Conflicted Faith: How to grow in faith through positive conflict with God

All Christians struggle with their faith. We all have questions, we all doubt, we are all afraid at times. These conflicts are valuable because they cause us to struggle with God. (After all, struggling with God transformed Jacob into Israel). We often brush conflict under the carpet. But by combining the expressive and honest insights of John Donne's Holy Sonnets and the beautiful promises and hope of the Bible, Conflicted Faith helps us work through and resolve our faith struggles. This resolution deepens and grows our relationship with God. This book is a guide to navigating a range of faith challenges, doubts. and fears. It is also a devotional commentary on the extraordinary Holy Sonnets of 17th century English poet John Donne. It is a balm for those encountering the Wall in their faith journey (as described by Drs. Bill and Kristi Gaultier in "Journey of the Soul". It offers comfort, encouragement, and hope in the times they are most needed. Conflicted Faith does this by drawing extensively on the Bible to complement and respond to John Donne's so-familiar questions of faith. Some of the questions that are addressed with John Donne's help and the Bible's illumination and hope are: Can I be sure God loves me? Why doesn't God just fix me? What will happen when I die? Why is the Church so messed up? Are we really more than sophisticated animals? What is God's idea of beauty? John Donne may have lived hundreds of years ago. But his conflicts of faith are very much the same ones we experience when we live out our messy and unpredictable Christian lives. As we walk through them with him, the words of Scripture will comfort, encourage, and strengthen us. Truly, by God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we grow in faith through, and because of, the conflicts we encounter on the way.