Season 1, Episode 2: I Love God… But What Do I Do With My Doubts?
A Conversation with Rach, Britt & Bec
Today’s episode is a chatty one with three of our regular podcast hosts, Rach, Britt, and Bec, that explores how we came to faith, the doubts we experienced in the Christian life, what made them harder to process, and what helped, as well as the surprising role of Christian community.
Thanks for listening to Season 1, Episode 2 of The After Dinner Mint, a podcast of Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner. Thanks for sharing your day with us!
Today’s episode is a conversation with three of our regular podcast hosts: Rach, Britt, and Bec. Read more about the team.
In today’s episode, we explore:
How each of us became a Christian
Our experiences of doubt in the Christian life
What made exploring and processing doubts difficult
What helped us process doubt
The surprising role of Christian community
Mentioned in this episode:
The “deposit of things to come,” is from 2 Corinthians 1:22 and Ephesians 1:14
Tim Keller quote from The Reason for God:
“A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person's faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection. Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts — not only their own but their friends' and neighbors'. It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them. Only if you struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide the grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive. And, just as important for our current situation, such a process will lead you, even after you come to a position of strong faith, to respect and understand those who doubt.”
God answers Habakkuk's questions and complaints in Habakkuk 1:5-11 and 2:2-4.
The story of the Israelites making a golden calf is in Exodus 32. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments, the Israelites, impatient and fearful of being abandoned, demanded that Aaron, Moses' brother, make them a god to lead them.
The story about God asking the prophet Jonah, “Do you have any right to be angry?” (that God did not destroy Nineveh) and Jonah answering, “I am so angry I wish I was dead,” is in Jonah 4:1-10.
“The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” (Psalm 145:8)
“Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
The story of the father who said, “I believe, help my unbelief!” is in Mark 9:14-29.