I used to think that having questions and doubts was a bad thing: they showed that I lacked faith or was ‘backsliding’. I have come to realise that I was 100% wrong. Questions are good, doubts are good. Yes, really.
Questions show that something matters to you. If it didn’t matter, you wouldn’t worry about finding some answers. Jesus seemed to more by asking and answering questions than he did by preaching sermons. Sometimes people were asking Jesus questions to try to trick him into discrediting himself, but often they were genuine questions that bothered people enough for them to ask him and that led to some of his most famous teaching.
And, perhaps counterintuitively, doubts show that faith is alive. They show that you’re no longer satisfied with what you have been told to believe and want to discover what you actually believe.
On 3rd June at our church I’m inviting people to come with any questions and doubts and we’ll explore them together with others. I am not suggesting that I have the answers – we may discover answers together, we may have to do some more thinking and praying together over a period of time.
I like the way Frederick Beuchner puts it: “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”
And, on a vaguely related topic, here’s a joke that has hidden depths: “What do you call an ant from another country?”
“Important!”
Be blessed, be a blessing
nukelearfishing 
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