When Joshua Anderson left home and attended a secular college, the environment bombarded him with skepticism and criticism of Christianity. He internalized the general attitude manifested on campus from professors, students, and text books to such a degree that he began doubting his faith. He fell into a two year period of existential despair as he desperately read book after book trying to find satisfying answers to his nagging anxieties about Christianity. In this episode he shares how he was able to escape his dark night of the soul and reclaim his walk with God. If you’ve ever struggled with your own doubts about God’s existence or the bible’s veracity, or the Christian worldview, this episode will help you understand the mental forces at work as well as the limits of absolute certainty.
4 thoughts on “361 Paralyzed by Doubt (Joshua Anderson)”
Such an important issue for Christians going to college, as 70% leave the faith during that time (according to pew).
The big tragedy is that those with the most enthusiasm almost always take a higher criticism course with a professor like dr Ehrman (dr Errorman :p), who take a perverse pleasure in destroying faith. [They also like doing it through their unscholarly and poorly written books, which 90%+ of Christians will be unequipped to argue against. A bit of a racket that, getting pHd candidates to research and write most of the sloppy text, slapping your name on it, create a title promising the reader some special, heretofore unknown revelation, then cash the cheques).
So, an 18 year old is powerless against an attack by professors like that. Why? Because we are trained to believe experts and those in authority. Further, they have had years of training and are operating in a godless world. It is like when a scientist on CNN tells you something. You are not equipped to argue with them, you accept it because he is the authority and you do not have the education to argue. The authority may be wrong, and there might be others who disagree (remember when low fat diets were universally recommended?), but you a just a regular guy facing the awesome might of SCIENTIST.
They especially love dismantling arrogant kids who have been taught that their faith is completely rational and easily defended. Pitting a kid with no training and moderate intelligence against a highly trained, very intelligent, hostile person on the top rung of power hierarchy will end badly. It is not a fair fight.
World class minds like Metzger, Kugel, and Harnack can and have retained their faith in that world, and been at the forefront, so it isn’t incompatible. But a young christian, with a normal intellect, and no expertise in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew is unlikely to survive an atheistic higher crit class in a secular university with a hostile professor. Sadly, these kinds of teachers are in some seminaries because there is not s big demand for secular bible scholars, so they take jobs and lie about their faith.
If someone is interested in textual criticism and isn’t a genius with a background in ancient languages, and understands the nature if faith, it is vital they do it in a faith based milieu. At secular schools, keep them in non religion based classes.
Finally, it is vital to know and understand that the core of Christianity is faith. People need to know that you do not prove the truth of Christ with science and philosophy. You cannot argue and debate someone into accepting God’s love and grace. So, yes ‘truth has nothing to fear’, but how many of us fully grasp that truth enough at 17 to engage with a hostile world?
Yes. My story is one of moving from boyhood desiring the near presence of the one true God the Father to an abusive Dad, mental abuse over and over again when no one else was listening in our family of five at home. To him I was a worthless jackass, no possiblity of amounting to anything. He went to our home church with my believing mother, but it never meant much to him either. I came to realization later that he no doubt harbored a demon, it came out of his small dark eyes into mine.
When a pretribulational fundamentalist pastor from Dallas Theological Seminary came to our home church, where I could listen in adult Sunday school classes to world class Biblical scholars from the University of Michigan, whose offices were right across the street. But this new pastor demanded allegiance to his Bible interpretations, split the church, the scholars left and less studied men and women started teaching what the pastor wanted.
I kept studying the Scriptures, praying to my Lord to stay close to me. Went into my bedroom closet to pray that the forces of evil would not contend with me, make me fear my nightmares and my loneliness in my basement bedroom, alone all through my at home years.
So I went into the woods and crossed miles of farm fields, watching and studying wildlife and the rest of creation, all made without any human hands or minds. God’s unfathomable wisdom was there and still is. To be continued……….is anyone reading?
Yep – I like to read all comments on ‘Restitutio’. I share your dislike of religious hypocrisy and religious bigotry. Another word for this is ‘Phariseeism’. God bless you, Thomas. Keep going – God loves you.
Such an important issue for Christians going to college, as 70% leave the faith during that time (according to pew).
The big tragedy is that those with the most enthusiasm almost always take a higher criticism course with a professor like dr Ehrman (dr Errorman :p), who take a perverse pleasure in destroying faith. [They also like doing it through their unscholarly and poorly written books, which 90%+ of Christians will be unequipped to argue against. A bit of a racket that, getting pHd candidates to research and write most of the sloppy text, slapping your name on it, create a title promising the reader some special, heretofore unknown revelation, then cash the cheques).
So, an 18 year old is powerless against an attack by professors like that. Why? Because we are trained to believe experts and those in authority. Further, they have had years of training and are operating in a godless world. It is like when a scientist on CNN tells you something. You are not equipped to argue with them, you accept it because he is the authority and you do not have the education to argue. The authority may be wrong, and there might be others who disagree (remember when low fat diets were universally recommended?), but you a just a regular guy facing the awesome might of SCIENTIST.
They especially love dismantling arrogant kids who have been taught that their faith is completely rational and easily defended. Pitting a kid with no training and moderate intelligence against a highly trained, very intelligent, hostile person on the top rung of power hierarchy will end badly. It is not a fair fight.
World class minds like Metzger, Kugel, and Harnack can and have retained their faith in that world, and been at the forefront, so it isn’t incompatible. But a young christian, with a normal intellect, and no expertise in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew is unlikely to survive an atheistic higher crit class in a secular university with a hostile professor. Sadly, these kinds of teachers are in some seminaries because there is not s big demand for secular bible scholars, so they take jobs and lie about their faith.
If someone is interested in textual criticism and isn’t a genius with a background in ancient languages, and understands the nature if faith, it is vital they do it in a faith based milieu. At secular schools, keep them in non religion based classes.
Finally, it is vital to know and understand that the core of Christianity is faith. People need to know that you do not prove the truth of Christ with science and philosophy. You cannot argue and debate someone into accepting God’s love and grace. So, yes ‘truth has nothing to fear’, but how many of us fully grasp that truth enough at 17 to engage with a hostile world?
All the best.
The point is Melvin that everything comes down to just one big, fundamental question –
” Was Jesus miraculously resurrected from the dead, in a new supernatural form ? ”
I believe He was – as did orthodox Jewish historian and political diplomat, Pinchas Lapide.
God bless you, Melvin.
Yes. My story is one of moving from boyhood desiring the near presence of the one true God the Father to an abusive Dad, mental abuse over and over again when no one else was listening in our family of five at home. To him I was a worthless jackass, no possiblity of amounting to anything. He went to our home church with my believing mother, but it never meant much to him either. I came to realization later that he no doubt harbored a demon, it came out of his small dark eyes into mine.
When a pretribulational fundamentalist pastor from Dallas Theological Seminary came to our home church, where I could listen in adult Sunday school classes to world class Biblical scholars from the University of Michigan, whose offices were right across the street. But this new pastor demanded allegiance to his Bible interpretations, split the church, the scholars left and less studied men and women started teaching what the pastor wanted.
I kept studying the Scriptures, praying to my Lord to stay close to me. Went into my bedroom closet to pray that the forces of evil would not contend with me, make me fear my nightmares and my loneliness in my basement bedroom, alone all through my at home years.
So I went into the woods and crossed miles of farm fields, watching and studying wildlife and the rest of creation, all made without any human hands or minds. God’s unfathomable wisdom was there and still is. To be continued……….is anyone reading?
Yep – I like to read all comments on ‘Restitutio’. I share your dislike of religious hypocrisy and religious bigotry. Another word for this is ‘Phariseeism’. God bless you, Thomas. Keep going – God loves you.