All of us have questions about the Bible. At the end of the day, what we have to figure out is what we will do with those questions.
Will we keep them hidden and allow unanswered questions to slowly erode our confidence that God has spoken? Or will we courageously question the Bible in a way that actually builds our faith?
“Faith grows and flourishes when it is well-nourished and exercised, so the best way to resist doubt is to build up faith rather than simply to fight against doubt.” – Os Guinness
Go Deeper: Why Christians Need Apologetics & Should Christians Have Doubts?
As important as an act of faith is at a point in time, the Christian life is a walk of faith—continuing acts of obedience. Sometimes the notion of “blind faith” creeps into our understanding of walking by faith as well. Didn’t Paul say that “we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7)? He did, but as David Clark explains,
“this means only that at times a Christian may rightly allow faith, in the sense of trust in God, to guide his thinking even though he has no direct evidence. For instance, if I trust my friend and he says he will do something for me, I may rightly believe he will do it, even when I lack direct evidence what he will fulfill his promise. . . . Loyalty and allegiance, based partly on past experience, may rightly guide my thinking and acting.”
This same sentiment is expressed in Hebrews 11 where these courageous men and woman did not allow their circumstances to have the final word. Rather, they continued to look forward to what had been promised with hope and trust.
Faith in this context is a confident expectation in the promises and faithfulness of God. This is what it means for the righteous to live by faith (Rom. 1:17). We trust God even in the midst of difficult times because He is faithful. We trust Him even when the fog of life rolls in making it difficult to see the way forward. This is the kind of faith God is pleased with (Heb. 11:6).
God give us the courage to trust you in the midst of what we don’t understand. Thank you for your past faithfulness that we can lean into in the every day circumstances of life.
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If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy “Should Christians Have Doubts?”
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At the end of the day there are two kinds of people who question the Bible…which one are you?
As I have already noted previously, everyone questions the Bible at some point. Doubt is a natural part of the journey of faith. But we shouldn’t doubt just to doubt. Young people especially need safe space to express their honest questions and sincere doubts. But the goal is not (or at least shouldn’t be) a radical skepticism that questions everything and never lands anywhere.
Path #1: When I interact with students who are asking the tough questions because they want the truth I am deeply encouraged because I know their faith muscles are being strengthened. They want to know what is real. They don’t want to live a lie and they don’t want to follow a path that is a spiritual or moral dead end. The first pathway is seeking the truth.
A text book (and biblical!) example of this mindset would be one of the earliest biographers of Jesus:
“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.” –Luke 1:1-4
Path #2: I also have the experience of interacting with students, adults, or people on social media who are not after the truth with their questions. Not really. The best illustration of this kind of mindset and posture I have come across is prominent NYU professor, Thomas Nagel:
“I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It just isn’t that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I am right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want the universe to be like that.”–Thomas Nagel (The Last Word)
This is refreshing and instructive honesty because it shows the power of the human will to bend our reason and make it submit when truth is not our goal. The second pathway is space.
If you want truth, you will find it in the end because Christians have nothing to fear from the truth. However if you are using your questions to create space between you and the God of the Bible so that you can do whatever you want because you don’t want submit to an authority…that is a different path altogether. People are certainly free to take this path, but if space is what you ultimately want, then you will get it because you can always create space by asking another question.
However, please keep this in mind. Just because you can ask another question doesn’t mean that there isn’t a reasonable answer to your question. Why? Because if in your heart of hearts you just want space, then your will can accomplish this with enough effort.
As counterintuitive as it may sound, I actually want people to question the Bible. I want this because I want them to find the truth and the confident faith that flows from the knowledge of the truth. But we also need to be honest and recognize that if truth is not your goal, then you will not find it.
If you are honest with yourself in this moment, what are you ultimately after? Truth or Space?
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“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.” – Tim Keller
Need an accessible place to start exploring your doubts? Check out Is God Just a Human Invention? I wrote this book with Sean McDowell to honestly engage the tough questions we all have about God. Also check out this article “Should Christians Have Doubts?”