Topic : Doubt
Pruning
It is the branch that bears the fruit
That feels the knife,
To prune it for a larger growth
And fuller life,
Though every budding twig be lopped
And every grace
Of swaying tendril, springing leaf
Be lost a space.
Oh, thou whose life of joy seems reft,
Of beauty shorn,
Whose aspirations lie in dust,
All bruised and torn,
Rejoice, though each desire, each dream,
Each hope of thine
Shall fall and fade; it is the hand of love divine
That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks
With tenderest touch,
That thou, whose life hast borne some fruit,
May now bear much.
- Annie Johnson Flint.
Resource
No Easy Answers, W.L.Craig, Moody, 1990, p. 29ff
Lord Halifax
Lord Halifax, a former foreign secretary of Great Britain, once shared a railway compartment with two prim-looking spinsters. A few moments before reaching his destination the train passed through a tunnel. In the utter darkness Halifax kissed the back of his hand noisily several times. When the train drew into the station, he rose, lifted his hat, and in a gentlemanly way said: “May I thank whichever one of you two ladies I am indebted to for the charming incident in the tunnel.” He then beat a hasty retreat, leaving the two ladies glaring at each other.
G. Campbell Morgan
G. Campbell Morgan had already enjoyed some success as a preacher by the time he was 19 years old. But then he was attacked by doubts about the Bible. The writings of various scientists and agnostics disturbed him (e.g., Charles Darwin, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley, and Herbert Spencer). As he read their books and listened to debates, Morgan became more and more perplexed. What did he do? He cancelled all preaching engagements, put all the books in a cupboard and locked the door, and went to the bookstore and bought a new Bible. He said to himself, “I am no longer sure that this is what my father claims it to be—the Word of God. But of this I am sure. If it be the Word of God, and if I come to it with an unprejudiced and open mind, it will bring assurance to my soul of itself.” The result? “That Bible found me!” said Morgan. The new assurance in 1883 gave him the motivation for his preaching and teaching ministry. He devoted himself to the study and preaching of God’s Word.
What Thinking Produces
Carl Rogers, the U.S. psychologist, was 22 years old when he entered Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1924. While there, he participated in a seminar organized to explore religious doubts. Rogers later said of the group, “The majority of members...in thinking their way through questions they had raised, thought themselves right out of religious work. I was one.”
Quote
Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any; but keep your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own. Goethe
