Questioning Faith is a compilation of real-life faith stories. I picked it up as a Christian, eager to read about how others have overcome their doubts and come to a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I wanted to better understand some of the major sticky areas for modern doubters. Perhaps I was secretly hoping for that silver bullet to answer all those hard questions and help doubters overcome their doubts.
Author Randy Newman spent a lifetime engaging with Christians and non-Christians wrestling with faith, with many journeys involving walking through seasons of doubt and sometimes overcoming them. Examples of famous and ‘ordinary’ Christians can be so helpful for our own journeys. Here are my observations.
1. God Is at Work Saving People
Firstly, reading people’s journeys from unbelief to faith is incredibly encouraging for my own walk with God. So many times in this book I was exposed to our wonderful God who continues to be at work saving sinners and bringing them out of darkness and into his light.
Questioning Faith: Indirect Journeys of Belief through Terrains of Doubt
Randy Newman
Questioning Faith: Indirect Journeys of Belief through Terrains of Doubt
Randy Newman
Do you have honest questions about faith? Or have you walked away from faith altogether?
After 40 years listening to hundreds of people’s stories of faith, Randy Newman has come to see that answering spiritual questions usually involves a series of twists and turns, not a direct ascent from one belief to another. If you or a friend are navigating terrains of doubt, you’ll find Newman to be a faithful guide. He’ll help you sort through your many questions and find solid answers.
This is a huge encouragement if you’re in an echo-chamber of doubters, atheists or other religions. God is doing his normal miraculous work of regenerating hearts and saving souls. He so often does this through his people living authentic Christian lives, someone offering to read the Bible together, hospitality, or an invitation to church or a small group. As we continue to do these things, let’s remain confident God is at work.
This is a huge encouragement if you’re in an echo-chamber of doubters, atheists or other religions. God is doing his normal miraculous work of regenerating hearts and saving souls.
2. Our Stories Are Unique and Complex
There were so many seemingly contradictory stories in Questioning Faith. Where one person was really damaged by his nominally Christian upbringing, someone else found it helpful. Where someone had wonderful Christian friends in their life, others found the Christian community off-putting.
While initially frustrating, these contradictions soon highlighted to me the way our stories are diverse. We should not be quick to categorise someone and prescribe a general antidote. A deep understanding of a person’s story will begin to help us get to know their specific doubts and inform our prayers for their salvation.
People also landed in different theological places to me. As I followed the story of a scientist’s conversion, I really wanted him to come to the same convictions as I have about creation. At the time his story was penned, he hadn’t—reflecting real people’s journeys of faith. It is a humbling reminder that there are many Christians who hold different understanding of certain passages, and we need to welcome one another as brothers and sisters in Christ as we grow in our understanding of God’s word.
3. Don’t Fear Your Doubts—Examine Them
Finally, these stories remind us we don’t need to be scared of our doubts or the doubts of those around us. While Newman provides helpful ways to interact with doubts when they emerge, he also reminds us to aim for confidence, not certainty (45). Christians should be confident in the truths of the Bible, but we are not God so we may waver as we walk with him. We may be confronted with new challenges, particularly as new seasons of suffering come upon us. Or we may face new doubts as the Tempter meets us with new lies. Newman encourages us to examine our doubts: are they really as substantive as they seem (55)? I like to have a game plan in mind for when things happen, so I’m storing away Newman’s challenge to examine our doubts for upcoming trials I might face.
Newman encourages us to examine our doubts: are they really as substantive as they seem?
Newman also reminds the doubter and sceptic that faith is inevitable (ch. 2). The question is simply “Who will we worship?” Opening up people’s stories really exposes our amazing capacity to worship so many things other than God. We sinful humans can spend much of our life, our time, our money, and our energy appeasing our gods, which end up eating us alive. For the Christian, this is our lived experience before Christ saves us, and it’s a common temptation to fall back into even after we’re saved. Newman’s reminders to consider who we are putting our faith in and what we are finding our hope in are a real challenge to us.
4. All Religions Aren’t The Same
Chapter four, “The Question of Differences”, was my favourite. Newman shows with clarity and compassion how it is impossible to say all religions are the same and that this thinking is absurd to those who actually hold to these different religions. He then goes into detail by assessing three different examples. I was particularly impressed with his section on yoga and how Christianity and yoga are entirely contradictory to one another at their core (66–71). This is an obvious point to my friends who have converted from Hinduism to Christianity and would never consider incorporating yoga into their Christian walk. Western Christians don’t think about this carefully enough before participating in yoga classes.
Questioning Faith concludes with Nicodemus’ own indirect faith journey as recorded in John, and a number of questions for readers to ponder regardless of where they are at in their own journey. For this Christian, Newman helped me to know that by careful listening and observation, I can better understand people’s doubts and continue to confidently hold out the answers that the Bible offers.
