Reason #6

I left the church because sometimes I doubt, and church can be the worst place to doubt.
Rachel Held Evans

The church should be the best place to doubt and to bring your doubts to fellow doubters who either do doubt or did process through some doubt at some point in their journey.  But the reality is we have created a climate in the church that says you should never doubt.  Never bring honest and open feelings up even in a small group setting.  If you do, people look at you funny.  They might snicker or laugh.  Somehow we are effective in communicating if you have serious doubts take them somewhere else.

I believe that people in the church have convinced themselves that doubting is evil and wrong.  Don't be like Thomas and doubt.  Thomas doubted that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and he refused to believe until he saw Jesus and felt his scars.  And there is a place where doubt will hinder our faith, but there is also a place where the Spirit of the Lord can help us transform our doubts into faith.  This may never happen if we don't have a place to acknowledge and deal honestly with our doubts. 

Sometimes our spiritual pride has kept us from dealing with our own deep down doubts about God and the meaning of life.  God longs for us to humble ourselves and to get so close to a group of fellow believers that we are willing to deal with these doubts.  But if we would rather keep up our spititual reputation and false image, we will never deal with our own doubt and we can never help others deal with their doubts.

Embrace your questions and doubts!  Take them to God and to a few trusted friends!