The costume of doubt

[Stanley Anderson]

[magpie]

[Stanley Anderson]

[magpie]

[Stanley Anderson]

[Genie]

[HeartInkling]

There is a movie, StarmanI believe in which an alien is born here on Earth. He rapidly grows from enfant to adult human-looking male (very rapidly..like a few minutes). He is naked and innocent. He has problems making this new body move in conjunction with his mind. The star is Jeff Bridges. It's a movie from the 80s that I remember liking as a young adult.

Stanley, this is a very interesting thread you've started here. As I was reading, my mind kept going to Paul who often spoke of putting on "the whole armor". There are many references such as that throughout Scripture. Very interesting, indeed!

[Air of Winter]

[sehoy]

[Torie]

[gskern]

I agree with someone else who said that this is a very interesting thread; THANKS, to the one(s) who started it...

How about a "habit" of Doubt? That automatic, "nah, that can't be true", knee-jerk reaction we (certainly *I*) have sometimes (or a lot) at first hearing... OR, because we simply cannot let go of previously-held, not-very-well-thought-out, even "biased" positions...

I grew up in a very strict, "Fundy" church and environment: Right up until age 22 or so, my whole world was Strict Christian Home / Strict Church / Strict Christian School.... I never circulated outside that environment, so it was all I knew... After getting out of college and *totally* going off the other end for most of my 20's, I finally decided -- at age 28 -- that this whole "God" business was nothing more than a huge GUILT mechanism, and I was done with it....

Became an ardent Athiest, immersed myself in athiest/agnostic literature, teaching, newsgroups, activities, seminars, etc. etc. Used to engage any "Christian" I could find in vigorous debates, in which I could usually achieve my goal of leaving them stumbling and bumbling for words... usually they'd just toss a verse or two at me, in frustration, tell me I "need Jesus" (or that I was going to "hell") and then shuffle off in a huff...

Sorry... the *reason* I'm giving this bit of autobiography here is that what I came to realize, LATER, was that the heart of my issue was NOT good or bad Evidence or Argument, but the fact that in my most honest moments, there among the quiet shelves of the library (where I did most of my reading, research, and thinking), in my heart I did not want there to be a God, and I did not want to believe that Jesus was God-in-the-flesh...

Don't mistake me: The Evidence, the Arguments, the REASONS to believe (which Lewis was so darn good at demonstrating) were a very critical part of the journey... without them I'd probably still be debating some weak-minded Christian somewhere... but once a well-reasoned, cogent, satisfactory case for the faith (even compelling, perhaps) was right there in my notes, I was FORCED to consider the reality that I *wanted* the Not-God / Not-Jesus position to be True...

So there (at the beginning of my journey of faith) was the HABIT of Doubt.

There's LOTS more to talk about on this; God, and pursuing Him, is my favorite subject... would love to chat more with anyone on this, and this is why I come here to these forums....

[Karen]

[HeartInkling]

C. S. Lewis and Sheldon Vanauken had a similar conversation. Mr. Lewis did not want it to be true. Mr. Vanauken wanted it to be true. They came to realize that underlying each point of view was the other's hope and wish. Mr. Lewis secretly hoped that it was true and Mr. Vanauken secretly hoped that it was not...subconsciously, hidden even from themselves. There have been many times that I have wished it weren't true just because I would get so weary of thinking about it.

I'm not sure if we consciously put on the costume of doubt. For me, doubt is more like an undergarment. :/ Always there, no matter what I make visible through other costumes...faith, peace, serenity.

For me, doubt and faith follow each other closely. The moment I say "I believe", I immediately think "do you really?!" Conversely, the moment I say "It's a bunch of gobbledy-gook", I immediately think "is it really?!"

I pray that I am not wearing a costume of faith. "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief."

(edited to add the word "not" where it made a difference..and to clean up some punctuation. :p )

[Air of Winter]

[sehoy]