In two minds: The dilemma of doubt & how to resolve it - Softcover

Guinness, Os

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0877847711 ISBN 13: 9780877847717

Publisher: InterVarsity Press, 1976

Synopsis

The author describes the purpose of his book: "Well, I myself didn't have a lot of the doubts described in the book, but I met so many people who were either ashamed, embarrassed, or felt guilty about doubting. And I wanted to relieve them of that. Doubt is not the same as unbelief. You have faith in Christ, which is sure of Christ, and you have unbelief which, sadly, is not sure of Christ. And doubt is a halfway house. And all the languages of the world as well as the Scriptures had this idea of doubt in two minds. So like a coin spinning it will come down heads or tails. It has got to be resolved, but you don't need to feel bad about doubt. You just need to resolve it." -"We do not trust God because he guides us; we trust and then are guided, which means that we can trust God even when we do not see guided by him. Faith may be in the dark about guidance, but it is never in the dark about God" (p. 261). In fact, "God proves not only better to us than our worst fears but better to us than our wildest dreams" (p. 184). In fact, how we handle doubt is largely a reflection of the health of our faith because "since the object of Christian faith is God, to believe or disbelieve is everything. Thus the market value of doubt for the Christian is extremely high. Find out how seriously a believer takes his doubts and you have the index of how seriously he takes his faith" (p. 31). Os Guinness (D.Phil., Oxford) is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including The American Hour, Time for Truth and The Case for Civility. A frequent speaker and prominent social critic, he was the founder of the Trinity Forum and has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. He lives near Washington, D.C.

About this edition

• Publisher: InterVarsity Press
• Publication date: 1976
• ISBN 10: 0877847711
• ISBN 13: 9780877847717
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 302