Jonathan was usually on a...
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Jonathan was usually on a pretty even keel, but during the last few days he had really been struggling with his faith. He had always taken God's claim on his life very seriously. Consequently, his present doubt was even more devastating. He found doubting a very lonely experience because he just didn't feel it was safe to express the painful things he was thinking -- not to his peers, not to his parents, and certainly not to his Sunday school teacher, or worse yet, his pastor. He'd be humiliated if any of them found out how different his thinking was; he'd be disgraced; he'd have to leave the church! And even though his doubts made his participation very uncomfortable, Jonathan didn't want to have to leave the friends and fellowship he found in his church community. Several weeks later, Jonathan heard his pastor begin his sermon with a story about Joseph and Mary. Then Pastor Martin said, "Joseph must have really been disappointed with Mary; he must have really doubted the trust he had placed in her, at least until the Lord had explained the situation to him in a dream. Doubt, you see, is a very common part of human experience, and is particularly important to our faith journeys. None of us ever comes to strong faith without first passing through the tempering fires of doubt." Jonathan sat bolt upright in his pew. Had Pastor Martin really said doubt was okay? "Does this mean," Jonathan wondered in silence, "that I'm not so different after all?" -- Fannin
