Is it normal for Catholics to have doubts about the faith sometimes?

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Hi everyone! I’m a Cradle Catholic and right now, I’m absolutely in love with my faith. (which is why I’m on this site ;)) But the summer before my 8th grade I hated being catholic and going to church, because I thought I was too cool for it all. Now I realize how dumb that was, and I’m never going to do that again (now I have grace from Confirmation!) but I feel like it hurt my relationship with God somehow.

So I guess my question is : Is it normal for Catholic to have doubts about their faith at times? And if so how do you deal with that?

(I mean, my one non-Catholic friend asked me if I had ever had any doubts about my faith, and I honestly replied yes, and he was like, “well, I’ve never had any doubts” as if to prove that that made his religion better….)

I’ve also feel like I, more than other people, need to “make it up” to God, and then I get sad knowing that I never can completely make up for being such a jerk to God.

I’m just really confused and any help would be great right now. Thanks and God Bless!! 🙂
 
Hi “Nat” 👋 I was just wondering… is it possible that perhaps you are confusing “doubt” with “spiritual maturity”? Maybe that’s another way to look at it. I think maybe you’re simply maturing, in your faith.

I can remember those kinds of feelings, too… of being “too cool” for Mass, and the Church. And I’ve certainly been on a path of learning and rediscovery, where our Catholic faith is concerned. In fact, I had fallen away from the Church for about 10 years. <Back for over 4 now, will NEVER leave Home again! :extrahappy: >.

But the one thing I always said… even when I was fallen away… “I was born a Catholic and I will die a Catholic”. So… somewhere inside of me… the Truth was always there! It just needed time to mature.

You remind me of… ME 😃 lol. Don’t know if this helps, or not. God bless!
 
It is perfectly ok to have doubts. It is human nature to doubt things. We use our doubts to understand things more fully. We can’t stop ourselves from having doubts. When I used to have more doubts I would use those times to re-evalute what is causing my doubt. I pray as hard as I can for God to reaffirm my faith in him. Faith in our Lord is a daily task. We have to work at it constantly.

I agree with the previous poster, however, your post sounds more like spiritual immaturity then doubt.
 
Nat2 said:
Hi everyone! I’m a Cradle Catholic and right now, I’m absolutely in love with my faith. (which is why I’m on this site ;)) But the summer before my 8th grade I hated being catholic and going to church, because I thought I was too cool for it all. Now I realize how dumb that was, and I’m never going to do that again (now I have grace from Confirmation!) but I feel like it hurt my relationship with God somehow.

So I guess my question is : Is it normal for Catholic to have doubts about their faith at times? And if so how do you deal with that?

(I mean, my one non-Catholic friend asked me if I had ever had any doubts about my faith, and I honestly replied yes, and he was like, “well, I’ve never had any doubts” as if to prove that that made his religion better….)

I’ve also feel like I, more than other people, need to “make it up” to God, and then I get sad knowing that I never can completely make up for being such a jerk to God.

I’m just really confused and any help would be great right now. Thanks and God Bless!! 🙂
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Doubts=Opportunities to deepen our faith in and understanding of Church teaching
 
srferdave said:
I agree with the previous poster, however, your post sounds more like spiritual immaturity then doubt.
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Well, I didn’t really say “Nat” was spiritually immature. But was suggesting that perhaps, his/her spiritual maturity was currently in a growing process. Thar’s a difference 😉 <voice of experience… been down that road! 😃 >

God bless.
 
MarieVeronica said:
Well, I didn’t really say “Nat” was spiritually immature. But was suggesting that perhaps, his/her spiritual maturity was currently in a growing process. Thar’s a difference 😉 <voice of experience… been down that road! 😃 >

God bless.
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Got ya 🙂 But do you think I could ever fall back into it because I’ve already done it once?

by the way, my name’s natalie and I’m female 😉
 
I have passing doubts myself once in awhile.
I assume that different people have different responses. Some people go and check out the faith, by going to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, for example, or by asking their questions on Catholic Answers (as some people do here).
Another response it to look at it as Pascal said. It is better to believe the faith is right, and that it leads to our salvation. What do we have to lose by taking this approach? If we are right, we have eternal happiness. If we choose the other way, we will be certain to have nothing.
However, I don’t proceed in this last way. I begin thinking about what I know about the faith. Our faith is a noble thing. Outside it are many forms of degradation. Just go out and learn what people are like. But for myself, usually I think first of all what I have learned about God, and my doubt about the faith quickly vanishes.
In fact, when many people went away from Christ, when he taught about the eucharist, that people would eat his body and drink his blood, Jesus asked Peter if he would go away too. Peter said to Jesus, where can we go? You have the words of eternal life. It is the same with our faith.
 
Nat2 said:
Got ya 🙂 But do you think I could ever fall back into it because I’ve already done it once?

by the way, my name’s natalie and I’m female 😉
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Hi Natalie… I suppose that a certain kind of “doubt” <but I still think “growth” would be a better term; almost like “growing pains”> could present itself, from time to time on our spiritual journeys.

Since my return to the Church… I have found that the best way to combat this, is through prayer (I highly recommend the Rosary) and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist.

Are we gonna fall down <back?> from time to time? Hmmm… Probably. Because we’re only human, after all. But Jesus Himself, is our Divine Physician. So, there is a remedy. I would also highly recommend Eucharistic Adoration to you.

I hope this helps in some way. God bless.

MV :curtsey:
 
Catholic faith is all about conversion-which is a process. And it’s really the process of moving from separation from God to full-blown belief in and love for Him. And this process of transformation may not even be finished in this lifetime. So faith in God is like love for God. We can grow in it by degrees-and slip back once in awhile.
 
baylee said:
LOL…I’m confused…can you give us a concrete example of what you doubted and why you are still confused?
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I doubted that there ever was a God, and if there was one that the Catholic church wasn’t the church he instituted…etc. I don’t know why I did it, and that’s why I’m confused. I know, it’s confusing 😛
 
Many times I will come across something that will strengthen my faith and remove all doubt. It maybe an event, something I read, something I saw, etc. I suggest if you ever have any of those moments to write them down or do something so that you can remember that. And whenever you have doubts go back to that memory. It may help you cast out some doubt.

For example… If you witnessed a miracle or heard someones story of a miracle or had some amazing experience where you felt really close to God. Use these things as spiritual guides for your faith.

Hope that helps.
 
Hi Nat,

Hey, even Mother Theresa had time of what they call desolation, a time where you feel so far from God. She even experienced doubts in God’s existence. However, sometimes He just pulls away our warm-fuzzies of Him to test our true faith in Him. Are we there for Him, or the warm-fuzzies associated with Him. This is how He forms our spiritual growth in Him. By growing, we can enter into deeper communion with Him.

At that time, were you trying to know and understand God by your intellect and some “proof”? Oh, he is so above our intellect and our reasoning because He is not of our world! However, Our Father communicates through our hearts. It is the love between that of the Father and the Son delivered through the Holy Spirit that spills onto us. These are moments of grace and can take on the character of just “knowing” that He is out there and He truly exists. Even if it is a Hope beyond all hope. That there’s got to be something bigger than ourselves.

You know, before you thought of Him, He thought of you. He loved you first. Just the fact that you are back and are now crazy about Him is such grace. Think about it…he called you back to Him. Like a Good Shepherd, He went after you simply because He loved you. And you responded! You acknowledged Him by loving Him back! How awesome! Just remember, He went after you first.

God’s Love and Blessings to you!😉
stteresasgirl
 
My dear young friend

Doubts are only dangerous if they go unanswered. Look for answers. There are answers for any doubts you can possibly have. You will only lose the faith if you don’t use the faith. Keep up your prayer life, get to confession and mass and study so eventually you have no doubts. But it’s only human when we doubt that which we don’t know. So don’t be down on yourself.

God bless:thumbsup:🙂
 
MarieVeronica said:
Hi Natalie… I suppose that a certain kind of “doubt” <but I still think “growth” would be a better term; almost like “growing pains”> could present itself, from time to time on our spiritual journeys.

Since my return to the Church… I have found that the best way to combat this, is through prayer (I highly recommend the Rosary) and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist.

Are we gonna fall down <back?> from time to time? Hmmm… Probably. Because we’re only human, after all. But Jesus Himself, is our Divine Physician. So, there is a remedy. I would also highly recommend Eucharistic Adoration to you.

I hope this helps in some way. God bless.

MV :curtsey:
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Thank you, It did help I think. I do love eucharistic adoration. God bless you too! 🙂
srferdave said:
Many times I will come across something that will strengthen my faith and remove all doubt. It maybe an event, something I read, something I saw, etc. I suggest if you ever have any of those moments to write them down or do something so that you can remember that. And whenever you have doubts go back to that memory. It may help you cast out some doubt.

For example… If you witnessed a miracle or heard someones story of a miracle or had some amazing experience where you felt really close to God. Use these things as spiritual guides for your faith.

Hope that helps.
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I had this wonderful experience, during adoration, but that was after my “doubts” or “spiritual immaturity”. Thank you for your advice. 🙂
 
Dear Nat

Try praing for faith and more and more. Also pray for heaps of little things in a very specific manner and watch and see your prayers answered and your faith will grow. We have to build up our faith and the best way is the sacraments, prayer, good works, penance and almsgiving. Do plenty of this and you’ll have strong faith.

God bless and peace to you:thumbsup:🙂
 
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