If you were born anywhere from the 1980s on, it is almost impossible to believe that you never met an atheist in your life. It is also difficult to believe that there has never been a time in your life where you experienced some doubts of your own. These doubts may be about the church and/or her authority, about the truths of the Bible, or even, for some of us, the very existence of God.

+Christ is risen

If you were born anywhere from the 1980s on, it is almost impossible to believe that you never met an atheist in your life. It is also difficult to believe that there has never been a time in your life where you experienced some doubts of your own. These doubts may be about the church and/or her authority, about the truths of the Bible, or even, for some of us, the very existence of God.

Unfortunately, many people when they encounter doubt, do one of two extremes. Some will hide this doubt and pretend they never had it. They shelve it at the bottom of their hearts because they are afraid of what the consequences may be if they acknowledge the doubt, or God forbid, believe their doubts. On the other extreme, there are some that take that doubt, amplify it, make sweeping judgments, and discard religion altogether without honest evaluation of their ‘discoveries’. Both of these are fatalities in spiritual life, as both are dishonesty toward God.

Having a questioning mind is not wrong. To think that God requires us to be irrational or illogical in all things in order to accept Him is an insult to the intelligence with which He gifted His creation. To deal dishonestly with the doubt in either extreme is of no consequence to God’s existence, but it saddens a Creator Who longs for a very real relationship with each member of His creation.

The intent of the content of this series is to deal with some of the root causes of doubt, and how to deal with them. These causes include what will be referred to as “spiritual” causes – causes that originate within the Church (the whole people of God – from Bishops down to laity), a proper “image of God”, and your spiritual life. They also include “non-spiritual’ causes: science, philosophy, scepticism, humanism and other such influences on the 21st century believer. The intent here is not to answer each doubt itself, but to help guide you through how to deal with the doubt successfully in order to become a much stronger Christian than before your experience with doubts.

Inevitably, some other concepts must be discussed as they arise in the thought process that will, by the grace of God, help us come toward a fuller understanding of the beauty and freedom that is in our Orthodox Christian beliefs.

I hope that once a month I can keep up with this particular series.