Austin Fischer | Doubt, the Problem of Evil, and the Bigger Problem of Stuff

Spirituality for Ordinary People

"Doubt is only a problem if certainty is the expectation."—Austin Fischer

Episode 70 of Spirituality for Ordinary People features an interview with Austin Fischer. Austin is the Teaching Pastor at Vista Community Church. His latest book is called Faith in the Shadows: Finding Christ in the Midst of Doubt

Key Learnings

Everyone has doubts.

"The problem of evil" is a cold, rational way to talk about our doubts around the pain and suffering in the world. When we face real suffering it brings a crisis, because we have trouble squaring a God of infinite goodness with the amount of evil in the world.

Moving away from faith often happens because we hear nothing from God for very long periods of time. This may be more a perceived "hearing nothing" than what God is really up to.

Modern Science can still pose problems for Christians. Augustine is a great source to go to for how we understand the relationship between faith and science. He noted that when science and scripture appear to be in conflict, then the best thing is to go back to scripture and ask whether a literal reading is required.

Fundamentalism or rigid biblical literalism may in fact approach scripture in a more "scientific" way. It began a few hundred years after the Reformation and its roots may lie in an attempt to apply the scientific method and a search for accuracy to interpreting Scripture.

"The gravest threat to modern Christianity is neither fundamentalism nor science, but stuff!"

Love is the ultimate remedy for doubt.

Things to Think About

What are your own doubts? What crisis is being caused for you? What might you need to re-examine?

Will you "just think about your crisis of faith" or will you give away more of your stuff, serve the poor and needy?

Spiritual Practices Discussed in this Episode

Giving

Fixed prayer times throughout the day

"Praying with your eyes open"

Sabbath

Links and Resources:

• Austin Fischer's Website


• Faith in the Shadows: Finding Christ in the Midst of Doubt


• Unbelievable - The Debate mentioned by Austin in the Interview

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