Doubt & Faith... Can They Work Together? w/ Dr. Travis Dickinson

In this interview, I chat with Dr. Travis Dickinson about his new book entitled, "Wandering Toward God: Finding Faith amid Doubts and Big Questions."

Travis Dickinson (PhD, University of Iowa) is professor of philosophy at Dallas Baptist University. He has taught courses in philosophy and Christian apologetics for over twenty years and has done apologetics and evangelism in more than thirty-five countries. He lives with his family in Forth Worth, Texas.

---------------------------- FREE STUFF ----------------------------

-------------------------------- GIVING --------------------------------

Special thanks to all our supporters for your continued support! You don't have to give anything, yet you do. THANK YOU!

---------------------------------- SOCIAL ----------------------------------

--------------------------------- MY GEAR ----------------------------------

I get a lot of questions about what gear I use, so here's a list of everything I have for streaming and recording. The links below are affiliate (thank you for clicking on them!).

--------------------------------- CONTACT ---------------------------------

#Apologetics #CapturingChristianity #ExistenceofGod

[johnbrzykcy]

"Posture of a seeker". I like that phrase !

[theSamSchroeder]

One cannot fight uncertainty with certainty and hope to somehow receive truth in the process.

[thoughtistic]

Lovely discussion. I also love the usage of the term "absolute certainty". I'll definitely be using that whenever I have discussions like this with people

[PresbyterianPaladin]

I really enjoyed this interview and like Dr. Dickinson's views. Affirms libertarian free will is required for moral culpability, and he's an internalist evidentialist. My man! 😁

[jenna]

Someone who questions their beliefs has a key decision to make. Do they follow the TRUTH wherever it leads? OR do they succumb to their emotions and accept things that don't have any basis in fact?

[TheSimoon]

Daniel J. McKaughan is a good resource when it comes to conceptualizing Faith.

[resurrectionrefuter]

Matthew 28:17
"When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted."

Evidently, some of Jesus' disciples weren't convinced of the Resurrection. This is quite strange given the fact that Jesus had previously appeared to them in Jerusalem the same evening of the Resurrection according to John 20:19.

[autumnglow]

”All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

To be cool and distanced when doing philosophy is a good thing. Wanting to be cool and distanced when interacting with people is immature. To actually be cool and distanced when interacting with people is a serious fault of character. We want to be good philosophers (lay or professional) and good people.

Doubt can embrace both the intellect and the emotional life. It is like a void where we think there should be stability. Like death where we think there should be life. We have to carry it. Both as good people and as bad people. We have to carry doubt. Or quit. Are you a quitter or a wanderer? The answer will surely be doubted but one of the options should still be true.

Thank you both for the warm interaction and cool reflection. Like a refreshing breaze on a summer’s walk it helps me carry my doubts.

[TheKyler]

Here’s a question for you: Did Jesus ever experience doubt of God and his existence?
Because the entire human experience is bound up in the not knowing; in the struggle between faith and doubt.
Did Jesus overcome this?

[davethebrahman]

I found one of the remarkable facts about losing faith to be the removal of ‘doubt’. I expected to have a long period of back and forth, but when I saw through the Christian claims, I never for a moment thought or felt that they could be true. Once one sees that physicalism is an entirely consistent and well-founded understanding of the world, the burden of attempting to reconcile inconsistent scriptures and vague, dubious experiences with the obvious facts of life simply disappears.

[johnbrzykcy]

I'm not looking for "absolute certainty". My knowledge is probably less than 0.1 percent. I'm a slow learner so I might acquire 0.2 percent before the journey ends !

[johnbrzykcy]

But didn't Adam and Eve doubt God's goodness and love before "the Fall" ? I'm no scholar so I'm open to learn.

[marianweigh]

My sincere recommendation to those struggling with doubt/scepticism:
1) Put less stress on apologetics, debates, arguments, anything theological that feels too abstract, that makes you "go mental", that puts your consciousness at the level of concept and language;
2) Read and learn from saints and holy people (Jesus above all!), learn their stories, with special focus on _what they did_ in terms of virtue, asceticism, personal reform, purifying of desire, get a feel for _how they contemplate, _ how they find and rest in God, etc—absorb their _personal witness;_ then
3) _Put their advice into practice_ at the heart-level, trust it's in God's hands, and let yourself be changed. Follow things that activate your heart _as much as if not more_ than your mind.
[4) Don't underestimate yourself. Think of yourself as a saint in training, ready to undergo any trial, any aridity, any darkness for his love.]

What I mean is, avoid controversies, quarrels, analysis, and general issues, instead seek to have _first-hand experiences_ of putting on the mind of Christ and renouncing self. Let the deepening inner experience and time spent in attention to God shape your outer life and habits more and more, so that subjective and objective grow in unison.

By learning from the holy, sage, wise, and God-realized, we are inspired to emulate their commitment and sacrifice and gain an stable experience of the presence of God. Once we have some taste of that, the soul is awake and we can live from the memory of that taste in full trust. Then we need no longer guess—God is no longer a matter of arguments, but palpable guidance whenever we call on him. Once we have the encounter, the effect is irreversible, even if ups and downs come. Work on attuning your inner compass to heed every hint of the Spirit. Obey when it's time to say Yes and when it's time to say No.

Here is the trick: you will never think your way to faith. Focus on matters of the heart, inner devotion, prayer, repentance, service, love and striving to be without sin. Try to recollect God in every instant, aspiring to make real contact. "Knock and the door shall be opened." All we have to do is learn how to knock and keep knocking. Keep it personal. Imagine how much God loves you. Close your eyes, quiet your mind, turn off your desires, wait on him. I guarantee the doubt will clear. We need only make ourselves available, make an empty space for him. He desires nothing more than to fill us with himself. Always remember that, and it will happen.

[This may not answer every question at the level of "beliefs, " but love and trust in God will take care of that. Love will elevate us into an intimate knowledge that is profoundly anti-fragile, not about "right-wrong" and its anxieties. Once we know him, we can take refuge in the wisdom of the Church and just focus on growing in "abiding in God." That's what all our beliefs are supposed to serve anyway! He will _never_ disappoint us. From that basis I think we will solve our theological quandaries to satisfaction, such that they do not trip us up, but increase our surrender to the mystery of his love.]

[johnbrzykcy]

Hmmm. I had never heard of "emotional doubt."
Maybe I keep opening the wrong tool box? My emotions are simply dysfunctional tools !

[reality]

1. God designed man therefore installed the nature of doubt into man
2. Doubt drives disbelief
3. God chooses to be invisible/undetectable
4. God condemns man for disbelief
5. God is unjust/malevolent

[EduardoRodriguez-duvd]

God loves the doubtful?
So, while doubting the existence of god, one must behave as if he exists and act according to something one does not believe. God doesn't consider you a hypocrite?
How can one love something that one does not know exists and if one does not love what one does not yet believe in, how does that not contradict the order to love God above all things?

[sanjeevgig]

Literal Adam + Eve: Doubtful.
Virgin birth: Doubtful.
Gospel Miracles: Doubtful.
Resurrection: Extremely Doubtful.
Jesus's Divinity: Extremely Doubtful.
LOL

[MrGunningpeter]

Doubt is not compatible with faith in Jesus/God, If One has doubt then one should understand that it is their own knowledge thats being doubted, Doubting Truth is not rational.