Saturday, September 20, 2008

Dealing with Doubt

Marvin Olasky interviews J.P. Moreland and Klaus Issler, authors of In Search of a Confident Faith (IVP). I found this exchange helpful:
Q: You offer a four-step procedure that can reduce our doubting tendencies if we practice it often enough.

(1) Identify the source of the doubt (e.g., evening news, movie, conversation at work).

(2) Identify the particular assumptions that stand under the source (example: if it can't be tested by the five senses, you can't believe in it).

(3) Raise doubts about the doubt. Challenge it (example: I can't see my own thoughts, but I know them, so why should I believe this principle?).

(4) Replace the assumption with a more biblical one (example: For thousands of years, the brightest people alive have known God was real from the creation even though they never saw Him, so we can, in fact, know things that go beyond our five senses).