The Dawn Treader

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
James 1:6

Be merciful to those who doubt
Jude 1:22

To deny, to believe, and to doubt absolutely -- this is for man what running is for a horse.
Blaise Pascal

What in the world is doubt?   How is that we skid off the road from time to time and end up in a ditch?  As it turns out, there are three major misconceptions about doubt that act as snares ready to trip us up.

Os Guiness devotes a chapter to each of the major trip wires concering doubt.  First, that doubt is the opposite of faith and the same thing as unbelief.  Second, that doubt is a problem for faith, but not for knowledge.  Third, that doubt is something to be ashamed of because it is dishonest to believe if you have doubts.

Have you ever doubted your faith?  What do you do when you hit those moments of doubt?  Is it a sin to doubt?

I am reading .  The subtitle speaks for itself: the dilemma of doubt & how to resolve it.  This gem of a book, written in 1976, is out of print.  Fortunately, I found in our church library.

What is doubt?  Reading this book reminded me of an email I received several years ago.  I was teaching a college Sunday School class at the time.  One of the members of that class, a girl in her junior year of college, sent me this email.  I will call her "Jane" though that is not her real name.