Questions of Faith and Doubt

HOW CAN GOD HELP ME WHEN I'M IN THE MIDST OF DEPRESSION?
When one is in the middle of severe clinical depression, it is difficult, even impossible, to experience God's reality, let alone God's help.

HOW CAN I BEST INCORPORATE GOD INTO MY PARENTING?
A good way of incorporating God into parenting is to remember three important lessons.

HOW CAN I KNOW WHAT GOD WANTS ME TO DO WITH MY LIFE?
The call of God is always for us to live with noble purpose, with love as our highest motivation.

HOW CAN I KNOW WHEN IT IS GOD WHO IS SPEAKING TO ME?
Whenever we experience a sense of calling from God, we generally receive that experience with a degree of ambiguity.

HOW CAN I LIVE A LIFE OF FAITH?
We offer ourselves to God, for the glory of God. And we fall down and we get up.

HOW COULD DEPRESSION LEAD TO A RICHER SPIRITUAL LIFE?
I can answer this question only after the fact, because in the midst of severe clinical depression I have never felt anything redeeming about it, spiritually or otherwise.

I READ THE BIBLE AND TRY TO FOLLOW WHAT SCRIPTURE TELLS ME TO DO. WHY AREN'T THINGS WORKING OUT FOR ME?
"I thought if you followed God, bad things weren't supposed to happen to you so much. If bad things are going to happen anyway, what help is it to believe in and follow God?"

IS ATTENTIVENESS TO SMALL THINGS, RATHER THAN TRYING TO GRAPPLE WITH LARGE CONCEPTS AND IDEAS, THE WAY TO BEST NURTURE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?
On a day-to-day basis, probably so. ...

IS IT ALL RIGHT TO BE SPIRITUAL WITHOUT BEING RELIGIOUS?
You are, first and foremost, spiritual. Becoming religious—practicing piety—is a result of being spiritual.

IS IT NECESSARY TO BE A PART OF A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY IN ORDER TO FULLY EXPERIENCE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?
I believe our human relationships, when healthy, are designed to be a means of experiencing God.

ISN'T SEARCHING FOR THE GOD WITHIN JUST AN EXCUSE FOR NARCISSISM?
If our search for the God within becomes narcissism, the seeker has somehow gotten off the track.

WHAT IF CHRISTIAN TEACHINGS FILL ME WITH FEELINGS OF GUILT AND WORTHLESSNESS?
No one left the presence of Jesus feeling worthless. And any sense of guilt was immediately healed with his loving acceptance.

WHAT IF GOD DOESN'T ANSWER MY PRAYERS?
I believe that God's grace precedes our prayers, that in a sense, God's answer is offered before we even ask

WHAT IF I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PRAY?
Often when people feel they don't know how to pray, it's because they haven't considered the possibility that they're already doing it.

WHAT IF I'M NOT CERTAIN WHAT I BELIEVE?
"Not certain what I believe?" Try asking it this way: "Not certain what I trust?" If we can substitute "trust" for "believe," the fog around faith might be pierced with some new light.

WHAT IS FAITH?
Marcus Borg writes about the different meanings faith has come to have in the Christian tradition.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION?
Terms like “spirituality,” “faith,” and “religion” mean different things to different people and often are used interchangeably. I will tell you what they mean to me.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF ASKING THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS? CAN WE EVER REALLY KNOW THE ANSWERS?
As human beings, we are constantly learning and discovering new things. And our curiosity about what we learn, or at least provisionally accept, prompts us to ask new questions.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO PRACTICE SELF-REFLECTION?
As we fill our lives with things we deem important, we often are pushed and pulled away from a primary relationship with God. Our self-reflection allows us to find our way back to God.

WHY NOT BELIEVE THAT THE BIBLE IS THE LITERAL WORD OF GOD?
I think we cheapen Scripture by our arguments over its being the literal word of God, dictated by God, absolutely true, and then using Scripture's own words to prove itself.