Faith, Doubt, Leaving the Faith A few years ago, I followed a well-known Christian influencer whose faith journey was encouraging many, including me. But recently, he announced he was stepping away from Christianity, citing years of wrestling with doubts about the fundamentals of the faith. He said his doubt was too overwhelming to maintain his Christian life. Hearing this was both difficult and confusing. I don’t know his heart or what God is doing in this man’s life, but I pray for him and trust him to the Lord’s care. His story made me pause and ask: Is he the only one? How many of us have quietly struggled with similar doubts? How much doubt can we carry before it becomes paralyzing or makes us question where we stand with God? Today, we’ll ask: What does it mean to doubt as a believer? How does God respond to our questions? Is there space for some doubt that isn’t disruptive? And, ultimately, how do we move forward—growing in confidence and resembling Him more, even when we’re not sure we have all the answers? Our goal is NOT to spread doubts and “infect” others, so to speak. However, we can acknowledge them without giving them too much power. What type of doubts have you experienced? Doubting the existence of God Struggling with doubts during challenges in life (wondering if there’s a point in all of this – seeing God’s hand) I hope our listeners know that they are not the only ones who may struggle with similar questions and wonder: how much doubt should I be having? We encourage you to keep reading, praying, and talking with the Lord about your doubts. Then, speak with mature Christians who have navigated these challenges. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! UNEDITED TRANSCRIPTION: 00:00:00 Patricia: Welcome to another Patterns of Truth podcast. A few years ago, I followed a well-known Christian Christian influencer whose faith journey was encouraging many, including me. But recently he announced that he was stepping away from Christianity, citing years of wrestling with doubts about the fundamentals of the faith. He said his doubt was too overwhelming to maintain his Christian life. Hearing this was both difficult and confusing. I don’t know his heart or what God is doing in this man’s life, but I pray for him and I trust in the Lord’s care. But his story made me pause and ask, is he the only one? How many of us have quietly struggled with similar doubts? How much doubt can we carry before it becomes paralyzing or makes us question where we stand with God? I’m Patricia, your host for today’s Patterns of Truth podcast. And today we will ask the question, what does it mean to doubt as a believer? How does God respond to our questions and our doubts? And is there space for some doubt that isn’t disruptive? Ultimately, how do we move forward, growing in confidence and resembling the Lord even more, even when we do not have all the answers? Our goal for today’s podcast and conversation is not to spread doubt and infect others with disbelief, so to speak, but we want to acknowledge that we all experience doubt from time to time without giving that doubt too much power. So hey everyone, we have Peter, Roy, and Bethel. How are you guys doing today? 00:01:31 Bethel: Good. How’s it going? Oh. 00:01:34 Patricia: Good. All right. So I want to launch right into our first question. Um and it doesn’t matter who answers, but what type of doubts have you experienced in your Christian life? 00:01:51 Bethel: I think even in my limited amount of life, as I go through different seasons, different phases, there’s always some point that I’m kind of like, Is God who he says he is in terms of, is God as good as he says he is? Is God um, always with me as he says he is? Which I mean, an utmost respect. I don’t mean that in any irreverent way, but I think that that’s normal, that we all kind of go through a point where we’re like, um, God, really with me. Is God really carrying me? Is God really sticking with me? 00:02:26 Patricia: MM. Yeah. Anybody else? What type of doubts have you experienced? 00:02:32 Peter: Like many of us who are new believers, I, uh, at the beginning of my salvation, uh, did doubt being saved. I remember praying multiple times. Um, and every time there was a salvation message, I was always worried, oh, no, if there’s another message. Um, until I reached a point where I prayed, Lord, you know, I don’t know what’s going on. And, um, I remember that I saw a difference in my life. And, uh, that was a shooting to me that, you know, the Lord worked in my heart. People didn’t know. They didn’t see the difference. But I knew the difference. I know that I started, you know, desiring to read scripture more. Um, my attitude towards life changed. Um, when I was I mean, still like a young, maybe thirteen years old. So that’s one of the doubts, um, that I had. Um. 00:03:39 Patricia: Okay. Right. 00:03:42 Roy: I, um, no doubt it’s been a long time. Uh, I’m the old guy on the podcast and I, uh, I don’t remember having doubts like Peter described, but I’m almost certain that I must have, uh, they’re long gone out of my memory, in any case, but, uh, for sure, uh, doubts about, um, details of life. Should I go this road or that road? Uh, what does this scripture mean? Why does, uh, somebody who’s wiser than I am think it means something different than I? Different than I believe it. So those are the kind of doubts that I’ve had mostly. Okay. Uh, and there’s been specific incidences when I’ve had to do something that had no knowledge that it would be the right thing or the wrong thing, but a decision had to be made. And it turns out, uh, years later, it was obvious that, um, that that was the right thing to do. So I think that’s an interesting experience. And I have to say, I was encouraged by a book, uh, by Elsie Cole. And I don’t remember the title of it right at the moment. Um, I’m, this is off the top of my head right now, but she was a missionary to China for many years and expressed the same sort of experience. So I was encouraged by that. Uh, we, we have to sometimes go ahead in our practical life, uh, on faith, uh, believing God is good and that he’s going to make everything work out and not worry about whether I’m doing exactly the right thing or not. Uh, because he’s sovereign and he’s good. And I think those two principles really have to guide us. Yeah. 00:05:39 Patricia: So I want to back up a little bit. Can we define doubt? What is it? Because I think we’re talking about like how it’s functioned in our lives. But, um, what actually is doubt? 00:05:56 Peter: I mean, my simple thought process, uh, um, like in simplicity, I would think is what I believe in is true or not. 00:06:06 Patricia: Mhm. 00:06:07 Peter: Um, what I feel confident about what I put my faith in. Is that true? Or is that just, uh, you know, Another imaginary thing or something that I, I made up. 00:06:24 Patricia: Oh yeah. It’s like a competing idea in your mind. Like, maybe I’m wrong about this whole thing. Yeah. So then thinking along those lines, can we have a little clarity? Are doubts a sign of weak faith, or can they be part of a normal Christian journey? 00:06:49 Bethel: I think we have to doubt at some point everybody’s gonna doubt. I think what differs is maybe what you will have doubts about. But I think that it’s normal that if you care about anything, you are inquisitive about it and you want to see it and you want to experience it. And so to doubt something means that you’re, I believe, spending time in it and that you are invested in it. So I think the same for your faith. If you want to see God’s hand. And maybe sometimes you don’t see it in the way you want to see it. You might doubt if you want to be saved. And so you hear a gospel message and you doubt. Each time it’s because you want. You want to be saved. You want to be sure that you’ve done it right. So I think that that can definitely be normal. Oh. 00:07:38 Roy: Doubt can be the means by which we expand our understanding. Um, I think I, I’m struck by what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians thirteen, verse twelve, I think, where we see through a dim window and I think it’s part of our human experience. Um, our limitations. And thankfully that’s going to be done away. Uh, in the new, uh, the new era, the new creation. Um, when we fully realize, um, two things. Uh, I think that’s in the same passage actually. First Corinthians thirteen that, which is, uh, partial will be put away. So, um, doubt prompts us to investigate. It should now it can be debilitating. And that’s where it becomes bad and a real hindrance when we come maybe obsessed with our doubt, but that that actually is a result of not really believing God is good. Because if we really believe that he’s good. Um, and I think scripture from page one enforces that on us. Um, even if we go back to the Garden of Eden and I think so much depends on the Garden of Eden or as revealed there, what happened? Uh, our first parents failed miserably and it was catastrophic. The, the failure. It’s affected every human being that’s ever lived. And yet what has come out of that? Um. The Lord, speaking to his disciples in John twelve said, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone, but if it die, it brings forth much fruit. Well, that is such a profound verse, and it explains why God allowed the fall and what he’s done about it. We could not really be inheritors with Christ if Christ had not come into this life to save us. As a man, he is now risen man and we’re going to be like him. All of that’s made possible by the fall. If you think about it. So here are the most catastrophic failure result in the most catastrophic injustice
