Doubt Busters

The Doubt Busters site has drifted from its original mission as a question-and-answer format designed to help Christians address questions relative to their faith. But articles on the Christians’ faith journey have taken over the site.

As a result, I have created an offshoot of this website to house the latter type of articles. The site is called “Alive to God,” making reference to Romans 6:11, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What does it mean to be alive to God and no longer a slave to the old life?

Doubt Busters will retain all of its current content to keep the links intact. The new site is a direct copy of Doubt Busters, but with all the early Q&A content removed. If you prefer the later content you’ve been reading in Doubt Busters, please head on over to Alive to God and bookmark the new site.

There may come a time when we look at our lives and realize that God was no longer at work. We no longer enjoy the freedom, peace, and power we had with Him.

In the same way in Israel’s history, in the time of Saul, they had departed from God, but the reality did not hit them until the Philistines went to war with them and Israel brought out the ark of the covenant to the battle. Israel lost the battle, and the Philistines captured the ark (1 Samuel 4).

When we do something wrong and we knew better, sometimes it shocks us awake, especially when we could have resisted it before. We approached life as usual, then wham! The sin came out of nowhere and we were surprised. The Jews were surprised because they brought the ark with them, the symbol of God’s presence. But the Lord was not with them.

Our God wants to make Himself known to the world. He had this desire from the very beginning in the garden of Eden when He created the first couple. He made them in His image (Genesis 2:26–27).

He wanted them to be “fruitful,” meaning to flourish with all the God-given abilities, talents, and gifts they were given. To “multiply,” to procreate more godly images of Him. To “fill the earth” with these God-honoring images of Himself (Gen. 2:28 NKJV).

But sin entered in when the couple chose the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil at the instigation of a Satanic serpent (Gen. 3). So their offspring was corrupted with a sinful image, one that no longer looks to God for guidance, but instinctively acts with autonomy, deciding what is good and right for themselves. So all people begin life with this sinful mindset. Meanwhile, God left a promise of a new man who was to come, saying to the serpent, “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15; “bruise” in these two uses can also be rendered “crush”).