Yes, I'm going through a serious crisis of faith. Here is where I am at:
Faith is a belief in something that is secure and unconcerned with logic and reason.
Faith means believing in something even though there is no reason to. Faith is choosing to be more confident that you would be if you were relying solely on evidence. The idea is that evidence takes you only so far, faith takes you the rest of the way. Faith is by definition unreasonable. If faith was reasonable, we would call it reason. Kierkergaard said that.
Only through the Holy Spirit can we find justification for faith as the holy Spirit is supposed to let us know what is truth and what is lies in what we believe through faith. Without the Holy Spirit faith is empty and we « just believe ». If faith is empty and not a reliable arbiter of truth, then the concept of the word of God in the bible, eternal soul, heaven, hell, God, Jesus and holy spirit are themselves nothing more than wishfull thinking. The whole edifice of christianity comes crumbling down around us if we can't justify our faith with the apport from the Holy Spirit itself.
We then need to answer those two questions, they are crucial for our faith :
How do we make sure we're filled with the holy Spirit, and not an evil lying demon pretending to be the Holy Spirit?
How do we separate the influence of the Holy Spirit from the cognitive falacy of confirmation bias?
If we can't answer those questions, then our faith could be influenced by an evil lying demon or by confirmation bias and we'd have no way to tell. In either case that would mean we could be deluded about christianity. Not a happy thought. Being deluded by confirmation bias, on the face of it, is much more probable than being influenced by the Holy Spirit, because we know some people are deluded by confirmation bias all the time when they believe weird stuff, but the existence of the Holy Spirit is not exactly scientific fact, it doesn't manifest itself in any other way than through our faith. So we need an assurance that the Holy Spirit is really guiding us and that we are not deluded about it.
What assurance do we have beside our faith itself that the Holy Spirit is really guiding us ?
Please help me answer those questions, people.
Hi. I am answering your post without reading any other answers you have been given because I feel led to.
What you describe within your first statement I recognise as the 'father Christmas syndrome' eg; something to believe in because one wants to believe in something so it may as well be father Christmas.
Now for some serious talking.
Go and find a quiet spot, away from everyone and somewhere you will not be disturbed for at least a couple of hours. If that means taking a drive out or a bus or train to a secluded place do it but you need solitude.
Once there there a few things you need to do. Firstly ask God, the creator of all creation to protect you, and to make Himself known to you. Ask Jesus to show you Himself to you in the reality you are in at that moment. Ask the Holy Spirit to come in to you and live there.
Ours is not a blind faith we do to be different from the world or to stand out from the crowd. When we make the decision to accept Jesus sacrifice on the cross as a covering for our sinful nature we automatically become sons of God. Asking the Holy Spirit in to ourselves gives us the opportunity to actually receive part of God within us. This does not leave us untouched. The effect may be calm or it may be powerful, but there will be an effect, we will not be ignored and this then infuses us with the Holy nature of God which in turn causes us to repent of our past lives, and this repentance manifests itself in many and various ways.
The Holy Spirit is described as a deposit from God. He brought us with the shed blood of Jesus, a colossal cost to Himself. God allowed His son Jesus Christ to die to purchase you from death, and as a deposit, before you receive the promise of eternal life, God gives you His Spirit.
A comparison can be Made within the world we live in because we all know what a deposit is, we go to a shop and buy a new washing machine, we pay a deposit and go home to wait for delivery, our bank accounts a little lighter, and because of this we know, have faith, we are getting the item we bought.
God bought us WOW! He paid for us with the life of His only son, WOW! He gave us a deposit of part of Himself, WOW! His Spirit confirms within us we are His. There is no wondering about it.
If any problems appear then it is the packaging we use. What we do afterwards will effect our relationship with Jesus, if we stay focused we will be OK because we have His promise, He will never let us Go. If we use the freedoms He gives us for our own selfish desires we will be in trouble and in danger of loosing what He has so freely won for us.
To say that faith is based on nothing tangible is the "father Christmas syndrome", I have met with Jesus personally, I have heard His voice, Jesus words about shepherds and hearing His voice are not fluffy pie in the sky things, they are real and tangible, my faith is based on relationship and relationship means knowing someone, and you can know Jesus personally, when in the quiet place ask Him, You will never doubt again.
I ask you Jesus to open this persons eyes to see you clearly, Open their ears to hear you plainly, Open their heat and make it a heart of flesh to be able love you dearly, and unlock their mind from the enemies grasp so they are be able to understand your calling and accept you sacrifice and truly come to know you, in your name, in Jesus name Amen.