Questioning Your Faith

Danny's Blog got me started on this topic. As usual he has good stuff to say.

Is it OK to question your faith? Can you have doubts and still be a Christian?

If Mike Root hadn't said to me when I was 16 "Questioning your faith is a part of becomeing a stronger Christian" I wouldn't be a Christian let alone a minister right now. I was afraid to ask questions because I believed my religion was flawed and wouldn't stand up to questioning. It might crumble like a house of cards. When I set about to knock it down I found a foundation of stone not a house built on sand. It wasn't until later Mike told me about this book.

"Will our children have faith?" by John Westerfoff III (another Trey) laid out the 4 stages of faith development:

1) EXPERIENCED FAITH (preschool & early childhood) – imitating actions, e.g., a child praying the Lord's prayer without understanding the meaning of all the words – "This is what we do. This is how we act."

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2) AFFILIATIVE FAITH (childhood & early adolescent years) – belonging to a group, which still centers around imitating what the group does – "This is what we believe and do. This is our group/church."
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3) SEARCHING FAITH (late adolescence) –asking the question, "Is this what I believe?" Thomas is our example of this. He will not blindly accept what others have said, but needs to find certainty for himself. This stage of faith is adding the "head" to the "heart" of the earlier stages.

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This questioning stage can lead in the two directions. Will the questioner become an unbeliever or move onto the next stage of faith? This is the level when most cult groups recruit their members and when many "drop-out" of church. Others will "regress" and live as adults with an immature faith.

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4)OWNED FAITH (early adulthood) – this stage comes only through the searching stage. After exploring, "Is this what I believe?" one can, hopefully, discover an answer: "This is what I believe!" Owned faith is the strong, personal faith that one lives by, witnesses to and may even be willing to die for.

If you don't question you are still practicing a faith based on imitation of others. Maybe some of you are lucky enough to believe without doubts but for the rest of us it's ok to question.

I think the real trap of the devil here is in the church putting a stigma on questioning our faith. If we feel ashamed we may never do it and live our lives with immature faith. If we do it in secret we may make bad choices or be just ignorant of some facts. Wouldn't it be better to be able to question your faith and talk to a more mature Christian who understood the process?

Well, I'm here for my kids if they have questions. I don't make them feel sinful to have doubts. I guess I'm here for you bloggers as well, if you've never questioned take a moment and ask yourself, "Why do I believe what I believe?" God has provided you a brain that will work, proviced evidence to convict and other Christians to motivate.