Honest questions

Can I come to Jesus if I still have doubts?

Faith does not require pretending that every question has already been answered.

4 min readHopeForAll.Faith

Questions are not the same as rejection Some doubts come from intellectual questions. Others grow from pain, disappointment, hypocrisy, or unanswered prayer. Naming the kind of doubt you carry can help you seek the right kind of answer.

The Gospels do not hide the confusion of Jesus' followers. One man even told Jesus that he believed and needed help with his unbelief.

Read in the Bible

Mark 9:14–29 · WEB

¹⁴Coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them.

¹⁵Immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, greeted him.

¹⁶He asked the scribes, “What are you asking them?”

¹⁷One of the multitude answered, “Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit;

¹⁸and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren’t able.”

¹⁹He answered him, “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.”

²⁰They brought him to him, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him and he fell on the ground, wallowing and foaming at the mouth.

²¹He asked his father, “How long has it been since this has been happening to him?” He said, “From childhood.

²²Often it has cast him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”

²⁵When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”

²⁶After crying out and convulsing him greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead, so much that most of them said, “He is dead.”

²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up; and he arose.

²⁸When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”

²⁹He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but by prayer and fasting.”

John 20:24–29 · WEB

²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.

²⁵The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶After eight days, again his disciples were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.”

²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Look closely at Jesus Christian faith is not confidence in a vague spiritual feeling. It centers on Jesus: what He said, what He did, His death, and the claim that He rose again. Give the primary sources a fair reading.

Ask what explanation best accounts for the Jesus you encounter. Do not rush, but do not use endless delay to avoid a response either.

Read in the Bible

Luke 1:1–4 · WEB

¹Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

²even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,

³it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus;

⁴that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.

1 Corinthians 15:1–8 · WEB

¹Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

²by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

³For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

⁶Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

⁸and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

Walk while you learn You may not resolve every question before taking a step. Begin practicing honesty, prayer, and obedience to what you already understand. Seek a community where difficult questions are neither mocked nor feared.

Faith is not the absence of thought. It is trust based on who Jesus is, even while our understanding continues to grow.

IN A FEW WORDS

Questions can become part of an honest search. Bring them to Jesus, examine the Gospel accounts, and walk with people who make room for truth and patience.

A SIMPLE PRAYER

Jesus, You know what I believe and where I struggle. Meet me in my questions. Keep me honest, patient, and willing to follow the truth wherever it leads.

NEXT STEPS

You can begin today.

1
Write down your clearest question.
2
Read Mark from beginning to end.
3
Discuss the question with a mature Christian who will listen.

View the main journey

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