Jesus

During the French Revolution people were being executed every day. Three men were waiting for their death sentences to be carried out.[1] The first one was a priest. As he was brought to the guillotine, he was asked, “Do you have any last words?”  The priest said, “I believe God is going to save me.” He put his head underneath the blade, the blade came down, but then it stopped two inches from his neck. The executioner said, “This is a miracle,” and they let him go. The next man came up. Like the first, he was a priest. The executioner asked him, “Do you have any last words?” The second priest replied, “I believe God is going to save me.”  He put his head underneath the blade.  The blade came down, but then it stopped two inches from his neck.  They said, “This is a miracle,” and they let him go. The third man came up. He was a skeptic. He was a doubter.  The executioner asked him, “Do you have any last words?” Looking at the guillotine, he said, “Well, I think I see your problem.  There’s something jammed in the gear mechanism.”Read More »Doubt: When the Pain of Faith is Too Great (John 20:1-18)

Several years ago I got into a Bible study with a non Christian named Lon.  Lon was a financial analyst who might spend hours at work tracking down one mistake on a financial report.  When he watched television, he carried that same attitude with him.  He always asked questions and looked for errors or mistakes.  And he applied this same skeptical approach to faith.  Often when we studied the Bible together, we’d only make it through two or three verses before Lon would ask several questions that take the rest of our time to answer.  And he was rarely satisfied with my answers.  He always took the skeptic’s approach and kept pressing and prodding.  After studying with me almost weekly for an entire year, Lon decided he did not want any more.  He really didn’t believe Scripture.  He didn’t want to become a Christian.  He had too many doubts and reservations.  Some non Christians have a lot of doubts.Read More »Doubt: When the Proof of Faith is Too Small

Lynn Anderson is the author of several Christian books.  He leads a Christian organization that provides mentoring to men.  He preached for many years in Christian churches.  He’s been a great friend and mentor to me.  You can’t find a man of greater faith than Lynn Anderson.  Yet in his book If I Really Believe, Why Do I Have These Doubts? Lynn writes about his struggle with spiritual doubts.  He worried that if other Christians knew his doubts they wouldn’t accept him: “All along my journey of faith, periodic doubt has nipped at my heels.  Yet most of the time I have also craved wholehearted belief in the God of my father and involvement in the family of God.  Nurtured from childhood in the embrace of a tiny, close-knit Christian fellowship, I depended upon the church for much of my security and identity.  Yet all the time I wondered, “Would they accept me if they knew I do not truly believe?…Was I a hypocrite, professing belief on the outside while harboring serious doubts on the inside?”[1] Lynn is one of those heroes of faith to me.  Yet in his life he’s struggled with spiritual doubts.  And he’s wondered what would happen in others knew of those doubts.Read More »Doubt: When the People of Faith are too Flawed