Having a crisis of faith

[Martin53]

I used to consider my faith to be fairly strong. But I have begun to question how it is even possible to have life after death. As in where does the matter come from. And that leads to questioning everything. I have asked for God's forgiveness for my lack of faith. I realize that the very definition of faith means to not have to be given scientific evidence. And I realize that if God can create the universe then anything is possible with him. Don't like feeling this way. And am confused. I'm sure I am not the only one who has experienced this. So any advice is welcome

 

[aiki]

I used to consider my faith to be fairly strong. But I have begun to question how it is even possible to have life after death. As in where does the matter come from.

Well, where did all the matter of the universe come from? It all came into being a finite time ago in the past. How, if prior to the "Big Bang" there was no time, space, energy, or matter, did the universe, made up of all these things, appear? In every instance we know of where a thing begins to exist, it has had a cause of its existence: something else existing before it brought it into existence. Christians believe this "something else" that produced the universe is God, the Uncaused Cause. But He would have to have existed in a timeless, immaterial state prior to the universe's existence because prior to the universe there was no thing - not time, not space, not energy, not matter. Anything we want to posit as the Cause of the universe would necessarily be in such a state. We might not understand how something immaterial, transcendent to time, space, matter and energy, created the universe, but the facts require such a Cause of the universe, regardless.

And that leads to questioning everything.

??? It does? I don't see why...

I have asked for God's forgiveness for my lack of faith. I realize that the very definition of faith means to not have to be given scientific evidence.

Nonsense. Who told you this? Some of the earliest and greatest scientists have been so because of their Christian beliefs, not in spite of, or in contradiction to, those beliefs. Even the apostle Paul made it very clear that his faith rested upon facts, upon certain knowledge and reason, not in opposition to these things.

2 Timothy 1:12
12 ...for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

And I realize that if God can create the universe then anything is possible with him.

Exactly.

 

[Adventist Heretic]

I used to consider my faith to be fairly strong. But I have begun to question how it is even possible to have life after death. As in where does the matter come from. And that leads to questioning everything. I have asked for God's forgiveness for my lack of faith. I realize that the very definition of faith means to not have to be given scientific evidence. And I realize that if God can create the universe then anything is possible with him. Don't like feeling this way. And am confused. I'm sure I am not the only one who has experienced this. So any advice ism welcome

matter is pretty easy, what we call matter is energy in a fixed form, nothing more. what appears to be solid is just our atoms hitting resistence to other atoms. creating the illusion of solidness. if i could phase my atoms i could stick my hand through any piece of matter. since matter is an energy source in a fixed form then we can conclude that all matter is really energy. Now this is consistent with what the scripture says. That "in Him we live and move and have our being" me no since God is light and light is an energy source the origins of matter must be light. When God said let there be light he was saying let there be an enviroment for all matter to exist, be created. from there all matter was created.

 

[Soyeong]

I used to consider my faith to be fairly strong. But I have begun to question how it is even possible to have life after death. As in where does the matter come from. And that leads to questioning everything. I have asked for God's forgiveness for my lack of faith. I realize that the very definition of faith means to not have to be given scientific evidence. And I realize that if God can create the universe then anything is possible with him. Don't like feeling this way. And am confused. I'm sure I am not the only one who has experienced this. So any advice is welcome

Hello,

Doubts can be a good thing, so you should not be ashamed of having them, or feel like you need to ignore them, or seek forgiveness for having them. Doubts lead us to investigate our beliefs and can lead us to find stronger reasons to reinforce our beliefs, which can lead to us to have a stronger faith than we would have had if we had never doubted or if we had ignored our doubts. Investigating our beliefs can also lead is to dismiss false beliefs, which is also a good thing, though the problem comes if we wrong reinforce false beliefs or wrongly dismiss true beliefs, but such is the risk inherent in learning. However, ignoring our doubts can allow them to fester unresolved, which can pose an even greater risk, so it is good to harness your doubts as motivation to dig deeper.

In my teens, I started having questions about things like how I could know that God existed or about whether I could trust the Bible, so I was in a similar situation as you are now. I figured that if what I believed was true, then it could stand up to criticism, so I joined various forums, got heavily into apologetics, and it has been an interest ever since, though my focus has since shifted to Messianic apologetics. So many of my beliefs have withstood criticism, though there are a number of beliefs that I've changed of the years, even about a major issue.

Science is a very useful tool, but it is a tool that can only tell is information about things that are observable, measurable, and repeatable, so we should not seek scientific evidence in areas where science is the wrong tool for the job. Scientists axiomatically assume that the future will continue to be like what we have observed in the past, so they are not without faith. If someone promised that they would do something in the future, then you can have evidence based on their past performance to determine whether you should trust them, but you can't observe, measure, or repeat the future, so science is the wrong tool for the job. Science can help if to discern the ways in which matter acts, but it can't explain why there is matter instead of nothing.

 

[Tolworth John]

I have asked for God's forgiveness for my lack of faith.

Faith is a gift from God and as hebrews 11 tells us it is about being sure of what we believe.

There is nothing wrong with having doubts and questions. We are told to Always have a reason for what and why we believe.
Being a Christian is Not, is never about 'just believing' or 'just have faith' in some mystic feeling.
Christianity stands or falls upon historic facts.

It is the atheist who has 'faith' sorry blind unreasoning hope that nothing caused everything.

Look into what you believe, ask questions of the preacher, if told not to, ask why should I attend this church and start looking for one that practises what it preaches.

 

[Sketcher]

I used to consider my faith to be fairly strong. But I have begun to question how it is even possible to have life after death. As in where does the matter come from. And that leads to questioning everything. I have asked for God's forgiveness for my lack of faith. I realize that the very definition of faith means to not have to be given scientific evidence. And I realize that if God can create the universe then anything is possible with him. Don't like feeling this way. And am confused. I'm sure I am not the only one who has experienced this. So any advice is welcome

Why couldn't God easily provide it?

 

[Martin53]

Faith is a gift from God and as hebrews 11 tells us it is about being sure of what we believe.

There is nothing wrong with having doubts and questions. We are told to Always have a reason for what and why we believe.
Being a Christian is Not, is never about 'just believing' or 'just have faith' in some mystic feeling.
Christianity stands or falls upon historic facts.

It is the atheist who has 'faith' sorry blind unreasoning hope that nothing caused everything.

Look into what you believe, ask questions of the preacher, if told not to, ask why should I attend this church and start looking for one that practises what it preaches.

Why couldn't God easily provide it?

Why couldn't God easily provide it?

 

[Martin53]

Thanks for the replies. Soyeong and icegragon101. You have been particularly helpful

 

[Brenda Blakely]

I used to consider my faith to be fairly strong. But I have begun to question how it is even possible to have life after death. As in where does the matter come from. And that leads to questioning everything. I have asked for God's forgiveness for my lack of faith. I realize that the very definition of faith means to not have to be given scientific evidence. And I realize that if God can create the universe then anything is possible with him. Don't like feeling this way. And am confused. I'm sure I am not the only one who has experienced this. So any advice is welcome

Dear Martin53,

I think these questioning moments are what God brings to us to help us grow. If we never question anything how are we going to grow and learn. Questions lead us to find answers and walk us down the road to maturity. This is the way we gain knowledge, renew our minds, and learn. There is a lot of things I still don’t understand and some I just have to accept at my go at the last quarter of life. I just ask God to guide me and give me only the right answers by the confirming of His word and the work of the Holy Spirit.

We have five weapons in this life to help us in the daily confrontations of life. 1. Salvation, 2. Worship, 3. Prayer, 4. Bible study and acceptance of God’s communication to us thru His Word, 5. Fasting. I just recently learned that fasting is disciplining the body to do what is healthy and right. It is a new aspect of my walk and builds my faith and walk with the Master and my Father God. I am praying for you to find the fullness of all God has prepared for you. God bless you.

 

[SANTOSO]

I used to consider my faith to be fairly strong. But I have begun to question how it is even possible to have life after death. As in where does the matter come from. And that leads to questioning everything. I have asked for God's forgiveness for my lack of faith. I realize that the very definition of faith means to not have to be given scientific evidence. And I realize that if God can create the universe then anything is possible with him. Don't like feeling this way. And am confused. I'm sure I am not the only one who has experienced this. So any advice is welcome

I consider you should meditate what you have heard from 1 Corinthians 15. If you still have questions, ask.

 

[Waymarker]

I used to consider my faith to be fairly strong. But I have begun to question how it is even possible to have life after death..

Jesus said there IS life after death, why would he lie?