When Other People Fall Away

(The following is an edited email correspondence.)

…I am somewhat affected by former pastors who became atheists, Catholics, etc.

We know that faith is a grace-gift of God, but it helps to work out the intellectual issues in your mind.

The Bible teaches us about sin; it gives us examples of the apostasies of long-time professing believers and ministers. And the parable of the sower tells us that some "believe" (false faith) for a while, and then fall away. So, the fact that some professing believers and even ministers fall away from the Christian faith is exactly what we should expect, since it is thoroughly consistent with what Scripture teaches. The falling away of some believers and ministers are examples of the truth of Scripture.

Also, if you are going to be affected by people converting away from Christianity, then how about considering the fact that many people are also converted to Christianity? It is irrational to be affected by other people’s conversion in either direction, but one could at least be consistent and be affected both ways, instead of being affected only by those converted away from Christianity.

Your doubt is selective — you are letting something affect you in one direction while you are not letting the same thing affect you in another direction. This is doubly irrational. If everyone in the world converts to Christianity, would that make Christianity more or less true? If anything, that would contradict Christianity, since Scripture guarantees that not everyone would be converted.

The point is that your doubt does not arise from rational thinking — it is not that you are too rational; rather, it arises from irrational and selective thinking. Thus you must doubt your doubt. Nothing other than God’s Word can withstand intense skepticism, including skepticism itself. But as it is, your doubt is selective and biased against Christianity.

Also, all of those who fall away from the faith are extremely stupid people who defect for irrational reasons, and whom I can easily crush in debate. But you must learn to do the same.

So, you should rationally consider the various aspects of the situation — the irrationality of your own doubt, the reasons why people fall away (the problem of evil, pursuit of personal lusts and ambitions, etc.), the reality of sin and false conversions, and so forth.

Meanwhile, since faith is a grace-gift, you should continue to pray and study for God to increase your faith and to grant you spiritual stability. You must continue to press hard for holiness and assurance, by using the means of grace (prayer, study, etc.) that God has given to you for precisely such a purpose.

It also helps to deal with doubt within the context of a community of faithful Christians, and under strong spiritual leaders.

Recommended:

Vincent Cheung, Systematic Theology

Vincent Cheung, Commentary on Ephesians

Vincent Cheung, Apologetics in Conversation

Thomas Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm