I would like to share some of the things that have caused the most doubt in my life (even though I still believe in God). If our starting premise is that God is all knowing, has always been, and is everywhere all of the time one could safely say that you could never get anything past God. One issue that perplexes me from time to time is this: Assuming this premise, why would God create Satan knowing full well ahead of time that he would fall and ultimately bring full scale suffering to the created world when all of this could have summarily been avoided? I know the arguments from the platform that this is what freewill is all about, but somehow that doesn’t really solve this riddle. It almost makes it seem like God may not know everything?

Another problem that causes me doubt as well is, if someone born and raised in another culture and never hears of the things that most of us in the West are privy to and they live there life in the religion and systems of there forefathers, that they are doomed to hell forever for something they never even heard. Seems as though one has to be lucky enough too be born in the right place at the right time to get the right message?

Can the bible as we have it be the true scriptures when it was voted on by a Church Council who summarily destroyed people who did not go along with their program and would not allow the common people to even read the thing that they were propagating for many years to come? This makes one question the validity of scriptures when most of it is based on tradition, and the fact that there is a variety of texts to choose from.

Most of the New Testament is written by second hand accounts at best, except Matthew and John (according to tradition) several years after the events in question, how reliable is this? Or is their an agenda?

Most of Christianity, like other major religions, is rooted in war and has been forced on people from birth, in most cultures. Does God operate this way to preserve his word, and or, his proposed message for mankind?

The fact that we are living in a technological age with many advances in medicine and so on, it makes one question issues such as demon possession and other things mentioned in the NT.

The parallels between the Zoroastrian religion and Christianity is striking; coincidence?

Maybe ignorance is bliss, but the more we study and try to identify with the world around us can cause doubt about what most of us have been taught. Maybe there needs to be a different approach to understanding Jesus and what he represented to this world then what has been pumped out of Orthodoxy?

Faith can change lives (and does) and living a life of compassion and love for each of our fellow travelers along this road we call life can be (for the most part) a fulfilling life. Dogmatic interpretations and fancy arguments only causes confusion and dissent and leads to where we are today in our churches. Today, and for many years now, Churches have been splitting over bible translations, length of hair, length of dress, political affiliations, baptismal methodology, and on and on. Does any of this really have anything to do with compassion? Or does it lead to just more spurious doctrines? Is the Church today just another business opportunity for some enterprising entrepreneur?

Owen

I have my doubts as well and it has only been till recently that I have become open and more comfortable with my doubts as a Christian. It’s still difficult sharing them however, considering that most people walk around with a “super-faith” that knows no doubt.

Owen, I hear you and agree with you on your doubts. It was thoughts like that, that drove me to a point where I began to think of God as unjust and a failure. I actually began thinking that God was NOT good. Grace and grace alone is what brought me out of that hole. It’s not that people try but fail to come to Christ or that God tries to win people into the kingdom but fails, it’s that all people refuse to come to Christ. Therefore it’s all of grace that anyone is saved. I’m learning that we are desperate sinners that need grace perpetually.

1) If you are serious: I actually watch about 6 hours of godless television a week. I could watch 6 hours of TBN or study the Bible for 6 hours, but I am possessed by evil spirits that compel me to watch shows on the major networks.

2) If you aren’t serious: I actually watch about 6 hours of godless television a week. I could watch 6 hours of TBN or study the Bible for 6 hours, but I am possessed by evil spirits that compel me to watch shows on the major networks.

It is comments like yours that causes statements to be made like: “I would be a Christian were it not for Christians.”

My question to you Benjamin is how you reconcile this post of yours with Romans 14.

You may say what does Romans 14 have to do with something like CSI: Miami? I think its essence has a lot do with it. So if you want to eat herbs (spiritually speaking) eat herbs, but don’t make the mistake of judging someone else’s walk with Christ because of something you would or would not do.

Let me know if your flagellations ever really drives the demons away.

Owen