Cathedral in Canterbury
By STEVE DOUGHTY FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Dailymail: The Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted that he struggles with doubt about the existence of God.
The Most Reverend Justin Welby said he wrestles with disbelief – most recently when out on his morning jog.
He also acknowledged that Christians have trouble explaining why God allows suffering in the world.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
The extraordinarily honest admission – during which the Archbishop said he was straying into territory where an Anglican leader should not go – came as he spoke during a visit to Bristol Cathedral earlier this week.
Asked if he ever struggled with doubt, the Archbishop said: ‘Yes I do. I mean there are moments where you think “Is there a God?”, “Where is God?”’
He added that there were moments when he was struck with doubt even while praying, including during his morning jogs near his official London residence Lambeth Palace.
‘I love the Psalms, if you look at Psalm 88, that’s full of doubt,’ he told the congregation. ‘I go, well I call it running, the dog calls it holding her back, in the morning.
‘The other day I was praying over something as I was running and I ended up saying to God “Look this is all very well but isn’t it about time you did something, if you’re there” – which is probably not what the Archbishop of Canterbury should say.’
But he added: ‘It is not about feelings, it is about the fact that God is faithful and the extraordinary thing about being a Christian is that God is faithful when we are not.’
Asked how to persuade people who think religion is outdated, he said Christians did not have the answer to why God allows suffering.
‘We turn the tide in a number of ways,’ he said. ‘We know about Jesus, we can’t explain all the questions in the world, we can’t explain about suffering, we can’t explain loads of things but we know about Jesus. We can talk about Jesus – I always do that because most of the other questions I can’t answer.’
Additional Reading
Three Proofs Against Trinity, from the Quran, in Ninety Words
How Islam has Influenced Christian understanding of God
Effectiveness of Prayers (Dua)
Categories: Belief, Bible, CHRISTIANITY, Europe and Australia, Highlight, Islam, Religion, UK
To a Muslim these statements seem as an acknowledgment that Trinity does not exist, as everyone agrees that Jesus did exist as a historic figure.
A slip of the tongue, shall we say?
Archbishop is the leader of 80 million strong. I guess he just sent them an invitation to Islam. Thank you Archbishop for your kindness!
Christian Boy Dies For 3 Minutes, Meets Allah in Heaven
The Ever Present Question of Suffering
“Archbishop is the leader of 80 million strong. I guess he just sent them an invitation to Islam. Thank you Archbishop for your kindness!”
Surely if it’s an invitation to anything, it’s to atheism.
Islam, The Holy Quran & The Prophet of Islam MUHAMMAD PBUH. Have guided us & given more & better answers_there cpmpletetion of th Law from ADAM Alesalam to MUHAMMAD & AHMAD Alesalam in our time for Unity of ALLMIGHTY & Mankind in ONE-
Yes, it appears to be an invitation to atheism. But if the Protestants want to remain attached with religion then there is no where to go except Islam. Islam teaches belief in a living, omnipotent,omnipresent God.
For a very high ranking priest to have doubt in existence of God is a very bad signal to the followers of that faith. We hope that Archbishop sahib of Canterbury always recovers from the delusion.
“But if the Protestants want to remain attached with religion then there is no where to go except Islam.”
Not sure I follow that “logic”. There are plenty of religions in the world other than the CofE and Islam.
He means, logically/rationally there is no place for him to go but Islam in terms of getting closer to God.
True there are many religions but its not a spiritual buffet, like one might think for others to come and try different items here and there.
There is only one truth. Only One God, not different Gods for different people or religions. And it comes down to who has got it right in terms of who he is and what he has said and what time we are living in relation to his message for us today.