Doubt?

I find that doubt is a healthy part of having strong faith. People who have never doubted before often have difficulty dealing with information that appears to conflict with their beliefs.

In Job and many Psalms, we have men of God questioning why God does things that appear unjust to them.

 

I had one person state to me one time (and I'm not sure that I agree with him) that he has had doubts. He thought to himself, "What if God's not real? Then I've wasted my life trying to be Christ-like." Then, he realized that his life was fulfilled either way, which helped erase his doubts, because living that type of life gave him peace. If God were not real, he reasoned that he would not have peace in denying himself the pleasures of the world.

 

It’s the one thing in life I am sure of…Glory be to God, Thank you Jesus!

 

There is a direct correlation between your ability to cast doubt away and your ability to walk in the spirit.

 

I believe that faith and doubt are opposite sides of the same coin. If there never was any doubt what is the need for faith? Scripture tells us: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.[Hebrews 11:1] It also states that we are justified by that faith, it doesn't say we are justified by knowledge.

I say this fully realizing that Scripture also states: These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.[1 John 5;13]

I have heard Southern Baptist evangelists say, among them Baily Smith: If you are 99% certain you are 100% lost. That is pure bunk.

There are times in my life when I sin that I ask myself: Would a child of God do such a thing? At times like this I always return to that passage of Scripture: For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.[2 Timothy 1:12]

 

OR, amen, and very excellent post

 

CraigbytheSea does not believe in eternal security. He believes that one can lose salvation.

 

CraigbytheSea does not believe in eternal security. He believes that one can lose salvation. </font>[/QUOTE]Although I know that the Bible does not teach the doctrine eternally security, I know that I am secure in Jesus and I have never doubted my salvation. Indeed, doubting my salvation would like doubting that the sky is blue and the sun is hot. I am the new creature in Christ that God created me to be and the old creature in dead and buried.

MRCoon asked two questions that I have not answered because I don’t want to derail this thread, but perhaps a quick and brief reply would help to eliminate some confusion. Here is my testimony of salvation in more detail:

One Sunday night I answered the altar call at a conservative, evangelical church (that I had been going to regularly as an unbeliever for several months) because I had promised a friend the night before that I would even though I believed that the Jesus of the Bible was a fictional character and that the Christian faith was a farce.

The senior pastor’s wife asked me to repeat a sinner’s prayer after her, and she gave me the words to pray and I repeated the words. The congregation was thrilled and began to shout, “Praise God! Thank you Jesus!” I was just glad that I had kept my promise to my friend.

I continued to publicly (though not at that church) deny that there ever was a Jesus, and one night about three weeks later I was at Baptist coffee house where I used to hand out and a young man asked me if I was a Christian. I was ashamed that I was hanging out with Christians and I was afraid that the word might get out, so I had refused to tell anyone there even my first name, and they named me “Charlie Brown.” So, when the young man asked me if I was a Christian, I told him that I was not. He took out of his pocket a “Four Spiritual Laws” Bible tract and began to share it with me while I didn’t say a word; but all of a sudden he stopped and looked at me and said, “I don’t know why you lied to me about not being a Christian, but I can tell that you are.” I was caught off guard, and I told him about what had happened three weeks ago. Someone overheard and shouted out, “Charlie Brown got saved!” I was absolutely shocked and more embarrassed than I thought possible, and I got up and got out of that place.

A few nights later I was walking down the main drag in downtown San Diego—Broadway—and as I stepped up onto the curb from 4th Avenue and began walking down the sidewalk along the edge of Horton Plaza, I noticed a young sailor standing near the corner. I had seen him there before, and I sensed that he was propositioning himself to other men, but that was very common on Horton Plaza so I hadn’t given any thought to it. But that night, something was very different—not about him—but about me! I wanted to just keep on walking, and I even forced myself to do so for several steps, but I felt something inside of me forcing me to turn around. I tried to resist, but I couldn’t, and I walked right up to him and asked him if he was prostituting himself.

He told me that he was, and he began to cry, and then he took off like a rocket running down Broadway toward the bay. And there I went—running after him. He ran right through the red traffic lights dodging the cars, trucks, and buses; and I ran after him, right through the red traffic lights dodging the traffic. He finally took cover behind a large pillar on the front of a building, but I saw where he went, and I ran up behind him and felt my right hand being lifted up onto his shoulder—and I heard Bible verses coming out of my mouth as he leaned up against the pillar with his face in his hands, crying.

After a few minutes, the young man turned around and told me that his name was Bob, that he was a Christian, that he was in the Navy, and that he was married and that his wife was expecting a baby, but that he was getting ready to go on a West Pacific cruise for several months and would be out to sea when the baby was born. He was extremely lonely, confused, and hurting inside—and he told me that he began to run because he was embarrassed, but that as he was running, he was hoping that I would care enough to pursue him and help him.

Up to that point in my life, servicemen had been little more than scum in my sight, but here I was holding in my arms a serviceman, and loving him more than life itself. And then I knew,

The hand of Jesus touched me,
And now I am no longer the same.


Am I secure in Christ—absolutely! He promised that He would never leave me nor forsake me and I know that I can trust Him to keep His word. Have I ever doubted that I am saved—absolutely not!

 

If the Bible does not teach eternal security, how do you know you are secure in Jesus?

 

Psalms 18

For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD,
1. "I love You, O LORD, my strength."
2. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.
4. The cords of death encompassed me, And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me.
5. The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.
6. In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.
7. Then the earth shook and quaked; And the foundations of the mountains were trembling And were shaken, because He was angry.
8. Smoke went up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it.
9. He bowed the heavens also, and came down With thick darkness under His feet.
10. He rode upon a cherub and flew; And He sped upon the wings of the wind.
11. He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
12. From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds, Hailstones and coals of fire.
13. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire.
14. He sent out His arrows, and scattered them, And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them.
15. Then the channels of water appeared, And the foundations of the world were laid bare At Your rebuke, O LORD, At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16. He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.
17. He delivered me from my strong enemy, And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
18. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the LORD was my stay.
19. He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me.
20. The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.
21. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22. For all His ordinances were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me.
23. I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.
24. Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.
25. With the kind You show Yourself kind; With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
26. With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the crooked You show Yourself astute.
27. For You save an afflicted people, But haughty eyes You abase.
28. For You light my lamp; The LORD my God illumines my darkness.
29. For by You I can run upon a troop; And by my God I can leap over a wall.
30. As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
31. For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God,
32. The God who girds me with strength And makes my way blameless?
33. He makes my feet like hinds' feet, And sets me upon my high places.
34. He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your right hand upholds me; And Your gentleness makes me great.
36. You enlarge my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped.
37. I pursued my enemies and overtook them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed.
38. I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise; They fell under my feet.
39. For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
40. You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, And I destroyed those who hated me.
41. They cried for help, but there was none to save, Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.
42. Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind; I emptied them out as the mire of the streets.
43. You have delivered me from the contentions of the people; You have placed me as head of the nations; A people whom I have not known serve me.
44. As soon as they hear, they obey me; Foreigners submit to me.
45. Foreigners fade away, And come trembling out of their fortresses.
46. The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation,
47. The God who executes vengeance for me, And subdues peoples under me.
48. He delivers me from my enemies; Surely You lift me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent man.
49. Therefore I will give thanks to You among the nations, O LORD, And I will sing praises to Your name.
50. He gives great deliverance to His king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever.