Spiritual Questions

The great news about having spiritual questions is that God responds to people who genuinely are seeking. In fact, even Jesus had questions for God. As he hung on the cross he asked God a searching questions “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”

If you have spiritual questions you are looking for spiritual answers trying to fill a spiritual void. This means you are paying attention to your spiritual life. It also means that you have not yet closed off your mind and you are willing to explore Christianity with an open mind.

Jesus gave a great invitation to seekers: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.”
(The Gospel of Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 & 8)

We want to honor and respect your search and your spiritual questions. Instead of us trying to give you a special formula (“just do this and everything will be clear”) or giving you “answers” that don’t reflect the questions you’re actually asking (as some well-meaning people might have already tried), let us make some suggestions on how you might explore Christianity authentically:

Decide to keep an open mind. This does not mean blind acceptance of whatever you explore – healthy skepticism is wise. But hold an openness to what might be discovered. Keep a healthy balance between solid investigation and a willingness to accept what you find. Search with integrity.

Establish what it is you’re looking for. If you are spiritually searching you should expect your search to lead you to examine the deepest areas of your soul. A true spiritual search goes beyond your immediate needs and it engages with ultimate questions of meaning, purpose and fulfillment. Make sure you’re clear on how genuine your motives are for what you’re looking for.

Go with what is reliable and trustworthy. Search out credible evidence. The Bible is the source document of the Christian faith. The evidence for the credibility of the Bible as source document for searching faith is incredible. You’ll want to check that out. One interesting book to read is The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel or books on this subject by NT Wright or FF Bruce.

Everybody has a faith position – what you are trying to establish is whether or not it is good faith or bad faith. Can it support your life? Will it shape you into becoming the person you want to become? Will it see you through the toughest crisis? Will it hold you in the finality of death? With that’s at stake it would be unwise to rely on a subjective opinion – in your spiritual search you should try to search out as much reliable, trustworthy, objective evidence as possible.

Major on Jesus. The essence of our spirituality lies in a knowing God. You are seeking a relationship with God not just information about God. Jesus is at the heart of the Christian faith. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is an invitation to know God. Here we have an historical man who walked the earth and claimed to be the way to God, claimed to be God in human form. This is the ultimate question a spiritual seeker must answer – what are you going to do with Jesus Christ?

Find a church that lets you seek. Probably the church is the last place you think of turning to for help in your spiritual search. Understandably. Over the last few decades the history of the church in helping people search and find faith has been pretty dismal. For most of my life church has been for people who already believed, who had no more questions. But thankfully there are now churches where you can come with all your questions, doubts, concerns, fears, hopes and aspirations as a spiritual seeker…..because those kinds of churches are filled with people who have come down the same path as you. We invite you to search for your spiritual answers at this church – but if this one doesn’t work for you – visit other churches and if you feel you can belong there before you believe – belong and dig deep in your search.