doubting

Originally Posted by aiki

Paul didn't believe in a vacuum; he had reasons for his faith.
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Oh, of course!
But we're talking about which comes first. Paul didn't believe until Jesus struck him down. But he was blind for three days, so he couldn't exactly study! In that time, he turned himself around.

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I'm afraid I don't understand your response, here. I am contending that we need reasons for faith. Are you agreeing with me, or disagreeing, in this quotation? It seems like both, to me.

God, in His Word, gives a rationale for why we should trust in Him.
Certainly. But we trust Him first.

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Why? Why would we trust him before we have a rationale for doing so? The fact is, we don't. The whole of Scripture is one long rationale for believing in God and Christ. Every miracle Jesus performed was a testament to who he was. He didn't just say, "I'm God. Believe it." No, he established, or proved his claim, with countless miracles.

We don't open the Bible and find just the single command: Trust Me.
It isn't a command, but it is implicit. The first two commands in the Bible are 1) tend the garden (implicit: see Gen 2:15), and 2) "from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."
How did Adam and Eve fail?

They did not trust God whole-heartedly.
They had only three reasons to believe God. And that was His creation, His provision, and His word.

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Oh, so you do agree with me. God gave Adam and Eve reason to believe - as He does you and I today.

Yes, there is some understanding necessary...but it's not a Science Class.

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What does this mean, exactly?

Peace to you.

faith7401 said:

Lately I have had a lot of issues with my faith. I often find myself thinking it's all made up and fake. This, of course, leads me to feel like there is no point to life and so forth.

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just because you feel like faith is made up should NOT lead you to think that life has no point. life is what YOU want it to be. if god is important for you to live a productive life, great. if you dont need a supernatural being guiding you through life, thats great too. you need to make up your own mind about this issue.

faith7401 said:

I really don't want to be feeling this way. I have prayed. I have read the Bible. I have gone to church. I have talked to my fiance about it. I don't know what to do, and I'm hoping someone here has some advice...

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my advice is to educate yourself about other ways of life. not everyone is a christian or a believer in a higher power. its not a bad thing to learn about the world around you, ask questions, debate, etc.

this is a personal journey you have to take, dont let people push you around while your trying to figure it out.

good luck and take care.