 Is the gospel true? Can we affirm and how can we come to confidence in, you know, key Christian teachings like there is a God who created us? Jesus is God come in the flesh, died and resurrected for us. Today, our guest is Daniel Yoder and we're continuing a series. We're thinking about various kinds of doubt as well as things related to faith and Christian evidence. And in this episode, I'd like to talk again about, you know, the key facts of the Christian faith. So Daniel, let's just start there. What would you say or how do you approach an answer to somebody who really does struggle with whether they believe some of those key doctrines of the faith? I have had the opportunity to teach some Christian theology courses and so it would be naive for me to fail to acknowledge that there are some difficulties in understanding key Christian doctrines from an intellectual perspective. And I think certainly the doctrine of the Trinity could be an example of that. I think I can explain to someone that the doctrine of the Trinity does not violate the law of non-contradiction. We believe that God is both one and three at the same time, but he's not one and three in the same sense. And so I think and that way we can note that the Trinity does not violate the law of non-contradiction. It doesn't entail a contradiction in that case. So I can explain that much, although that can still be a struggle to understand, but I can't explain everything about the doctrine of God. There are intellectual difficulties that we will encounter as we study the Christian faith and we can't answer every possible question, but I think there is a difference between recognizing the difficulties that we may have in understanding certain doctrines and doubting those doctrines. So for example, we might become annoyed at our inability to find the answer to a mathematical problem, but that doesn't mean that we doubt that there is an answer. So just because we run into a difficulty doesn't mean that we're dealing with doubt necessarily. So we need to realize that questions are normal and I don't think we should feel condemned if we're struggling to understand or accept key Christian doctrines. I mentioned in an earlier episode that honest doubt is not sinful. Unbelief is a sin, but doubt is being in two minds. It's wavering between belief and unbelief. So doubt is not in and of itself a sin and having a difficulty with a Christian doctrine is not in and of itself a sin. In fact, it's been said that to blindly hold to certain beliefs without knowing why is actually a sin and that might be an overstatement of that point, but I think it's on to something. So I think we should do the best we can to make sure that we're understanding the doctrine well. And I think that sometimes our struggle to understand a doctrine is actually grounded in a misconception of the doctrine. So if that's the case, then clearing up that misconception could make it easier for us to accept the doctrine. So if we do have a difficulty, make sure it's actually with a correct understanding of the doctrine. To say, yeah, I find that kind of helpful and encouraging. Again, I raise this question as well. I'm not sure I can believe these things or, you know, from that standpoint of doubt. And I hear you saying, well, dig into this, see how much you can understand of what the doctrine actually is, and that may help with it. So yeah, I find that helpful and encouraging. And it is important in this process as well to be to be honest about what we believe and about what we're struggling to believe. And I found it encouraging and informative to think about how Jesus responded to those who were struggling with doubt. Jesus encountered numerous doubters in his ministry. And many of the people who approached Jesus had an incomplete understanding of who he was and what he came to do. And so their faith was correspondingly weak. So there's an example in Mark chapter one of a leper who came to Jesus and he said, if you will, you can make me clean. And we could draw a contrast between that statement and the statement made in Mark nine by a father whose son was was demon oppressed and he said to Jesus, if it is possible for you to do something, take pity on us and help us. There's a significant difference there. The leper did not struggle to trust the power of Jesus, but it was the compassion of Jesus that he was unsure of. So basically the leper seems to be saying to Jesus, I know you could heal me, but you probably won't. You probably don't want to. But the father in Mark nine seems to be unsure of the power of Jesus. So he basically is saying, I know you would if you could, but you probably can't. And the response of Jesus to those two men is fascinating. The leper had a sense of Jesus's power, but not of his love and Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and affirmed, I will be clean. He affirmed that he wanted to heal that man. The father in contrast though had little sense of Jesus's divine power and Jesus said to him, if it's possible, all things are possible to the one who believes. So those two men each had an incomplete faith. The aspect of the truth that they sense was only part of the full truth of who Jesus is. So Jesus concentrated on the part of their faith that needed filling out. And I find it encouraging that Jesus never humiliated doubters. So to those who were troubled with honest questions and sincere doubts, he gave good solid reasons for faith in him. And many Christians throughout the history of the church have drawn comfort from the story of the distraught father in Mark nine and especially his statement. I believe, help my unbelief. He wasn't saying that he rejected God. He was confessing a struggle with doubt though, despite his desire to believe. And yes, throughout this whole process of dealing with doubt, I do want to emphasize that the church needs to be prepared to minister to persons who are dealing with honest doubts and questions. So for example, young people going through a phase of questioning need to be given a secure setting where they can ask honest questions and be given resources to help them find satisfying answers. Many church members have never been taught the basis of the Christian faith. And so if they lack a solid foundation for their belief in Christianity, they do become more vulnerable to doubt. And those who have real faith may still have a shallow faith that needs nourishing. And in these cases, the deficiency doesn't rest in Christianity, but in the weak foundations of the person's faith. So a healthy church should certainly help those outside the church come to faith in Jesus and also help to strengthen the faith of those who are already in the church. So a thoughtful approach or a thoughtful understanding of the relationship between doubt and faith can contribute to the ministry of evangelism and discipleship and the local church and prepare us for the questions and doubts that we'll face in our own life. And again, I like the way you kind of broaden the implications there to it's not just how well am I doing as an individual? How are we doing as a group at training people, helping people to think through and make some of that knowledge their own? Good. Yeah, I guess another angle at these questions is the interplay of you know what I call intellectual and spiritual issues here. We can study apologetics, we can look at the evidence for the empty tomb and the evidence for, you know, we have the original text of the New Testament or I mean very, very close within a few years of when it's written. But there's also the character thing. Do I resolve doubt by studying those things or by, you know, my formation and worship and Christian character and being humble? How do you think about those things coming together? Perhaps I'll start here by offering some general thoughts about how to respond to those around us we're dealing with doubt as we as we encounter that around us. Jude verse 22, a little verse in the little book of Jude, Jude verse 22, we're instructed to have mercy on those who doubt. So we're called there to treat doubters the way we would want to be treated if we're struggling with doubt, have mercy on those who doubt. So we need to recognize as we have opportunity to interact with others, we shouldn't treat honest questions and genuine doubts about the Christian faith either lightly or harshly. I don't think we ever have a reason to make people feel guilty because they want to know the truth. And if we treat doubters with contempt and criticism that only make the problem worse. And I did mention, yes, earlier the role of the church in handling these things. One college student who claimed to be an atheist related the story of how when she was 11, she questioned her Senate school teacher about the reliability of Old Testament miracles. And the teacher said rather curtly that those miracles were to be accepted and not discussed. The student kept asking questions though about this topic and eventually she was told to either be quiet and believe them or leave. So she was given the option of believing or leaving. And she ended up leaving and was an atheist. So even if that teacher could not answer those questions, she should have cared enough to find someone who could. So honest seekers do want to know the truth about Christianity and we should do what we can to help them. So that's thinking about opportunities to interact with those who are dealing with doubt. But if you're struggling with doubt yourself, there are a couple of suggestions that I found to be helpful to think through. First, it's critical that you examine your motives. So is your question or is your doubt legitimate? Or is it just a smokescreen? Do you really want to know the truth? Or are you, for example, just using this doubt or using this objection or question as a way of, for example, justifying your persistence in a sinful lifestyle? So examine your motives. A second suggestion is seek to determine what kind of doubt you're experiencing. Because your response to doubt, whether it's in your own life or in the life of someone else, should be determined by the kind of doubt that's being experienced. And in a previous episode, I summarized these four varieties of doubt. And I'll offer some suggestions here about how to address them. First, for those dealing with factual doubt, an honest investigation of the facts is the proper way to handle doubts arising from ignorance and misinformation. So investigate the evidence if you're dealing with factual doubt. A person may struggle with doubt if they've never settled in their own mind the questions that they have about the truthfulness of Christianity. So a thorough and serious study of the evidence is necessary for those dealing with factual doubt. But for those dealing with the other varieties of doubt, a different kind of approach is necessary. So handing somebody a book about apologetic evidences can be helpful, but depending on the kind of doubt that's being experienced, that won't be the most helpful thing that you could do. So for someone dealing with philosophical doubt, the philosophical doubter needs to know God as he really is and root out any misunderstandings and misconceptions that the person has about God. So facts and evidence aren't going to be enough to resolve this kind of doubt. There needs to be a refutation of the false philosophy of the false assumptions that are being experienced. There needs to be a correction of the mistaken reasoning. So all of our assumptions, all of our interpretations of the evidence must be open to correction if the facts warrant the change. So there needs to be a re-analysis of assumptions. Now for those dealing with emotional doubt, I've appreciated Gary Habermas's comment that the most prominent influence on our emotional and volitional struggles is not the painful things that happen to us in life. What actually is the most significant influence on our emotional struggles is what we say or think to ourselves about the painful things that have happened to us. So what we tell ourselves about those painful experiences is the most significant factor in our emotional lives. So resolving emotional doubt means that we need to think clearly about the real issues. And it's important for someone who's dealing with emotional doubt to be able to have good fellowship with other believers, to have relationships with those who love them and care about them and can help them see beyond their emotional concerns and help them think well about the truth. Our subjective feelings about the things that happen to us, even the painful things that happen to us, maybe certainly the painful things that happen to us, can prove unreliable. So we need reminders that our faith is grounded in the objective faithfulness of God and not in the emotions that we feel in response to the difficulties that we've encountered. And then finally, for those dealing with volitional doubt, who are dealing with doubt connected with the will and a refusal to believe or refusal to surrender, I think we can say that repentance is the only appropriate response to those who are doubting because of a willful desire to disbelieve and disobey God. So a doubter who refuses to surrender at some point will move or has moved into unbelief. So we need to examine our motives. We need to think carefully about the kind of doubt that we're experiencing. And we also need to recognize as a third point that spiritual doubt can actually be a healthy part of spiritual formation. Doubt can be healthy when it promotes an honest search for truth. So we should ask God to help us resolve our questions and doubts, use our doubts and our questions as opportunities for growth. So we can, for example, turn our doubts into prayers. We shouldn't hide our doubts. We shouldn't pretend like they don't exist. We should take them to God, help or ask Him to help us resolve them. And throughout this process, we need to make sure that we don't neglect Bible study and Christian fellowship. While we're seeking answers, while we're struggling in the faith, we need to continue the study of God's Word and fellowship with other believers. It is important that we persist in those spiritual disciplines. If we neglect those things, that can result in a further erosion of our faith. And perhaps a final point and answer to this question, we should not expect to find exhaustive answers. We function every day on the basis of reasonable and practical certainty, not on the basis of absolute proof. So we can't understand everything about God. We should do what we can to understand the Christian faith to the best of our ability. But even though we can't understand everything about God, we do have enough, we can understand enough to have a solid basis for belief in Him and His revelation of Himself in Jesus and in the scriptures. So even though we can't answer every possible question, we need to recognize that we can answer enough questions to come to a settled conclusion in our own minds about the truthfulness of Christianity. Yeah, thank you. And actually, yeah, I find that simply about the approach you give is really profoundly encouraging. And I think the reason it's, a reason it's so encouraging is, yeah, well, a couple things. Doubt can be prayers. Doubt is not itself a violation of faith, although it's a place of temptation. And it can be helpful because it gets us to dig into things to address what's going on. So yeah, thanks to find that, find that an encouraging approach, humble. It's really kind of faith in the middle of the questions, but faith that's looking for resolution, as God can give it. Thank you for joining us for this episode. And thanks to our donors and partners for making this possible. For more episodes, please subscribe or visit our website at anabaptistperspectives.org. You can also leave a comment or review to help more people find our content.