IS IT OK TO DOUBT YOUR FAITH?

The truth is “We all doubt our faith at some point in our life”. Faith in God is one of the most doubt-provoking concepts. First of all, I think it is appropriate to look at the meaning of the word “to doubt”.

What does doubt (to doubt) mean?

In simplest term, the noun “doubt” means a feeling of uncertainty, a lack of conviction or a lack of knowledge and “to doubt” means to feel uncertain of something.

Why do we doubt?

We doubt because we have a lack of knowledge and experience. We all have doubts because we don’t know everything. To doubt is normal, natural and human. Everything we know we first have to learn and before learning we were uncertain. 

It is even more inevitable to doubt when it comes to matter of faith.  

When we talk about doubting our faith we talk about doubting the existence of God. So it is inevitable to doubt knowing the fact that God is spirit. He is perfect, infinite and incomprehensible. We are imperfect and finite. Our human mind is limited and we can not know everything about him because if we could know everything about God then God wouldn’t be God anymore.

We may doubt God (all-loving as we believe) when our prayers are not answered the way we want. We call His existence into question. We may also doubt god because with all our human rational capacity we can not reconcile our belief with sufferings and with all the evils that are happening in the world.

On one hand, rationally speaking we can never obtain full knowledge of God, therefore, we would always be in doubt. On the other hand, with faith we can be certain of His existence.

The importance of Doubt.

We are thinking beings endowed with the capacity to think, to reason or to doubt. Doubt is part of our learning process. It is what pushes us to know the truth. The french philosopher Rene Descartes, well-known for his proposition “Cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) in his Method of doubt, may be the best example for this reasoning. Cartesian doubt is not skeptical  but methodological. He puts everything to doubt to arrive at the conclusion of one certain thing: I doubt therefore i think and therefore i am. 

At this point we can say that it’s normal and even necessary to doubt. Our doubt should not be a hindrance but a motive for us to know more about God and by knowing more we love Him more.

Can Faith and Doubt coexist?

Based on Descartes' reasoning to doubt is equal to think and to reason, so it's about reasoning and we know that our faith is not a blind faith. it goes hand in hand with reason. Faith and reason are two ways of knowing God. Faith builds on reason (Thomas Aquinas). Therefore, we could say that faith and doubt can coexist. 

After all, we will not be condemned because we doubt. When we are uncertain is when we need to learn more. When we doubt is when we need to deepen our faith. Our doubt should lead us to faith, not away from it. 

“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.”

-Saint Augustine-