i hope this talking about this issue of doubt which is scary for some folks has encouraged you, to know that if you respond to your doubts it can be an impetus toward a richer and deeper faith.
if you’re wrestling with doubts i want to tell you a very quick story i think will encourage you. it’s about a guy who went out to california when he was thirty years old. he was a really good guy and he had a strong faith in GOD. and he wanted more than anything for GOD to do something positive with his life. but he had a friend named chuck and his friend went to a very liberal seminary and he started raising questions about GOD and especially about the bible. he started talking to his friend saying, “you can’t trust the bible,” and started trying to undermined his faith. and his friend started to get a little shaky in his thinking. but he had another friend, a woman, who was a strong bible scholar. she would whisper in his other ear, “it’s not true. here’s the evidence. here's the facts. here’s why you can trust the bible.” he said, “i felt like i was on a rack, being pulled toward doubt one way and faith another way. he said, “if i didn’t come to a point of total doubt i did come to a point of being very disturbed by the whole experience, very unsettled.”
one day he went for a walk. as he was walking he said, “GOD, i need your help in this! i don’t want to have a weak faith. i want a strong and powerful faith. i want you to use me in a positive way.” so he got down on his knees and said, “based on all the evidence for the trustworthiness of the bible i am going to as a choice of my will accept the bible as being the word of GOD and i'm going to base my life on it and i'm going to live the way it says i ought to live and i'm going to tell others about it.” he said, “i got up off my knees and it was like GOD breathed fresh life into my faith. i felt like a SPIRITual battle for my soul had been fought and had been won.” that man was billy graham. and look what GOD has done through his faith.
and i want to say to you, if you’re reading this today and you’re riddled with questions and uncertainties and doubts and you wonder, “can i ever do anything positive and powerful in my life?” think of billy graham and think about how your doubts may be the very road that GOD will use to give you a vibrant, resilient, powerful faith. who knows what GOD can do for you?
just a thought from the front porch…
Showing posts with label questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label questions. Show all posts
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
faith and unanswered questions…
hold your remaining questions in tension.
what does that mean? basically, suspend judgment for a while on some questions you might have. let me put this into context. the bible says in 1 corinthians 13 that because you and i are finite individuals with finite minds and finite understanding and finite imagination we can’t fully understand an infinite GOD. so there’s bound to be some questions that we’re going to have to wait to get a full and complete answer to.
it might be that as you mature in your faith and grow in your faith you’re going to find an answer to your question that’s bothered you for years. you’re reading the bible and all of a sudden – boom! one day you’ve got it! it was just a little insight that answered the question. and many times for you as you grow in your understanding you’ll find the answer.
but sometimes you won’t. you have a peripheral question in your life that will sort of nag at you and you’re not going to find out until someday when you get into heaven. just sort of picture heaven like a third grade classroom. JESUS is up there at the blackboard and we’re all raising our hands “call me! i’ve got to know! how does this TRINITY thing work? i’ve been curious. or how does free will and predestination fit together?” or what’s the deal with pokemon? why? or like the little boy said, “why did i pray for a puppy and get a little brother instead?” we’re going to want to know some kind of issues. and HE’s going to answer.
until that day, i’ve just got the answers of essential issues of life that i can trust the bible, that JESUS died for my sins, that i can know HIM personally and be assured of heaven. i know and the evidence points convincingly towards those things as being reality.
on a few of these peripheral questions, knowing the essential stuff and knowing the trustworthiness of GOD, it’s ok to sort of allow my faith to stay in tact and hold some of those other issues in abeyance. that’s not being irresponsible. that’s making an informed decision based on GOD’s track record and the evidence for who HE is to suspend judgment for a while. if we had 100% of the answers to 100% of our questions there would be no room for faith.
we don’t have to know everything to know something. we know what we need to know. GOD has been gracious. HE’s given us exactly what we need to know. based on that we can follow JESUS CHRIST and have confidence that our eternity is in heaven with him. on these other issues we may have to wait a bit and that’s ok.
just a thought from the front porch…
what does that mean? basically, suspend judgment for a while on some questions you might have. let me put this into context. the bible says in 1 corinthians 13 that because you and i are finite individuals with finite minds and finite understanding and finite imagination we can’t fully understand an infinite GOD. so there’s bound to be some questions that we’re going to have to wait to get a full and complete answer to.
it might be that as you mature in your faith and grow in your faith you’re going to find an answer to your question that’s bothered you for years. you’re reading the bible and all of a sudden – boom! one day you’ve got it! it was just a little insight that answered the question. and many times for you as you grow in your understanding you’ll find the answer.
but sometimes you won’t. you have a peripheral question in your life that will sort of nag at you and you’re not going to find out until someday when you get into heaven. just sort of picture heaven like a third grade classroom. JESUS is up there at the blackboard and we’re all raising our hands “call me! i’ve got to know! how does this TRINITY thing work? i’ve been curious. or how does free will and predestination fit together?” or what’s the deal with pokemon? why? or like the little boy said, “why did i pray for a puppy and get a little brother instead?” we’re going to want to know some kind of issues. and HE’s going to answer.
until that day, i’ve just got the answers of essential issues of life that i can trust the bible, that JESUS died for my sins, that i can know HIM personally and be assured of heaven. i know and the evidence points convincingly towards those things as being reality.
on a few of these peripheral questions, knowing the essential stuff and knowing the trustworthiness of GOD, it’s ok to sort of allow my faith to stay in tact and hold some of those other issues in abeyance. that’s not being irresponsible. that’s making an informed decision based on GOD’s track record and the evidence for who HE is to suspend judgment for a while. if we had 100% of the answers to 100% of our questions there would be no room for faith.
we don’t have to know everything to know something. we know what we need to know. GOD has been gracious. HE’s given us exactly what we need to know. based on that we can follow JESUS CHRIST and have confidence that our eternity is in heaven with him. on these other issues we may have to wait a bit and that’s ok.
just a thought from the front porch…
Friday, January 28, 2011
some very good questions need to be answered…
GOD is not the creator of evil and suffering. this fact answers the question you hear so often of why didn’t GOD create a world where there was no evil and suffering in the first place? and the answer to that is, HE did.
genesis 1.31 (niv) says, GOD saw all that HE made and it was very good. so if GOD is not the author of evil and suffering and if what HE created is good, then where did it come from in the first place?
the answer to that has to do with the fact that GOD decided to give human beings free will. why did HE do this? because the highest value in the universe is love -to love GOD and to love other people. and the only way that highest value can really be attained is if we have free will. then we can make the choice to love or not to love. true love must involve a choice.
it’s like if you go to the toy store where you buy one of those dolls with a string on it and it says, “i love you.” does that doll really love you? no, of course not. it’s programmed to say it. it has no choice. it must say it. so it’s not love.
so for you to really express love you must be able to make the choice not to love in order for your expression of love to be true. so GOD, knowing this, gave human beings that free will but we’ve abused it and we’ve rejected GOD. and the result has been the introduction of evil into the world.
one type is moral evil. moral evil is the immorality and the pain and the suffering that results when we make the choice to be selfish and arrogant and uncaring and abusive.
romans 3.23 (niv) makes it clear. all of us have sinned. all of us have fallen short of the glory of GOD. therefore we’ve all done things out of our free will that have resulted in hurt to ourselves and to other people. in fact, some one has estimated that 95% of the suffering in this world is the result of sin of ourselves or other people.
for example, people look at the famines that take place in africa and say, “where’s GOD in all this?” people are dying of starvation. how does HE allow this famine to take place?
listen, we produce enough food on this planet to give every man, woman and child three thousand calories a day. but it’s because of our own selfishness, our own irresponsibility and misplaced nationalism that people are starving.
look at your hand. you can say, “i can either take this hand and pick up a gun and shoot and kill someone or i can take this very same hand and feed someone who’s starving to death.” it’s my choice. but it isn’t really fair if i pick up a gun and shoot someone and then say, “why does GOD allow evil and suffering?” you’ve made the choice to pick up the gun and pull the trigger. it’s like the old cartoon: “we’ve seen the enemy and he is us.”
just a thought from the front porch…
genesis 1.31 (niv) says, GOD saw all that HE made and it was very good. so if GOD is not the author of evil and suffering and if what HE created is good, then where did it come from in the first place?
the answer to that has to do with the fact that GOD decided to give human beings free will. why did HE do this? because the highest value in the universe is love -to love GOD and to love other people. and the only way that highest value can really be attained is if we have free will. then we can make the choice to love or not to love. true love must involve a choice.
it’s like if you go to the toy store where you buy one of those dolls with a string on it and it says, “i love you.” does that doll really love you? no, of course not. it’s programmed to say it. it has no choice. it must say it. so it’s not love.
so for you to really express love you must be able to make the choice not to love in order for your expression of love to be true. so GOD, knowing this, gave human beings that free will but we’ve abused it and we’ve rejected GOD. and the result has been the introduction of evil into the world.
one type is moral evil. moral evil is the immorality and the pain and the suffering that results when we make the choice to be selfish and arrogant and uncaring and abusive.
romans 3.23 (niv) makes it clear. all of us have sinned. all of us have fallen short of the glory of GOD. therefore we’ve all done things out of our free will that have resulted in hurt to ourselves and to other people. in fact, some one has estimated that 95% of the suffering in this world is the result of sin of ourselves or other people.
for example, people look at the famines that take place in africa and say, “where’s GOD in all this?” people are dying of starvation. how does HE allow this famine to take place?
listen, we produce enough food on this planet to give every man, woman and child three thousand calories a day. but it’s because of our own selfishness, our own irresponsibility and misplaced nationalism that people are starving.
look at your hand. you can say, “i can either take this hand and pick up a gun and shoot and kill someone or i can take this very same hand and feed someone who’s starving to death.” it’s my choice. but it isn’t really fair if i pick up a gun and shoot someone and then say, “why does GOD allow evil and suffering?” you’ve made the choice to pick up the gun and pull the trigger. it’s like the old cartoon: “we’ve seen the enemy and he is us.”
just a thought from the front porch…
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
just ask the right question...
ask questions. that’s a decision i can make to improve communication this week. ask questions.
questions have the power to challenge and clarify. look at how JESUS challenged a close friend of HIS with a question. mark 8.29 (lb), JESUS asked of peter, “who do you think I am?” and peter answered, “you’re the messiah.” that’s the first time anyone ever said that. that’s the greatest confession of faith in the new testament. it came because JESUS challenged peter with a question. that changed everything.
statements tend to confront. they build barriers. questions, asked in the right way, tend to challenge. they can break through barriers.
a lot of times when we want to challenge somebody else, instead of using a question, we use volume. we get louder and louder. we feel that the louder we get, the better people will hear. as a preacher i have problems with that many times.
when somebody talks at you really loud, does it make you want to listen to them? no. you build a barrier. you don’t want to hear that. but when you use a question, phrased in the right way, well thought out, it can break through that barrier.
back before this guy was a believer in CHRIST, and understood what CHRISTianity was about (he thought he understood it) but someone asked him a question, “would you like to know that you’re a CHRISTian?” now he didn’t want to talk to them and sort of blew them off. but he thought about that. the question challenged him.
he’d always thought that you couldn’t know. you had to wait until you got to heaven. it was some kind of huge lottery in the sky whether you made it in or not. but when he was asked that question, he kept thinking, “can you know for sure?” that was one of the things that led him to faith in CHRIST, to understanding what CHRISTianity really is. it’s not just trying to be good. it is finding out that there is a relationship found in CHRIST and there is forgiveness and you can know. that question challenged his thinking.
questions also clarify. they help you to identify what you’ve just said is what the other person heard you just saying. clarification is important in communication.
i can’t tell you how many arguments margaret, my wife and i have had over the fact that we just didn’t understand what the other person was saying, over one little phrase that we said the wrong way and didn’t understand it. we all do this. and if we just ask the right question at the right time, it would have changed everything. it has the power to clarify.
just a thought from the front porch…
questions have the power to challenge and clarify. look at how JESUS challenged a close friend of HIS with a question. mark 8.29 (lb), JESUS asked of peter, “who do you think I am?” and peter answered, “you’re the messiah.” that’s the first time anyone ever said that. that’s the greatest confession of faith in the new testament. it came because JESUS challenged peter with a question. that changed everything.
statements tend to confront. they build barriers. questions, asked in the right way, tend to challenge. they can break through barriers.
a lot of times when we want to challenge somebody else, instead of using a question, we use volume. we get louder and louder. we feel that the louder we get, the better people will hear. as a preacher i have problems with that many times.
when somebody talks at you really loud, does it make you want to listen to them? no. you build a barrier. you don’t want to hear that. but when you use a question, phrased in the right way, well thought out, it can break through that barrier.
back before this guy was a believer in CHRIST, and understood what CHRISTianity was about (he thought he understood it) but someone asked him a question, “would you like to know that you’re a CHRISTian?” now he didn’t want to talk to them and sort of blew them off. but he thought about that. the question challenged him.
he’d always thought that you couldn’t know. you had to wait until you got to heaven. it was some kind of huge lottery in the sky whether you made it in or not. but when he was asked that question, he kept thinking, “can you know for sure?” that was one of the things that led him to faith in CHRIST, to understanding what CHRISTianity really is. it’s not just trying to be good. it is finding out that there is a relationship found in CHRIST and there is forgiveness and you can know. that question challenged his thinking.
questions also clarify. they help you to identify what you’ve just said is what the other person heard you just saying. clarification is important in communication.
i can’t tell you how many arguments margaret, my wife and i have had over the fact that we just didn’t understand what the other person was saying, over one little phrase that we said the wrong way and didn’t understand it. we all do this. and if we just ask the right question at the right time, it would have changed everything. it has the power to clarify.
just a thought from the front porch…
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