Originally posted by Defending Our Lord
...My heart believes but my mind constantly questions my faith...
I believe that just as our faith in Jesus is not derived from our intellect, so neither is it nourished by our intellect; rather, it is nourished by our heart's and our spirit's daily experience of a personal relationship with the person of Jesus himself through his indwelling Holy Spirit. This is why people can know the scriptures intellectually yet fail to know Jesus himself:
"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life" (John 5:39-40).
Or people can know Jesus only superficially and then subsequently fall away from him:
"They, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away" (Luke 8:13).
I believe that our faith in Jesus can only take root in us through a daily devotion to and walk with the person of Jesus himself:
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" (Luke 9:23-25).
As we follow Jesus daily and do his will, our faith in his doctrine will abide, and to our salvation:
"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God" (John 7:17).
"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee" (1 Timothy 4:16).
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
But if we as believers fail to do his will, our faith in him will be without any real foundation, so that adversity will cause us to fall away:
"Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (Matthew 7:26-27).
"The same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended" (Matthew 13:20-21).
Originally posted by Defending Our Lord
...I routinely debate with non-belivers and the more I debate with them the more my faith wavers...
I believe that many atheists and agnostics may fail to come to faith in Jesus because of a misunderstanding regarding what faith is: they may see faith as an intellectual conviction that one should be able to be argued into via sound human reasoning and human logic, like a mathematical theorem that can be proven unequivocally to the human mind.
But the Apostle Paul makes clear that faith in Jesus is not something that is in any way received via human wisdom, but can only be received via a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9), indeed faith was designed by God to be purposely opposed to human wisdom, so that our faith would be solely to God's glory:
"Preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:17-31).