A question of faith?

Question

Is it possible for a true, believing Christian to doubt his or her faith simply because of the stupidity of other Christians, or would that be unchristian?

Answer 1

The bible should reinforced your faith.  However if the Christians in your church are acting contrary to the scriptures and nothing is done about it then you should not lose your faith in God but leave the church and keep searching.

Answer 2

Yes. its possible to doubt.

But if its due to the stupidity of Christians that would actually be a stupid reason to start to doubt.

Asking question on Yahoo is also not very good.

There are some of use who answer according to the Bible but there are many more who don't.

And the average person has a hard time telling the difference.

Its best if you ask a Pastor who you know and trust.

Answer 3

When Imam Ali (as)  was asked about Faith in Religion, he replied that the structure of faith is supported by four pillars endurance, conviction, justice and jihad.

Endurance is composed of four attributes: eagerness, fear, piety and anticipation (of death). So whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore temptations; whoever fears the fire of h**l will abstain from sins; whoever practises piety will easily bear the difficulties of life and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good deeds.

Conviction has also four aspects to guard oneself against infatuations of sin; to search for explanation of truth through knowledge; to gain lessons from instructive things and to follow the precedent of the past people, Because whoever wants to guard himself against vices and sins will have to search for the true causes of infatuation and the true ways of combating them out and to find those true ways one has to search them with the help of knowledge, whoever gets fully acquainted with various branches of knowledge will take lessons from life and whoever tries to take lessons from life is actually engaged in the study of the causes of rise and fall of previous civilizations.

Justice also has four aspects depth of understanding, profoundeness of knowledge, fairness of judgement and dearness of mind; because whoever tries his best to under- stand a problem will have to study it, whoever has the practice of studying the subject he is to deal with, will develop a clear mind and will always come to correct decisions, whoever tries to achieve all this will have to develop ample patience and forbearance and whoever has done this has done justice to the cause of religion and has led a life of good repute and fame.

Jihad is divided into four branches: to persuade people to be obedient to Allah; to prohibit them from sin and vice; to struggle (in the cause of Allah) sincerely and firmly on all occasions and to detest the vicious. Whoever persuades people to obey the orders of Allah provides strength to the believers; whoever dissuades them from vices and sins humiliates the unbelievers; whoever struggles on all occasions discharges all his obligations and whoever detests the vicious only for the sake of Allah, then Allah will take revenge on his enemies and will be pleased with Him on the Day of Judgement.

Answer 4

I think doubt is natural. It's good to have a healthy dose of skepticism. That being said, you're probably a better Christian than the stupid obnoxious ones out there. Don't doubt your faith because of them.

Questioning in general is a good thing, because in the end it helps you get a better understanding of things, in this case, your religion

Answer 5

That just makes you a rational human.

You can believe whatever you want it to believe.

But there is a lot of stupidity in the world.  It'd be stupid of you to ignore it. :P

Since it seems like you are rational and respectful.. if you have any questions related to your doubts, feel free to send them my way.  I was once a Christian (and very nearly a priest) so I know what you're going through.  

Answer 6

Is it possible?Yes

Is it good?NO

Answer 7

Mar 9:24 The father instantly replied, "I do believe, but help me not to doubt!"  

Luk 17:24 For when the Son of Man returns, you will know it beyond all doubt. It will be as evident as the lightning that flashes across the sky.  

Answer 8

We all doubt our faith at times.  Faith is a gift of God, but we are still bound by our five senses.  That is why the apostle Paul encourages us to walk by faith and not by sight.  He had to remind us to do so because we *need* reminding.  We need it often.  

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Answer 9

It happens.  And unfortunately, since we are all human, other christians tend to cause us to question ourselves sometimes.  

I did.  After being rejected by christians and being pushed out of a church.  I love the Lord with all my heart.  And I need Jesus desperately and depend on Him.  So when christians continually rejected me I couldn't help but wonder why.  Was I a bad person?  I believe the way they did.

But thank God that I understand that just because christians rejected me doesn't mean that God rejects me.  In fact, He took advantage of the isolation and proved to me how much He loves me.  Bless God!  And He also helped me to find my foundation in Jesus, so I know where I stand and it's easier to handle it when christians make me want to question my faith.

Answer 10

Humanity is flawed, and we will all continue to be flawed, even Christians until we are reborn in God's Kingdom and given new bodies.

I would suggest not using other human Christians as your model for God, but instead follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in your own life and do everything you can to represent Christ properly to all people around you according to His word. This way you can be a right example for any Christian who may be going astray.

James 5:19-20

19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Take Care and God Bless you

Answer 11

Follow christ! not other christians.

God loves you...God bless

Answer 12

Did you read what Mother Theresa wrote? She felt far from God for the greater part of her life. She still had faith, though.

Answer 13

Stupid other Christians were put there by the devil to test your faith. And there's a lot of them, so you'll need to be strong.

But no reason for you to doubt your faith yourself.

Answer 14

Doubt does not exclude you from the family of Christianity.

Answer 15

Why yes. We all have doubts about our faith, but you gotta ask God about it when the thought first comes into your head. Why, I have those thoughts quite often, but I am learning day by day to:

first: ask God about it (is it coming from satan or Jesus)

and then I ask myself:

Do I love the Lord? yes

Do I believe that He died on the cross for my sins? yes

Have I repented of my sins? yes

That helps me a lot!

God bless :)