DOUBTFULNESS OR TRUTHFULNESS

Fear is one of the motives that generate one's curiosity. It does make a difference if our curiosity is motivated by the fear of error (by doubt) or by the love for truth. It is not the same if one is error-fearful or truth-loving.

We met people whose curiosity was driven by doubt. They are not satisfied with a simple explanation of the reality that surrounds them. They have a habit of "digging" beyond simple explanations, in the effort to find something hidden or complicated. They can never receive enough evidence to make themselves sure of the truth.

Even in the secular life we do not possess all the evidence of a given truth and still go on living. We have no evidence that we are going to be hit by a car on the street and still do not reach some hidden corners. We have no evidence if the water we drink has not a deadly poison in it. Would this be a reason for us to stop drinking water? Are we going to lose our identity and cease to exist because no one brought scientific evidence of our existence yet? We cannot prove that all this, somehow, is not a dream or hallucination. Therefore, notwithstanding all the absence of evidence, we behave in the most acceptable way we can. The life compels us to stand for the truth and we go on living by it.

Not until we begin to live in accordance with the truth which is most acceptable for us, we get into spiritual readiness for learning, understanding and living by the truth that will be a complete answer to our own spiritual and physical needs. If we overlook the evidences set before us and those that go without saying and begin to suspect the truth, we can fall into the sin of doubt.

We will not set us free from doubtfulness by greater comprehension of truth, but by a heart conversion, because doubt is a sin and vagueness of the truth is the only opportunity for the manifestation of the motive of doubt.

If we allow our curiosity to be stirred by the wrong motives, if we investigate the truth out of fear instead of love, we shall accept it and live out of fear instead of love.

DOUBT AS SPIRITUAL BLOCKADE

The truth is inviting us to accept Christ and by trusting Him enter the road He has set before us. Doubtfulness lowers our sight from Christ to the road itself, and make us analyze the road in order to test if Christ is really trustworthy. Different from doubtfulness, true love make us direct our attention to Christ and by reasonable realization of the character of His love, establish that He is worthy of our trust.

"Many are unwilling to accept of Christ until the whole mystery of the plan of salvation shall be made plain to them. They refuse the look of faith, although they see that thousands have looked, and have felt the efficacy of looking, to the cross of Christ. Many wander in the mazes of philosophy, in search of reasons and evidence which they will never find, while they reject the evidence which God has been pleased to give. They refuse to walk in the light of the Sun of Righteousness, until the reason of its shining shall be explained. All who persist in this course will fail to come to a knowledge of the truth. God will never remove every occasion for doubt. He gives sufficient evidence on which to base faith, and if this is not accepted, the mind is left in darkness. If those who were bitten by the serpents had stopped to doubt and question before they would consent to look, they would have perished. It is our duty, first, to look; and the look of faith will give us life." (EGW PP 432)

The doubters first expect to get every single detail cleared up on the way they were introduced to, before they are ready to come to Christ and follow Him on His way. Now, what are the motives and whose inspiration is it when we meditate apart from Christ? How can we understand divine love through the principles of our merciless heart? Meditation apart from Christ offers no way out and has the virtue of bringing us into even deeper darkness. Only if we live according to the truth that we did understand, we will be enabled to receive higher and greater truth. Only if we accept Christ by the measure of accepting that He has invited us to, we will be enabled to appreciate His love in greater glory and to give ourselves to Him deeper.

We cannot test the safety of the way God is inviting us on by observing and investigating the way itself, but by knowing the divine Person that leads us on that way. When we get to know the character of God, we will not care what the way is like. Peter walked on water because He believed Jesus by His word. The moment Peter let a big wave draw his attention away, he doubted and began to sink. We cannot and should not, by reason, examine all the details of our way, but can and should examine the object of our trust intelligently. By contemplating on the character of Him that is invisible, we begin to trust God, that He, with His mighty arm, will lead us completely securely. (Psalm 37:5) If our mind is fixed on the things physically visible, the unclearness of the way will feed our doubts and our discouragement.

False religion tries to satisfy the sinful human curiosity. It does not develop the trust in God: it tries to make the way a secure one. It furnishes the motives of one's selfish curiosity giving him some rational explanations why it is useful to act this or that way. It gives the system of suggestions and advices and induces one, by accepting and observing them, to develop the feeling of his own security, leaving God as a figure needed only in theoretical sense.

THE FEAR FROM THE ENEMY

The doubt is much used in false giving attributes and accusations of the motives of ideological opponents. When someone cannot deny the attitudes of the opponent, then he tries to deny the motives of their carriers. As the accusations against the "enemy's" motives are less proved, people's paranoia is strongly activated: "They have secret scriptures about ... behind them there lie..."

As we see the emotion of the fear is motivated by not defined experience. Clear and factual defining of the "enemy" would remove the provocation for the imagination of the listener to attach him those motives which he is apt to project. Not defining gives the broadness of the projection. Bad motives which move some organization cannot be the argument by which the attitudes of that organization are denied. The error must be unmasked with the truth and not by paranoid accusations. Maybe behind the astrologers there lies masonry, but those are not the reasons that it is bad to believe in astrology, nor that it is bad to be a mason. Paranoid person understands that something is bad because it is in connection with something else which is also bad and which lies behind it, but such connections are not suitable to the principles of common sense, nor will help the man who is in temptation.

The error is dangerous only because it gives a man an excuse to sin, and the truth is good because it reveals the character of the real godly love and thus enables us to rightly use our will in the life temptations. Every other thinking is not important for the people's salvation and it often represents not needed and dangerous temptation.

FEAR AS AN EMOTION

The feeling of fear may be a real, adequate answer to the experiences of the real life, as danger, surprise, obscurity of a situation, etc. but if fear becomes a driving force of life, it is then the fear as the sinful motive of phobia, paranoia, cowardice, doubtfulness, skepticism, etc.

For example, a feeling of fear is an adequate answer to an oncoming danger from an automobile approaching to us in a great speed. Now, the role of feeling can be correct, depending on our spiritual state. If we are in the right communion with God we will have the emotion of fear and we will not go away from it, but we will go away out of motive of love for ourselves, for driver, etc... But in the bad spiritual condition the mere emotions of fear will govern us. In other words, we will become cowards, we will go away out of the motive of fear and not of love (because we do not have love). As the emotion of fear is not rational itself (and the emotions should have the rational role), it can happen that we, out of the fear, remain petrified and fall into a danger.

If we are reconciled with God, then we have no reason to fear because we have the trust in God's leadership and we will not have cause for fear in our motives. We will not have the fear in ourselves so our zeal will not be pervaded by the fear as the moving force:

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

"For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7)

Differently from the fear as motive which is therefore the sin, the emotion of fear exists, what is the consequence of the understanding of God's greatness, His great love and grace towards a fallen man.

Such emotion of fear appears together with the emotion of joy:

"Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling." (Psalm 2:11)

Fear is the emotion which is adequate answer to the unclearness and greatness of that which we try to comprehend.

The revelation of the limitless God's love toward us overcomes our power to explain it to ourselves and when we personally accept such understandable God's love, we feel fear and amazement, perplexity and thankfulness.

"But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." (Psalm 130:4)

"I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them; they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it." (Jeremiah 33:8-9)