of the story.
The greatest example of doubt which we all face daily is summarized in the Bible at the moment when a father brings his sick child to Jesus so He can heal him.
‘Jesus says “If you belive, all things are possible“ and the father says “I believe O Lord, help my unbelief”.
Now imagine, they had God in their midst back then and they had doubt. With God present who was healing and performing miracles !
‘Jesus says “If you belive, all things are possible“ and the father says “I believe O Lord, help my unbelief”.
Now imagine, they had God in their midst back then and they had doubt. With God present who was healing and performing miracles !
Maybe. Doubting in Thomas case I would say was not doubt just flat out unbelief but none of the disciples believed at first .
Well, doubt and fears are part of the walk with Jesus. In trusting Jesus, we overcome these. But the presence of doubts and fears is normal.
Most characters in the Bible are recorded as having doubts, guilt, fears.
I have a hard time believing Christians who say they don't doubt.
This is part of the reason why i believe salvation can't be lossed, because in our thoughts all Christians are not perfect and sin all the time.
Of course we try and overcome, but you gotta get real with what actually our sins are.
well I would say many believed yet doubted though I know Thomas sort of got the nickname,for instance a similar individual would be Abraham's wife Sarah who after so long desired to have a child but, didn't receive news of the possibility until she was vaguely aged about 90(age back then could sometimes be longer life span) she actually scoffed at the idea that God would grant her a child at what to her seemed like her old age and after God mentioned to Abraham her jesting or doubt she even named her first born according to that She Laughed at the idea
I've thought about it though maybe just reading/listening to the Bible through and taking notes may be the way to go.
It does seem like a pretty normal thing to doubt and have fears. I don't see how they would be sin unless in listening to them you don't obey the Lord.
Hi CherieR.
You bring up a very good point CherieR.
Adam and Eve had doubt but their doubt turned to disobeying allowing doubt to turn to sin.
Abraham had doubt (Genesis 15:2) and so did Sarah she laughed at God' s promise (Gen 18:10 ff). Yet they chose to believe the promises of God even though the odds didn't look good for a child (from a physical perspective).
And the list goes throughout the whole of scripture.. We wil have doubts, especially when things get tough. 'lean not on your own understaning' but,.... 'faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. (Prov 3:5; Heb 11:1-2).
You bring up a very good point CherieR.
Adam and Eve had doubt but their doubt turned to disobeying allowing doubt to turn to sin.
Abraham had doubt (Genesis 15:2) and so did Sarah she laughed at God' s promise (Gen 18:10 ff). Yet they chose to believe the promises of God even though the odds didn't look good for a child (from a physical perspective).
And the list goes throughout the whole of scripture.. We wil have doubts, especially when things get tough. 'lean not on your own understaning' but,.... 'faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. (Prov 3:5; Heb 11:1-2).
Yeah, this is true. I realised after posting associating doubt with sin isn't right. But yeah.. it would be when the doubt takes hold and we choose to disobey that it is sin.
Still though, aside from doubt, we do sin all the time in our thoughts. It's impossible to be sinless until we end up in heaven.
Anyway, in regards to doubt, there are many people who have analytical/scientific/probing minds who look underneath things and would have questions and doubts in their walk. I've heard christians say you CAN'T doubt or that if they come across an obstacle they just 'have faith'.. well.. how is that faith if they aren't exploring what the answer is and overcoming through learning and trusting God in that process?
Some people don't care for apologetics.. but I like them. This is where doubts can be faced and overcome. Answers found built up faith on a more solid ground.