Doubting God

[justme]

Ah yes.....the tricky one....well I cant pretend to be an expert most of this are of Christianity is between you and God, I can however answer and questions or problems that you have in this area....Here are some bible verse to encourge you and hopefully stimulate debate/questions

John 20:26-28
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Romans 14 :23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
(hectic I know i advise reading in context)

Mark 11:22-24 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

And Peters Story of Faith from Matthew 14 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

I hope these are encouraging/ stimulating for you

[Shwoozar]

it is strange to read bible verses and to have this feeling of rightness come on you, or to suddenly click and to realise something, so any verse can do it, but whic h one will, no one know's exept God

[agent 99]

If someone were to doubt God, if we ask why I wonder what they would say... I asked a few people what their reasons would be IF the had ever doubted God heres what I got:
- You cant see him
- Its unusual to think that there is a God that created everything in this world
- Its impossible because it doesn't make sense
- When bad things happen, if God were there he would stop them

The answer to you cant see him is called faith, we trust that there is oxygen to keep us breathing but we cant see it but we know its there, well its the same with God we don't see him physically but we have to have faith in him to lead us to the right road so to speak. Also, you cant see God physically but you see him through good people such as Christians, like when someone does an act of kindness you cant say that they just thought to do it by themselves, God created every good though in your mind.

[Shwoozar]

that vremninds me of christian studies, where mr karlic went through a leap of faith; is there O2 out there or not? we could not see any.

you cant see god - you cant see your stomach
its unusual to think that god created evertything - not created is more unusual
Its impossible because it doesn't make sense - do you understand your biology?
When bad things happen, if God were there he would stop them
- no, here is a parable from jesus:

Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "

[Shwoozar]

that was Matthew 13:24-29
it shows that God must leave the bad people on earth adn it is the bad people that hurt us

[agent 99]

Mr. Karlik did that to us too and he said to Zac, look out the window what can you see? Zac said he could see trees chairs and a plank of wood, Mr Karlik then said that if those things are visible then they must be there and must be real, but what about the oxygen? Zac I want you to take a risk, go outside and if there is no oxygen we will know because you will die, Zac went outside and pretended to die but he was okay. That was our lesson, even if you cant see it, it doesn't mean its not there.

[Shwoozar]

i liked that one, still, the air pressure difference would have detreyed the dooors and windows if there was no air outside

[justme]

u raise an intresting point... there are in fact many barriers to faith which we must overcome

not being able to see God is an enormous barrier to christians and non christians a like....look at thomass , needing to feel the holes in Jesus' side and in his hands before he believed that Jesus had indeed risen (john20) now he was one of Jesus' disciples....as in his closed friend asin witness to his powre and miracles.....doubts can affect so many of us because we lack the ability, ourselves to reach out and feel the holes in Jesus' hands and side....CS Lewis gets around this by pointing out that Jesus did indeed walk on earth , of which we have a lot and a lot of evidence, and therefore he must of been one of three things;
-a lier
-a loony
-or as our Lord

Lewis points out that no man who knew what he was saying was a lie would willingly die for the sake "keeping up the image" if he was a lier he could have stood in front of the pharisees confessed himself as a lier and lived our his life...

If he were a loony, honestly believeing that he was the Son of God then, how was it that he performed so many miracles, healed so many sick, cast out so many demons, how is it that at his name demons are scattered from people even today.

Well that just leaves Lord i guess....

[Shwoozar]

mmm, Lewis was a genius, I was listening to the last battle, and it was different this time, I understood much more of it.

but people dissregard god, things are good, people think the can go without, ...

maybe things will get better, but I doubt it, our rights are being taken slowly away, its clear when you look, and now, we sink towards what China and N.Korea have.


ahhh, sucks to be us

-I touched up my speling and grammer, but I think I could have said that better971

[agent 99]

I have only ever once doubted God because I was having a hard time with family and friends and so I forgot to talk to him for about a week, then I went to church again and it just changed everything as if nothing was wrong any more and so I prayed about it, and ever since then I've never looked back. This wasn't all that long ago it was only about a year ago, if that. It was just amazing how once I talked to God about it all I felt so much better, although the things that were bothering me never left it doesn't seem to bother me any more. Some of these things turned out bad but I have gotten through it all and I am fine, yes I am still at times sad but I always feel like this shield is protecting me from everything bad and harmful.

[Milk]

I'm quite tempted to cut you down and point out flaws, I don't know why.

[agent 99]

Why? Where? and how? I told you a true story...