Deeper shade of grey | Faith House 15

 The joy of doubt

I‘ve begun an unintentional habit of reading the most profound articles in the most unusual of places. It makes going to the hairdressers and the Chinese take away a little more interesting. Last month it was an article about recapturing the emotion of awe and how a lack of awe affects our well-being …. fascinating. Saturday while waiting for numbers 18, 24, 32, 34 and 37 in the Ho Hing I ruffled through the usual freebie papers and magazines to find the Psychologies magazine and an article by Emma Cook called the ‘Joy of Doubt’.

“Doubt is an inescapable aspect of human nature, and yet how many of us wish it were not?”

“Make peace with doubt -When you doubt, rather than automatically criticising yourself for being indecisive, remember that doubt is a healthy process by which you can discover your true beliefs…”

“We should feel proud of the fact that we see and struggle with the contradictions of the world. That is a very noble situation to be in . The opposite is to be a fundamentalist - unwilling to engage with or appreciate any position but your own…”

“Doubt is the beginning,not the end of wisdom…” (George Iles).

An interesting thought might be that honest questioning doubt from a desire to believe, may have more to do with the deepening of our faith, than a unquestioning undynamic blind faith that refuses to move beyond anything more than the cosmetics of mere acceptance.

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

Writer: Capt. Gordon Cotterill lives in London, England, is married to Kate and has two daughters Bethan and Eryn. He has been a Salvation Army officer for ten years and ‘cut his teeth’ in ministry with his wife as the corps officers at Poplar in the East End of London. The lessons he learned there in his day-to-day ministry, amid the chaos of the inner city, continue to shape his understanding and passion for biblical and grace-centred mission. His latest appointment as Spiritual Programme Director at the William Booth College, London now offers him the opportunity for the fusion and exploration of ‘mission’ and ’spiritual formation’ while trying to inspire a new generation of Salvation Army officers as to their role in God’s plan for His creation. Gordon keeps a blog where he mulls over themes of mostly, mission and spiritual formation.

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