{"id":54935,"date":"2020-06-10T02:28:36","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T07:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/?p=54935"},"modified":"2025-08-06T12:53:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T17:53:05","slug":"inspiration-doubting-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/inspiration-doubting-thomas\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiration: Doubting Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><figure id=\"attachment_55210\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55210\" style=\"width: 571px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2020\/06\/doubting-Thomas.jpg\"><img alt=\"doubting Thomas\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-55210\" src=\"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2020\/06\/doubting-Thomas.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"571\" height=\"381\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2020\/06\/doubting-Thomas.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2020\/06\/doubting-Thomas.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2020\/06\/doubting-Thomas.jpg?resize=768,512 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 571px) 100vw, 571px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-55210\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inspiration #hurthealedwhole<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">For 50+ years, <a href=\"https:\/\/josh.org\/about-us\/joshs-bio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"s2\">Josh McDowell<\/span><\/a> Ministry has been leading seekers into a deeper knowledge of God\u2019s truth and power. We offer you our accumulated knowledge and <a href=\"https:\/\/josh.org\/resources\/apologetics\/research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"s2\">research<\/span><\/a> to help you find truth and encouragement to live a healthy and whole life in Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>What Doubting Thomas Teaches Us<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When we are uncertain, it can feel hard to know what to say to God. We put pressure on ourselves to hide our doubts and frustrations\u00a0 &#8212; <em>even though He&#8217;s already fully aware of them!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">But the beauty of healthy relationships is their depth of vulnerability and trust, and the freedom to be authentic. <\/span><span class=\"s1\">One of the shortest, yet most profound biblical examples of this is the story of &#8220;Doubting Thomas.&#8221; <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As one of Jesus&#8217; inner circle, Thomas was dedicated to the Lord. Yet when Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, Thomas wasn&#8217;t on hand to witness it. So when the other disciples told Thomas the good news, he didn\u2019t believe it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3><em>Don&#8217;t we all doubt &#8230; and often? Don&#8217;t we too often demand &#8220;proof&#8221; before we&#8217;ll believe?<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When Christ later appeared to Thomas, He didn\u2019t shame or mock him for his doubt. <em>Jesus met Thomas right where he was<\/em>, and showed him the truth. <\/span><span class=\"s1\">God offers us this same grace! <\/span><span class=\"s1\">We have His permission to bring our doubts or fears. We can know that it&#8217;s okay to pray, &#8220;Help my unbelief!&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">The point of the story of Thomas is about God&#8217;s ceaseless grace, which invites our closer walk with Him. He will meet us in our doubt, to speak calm, life, and truth into our uncertainty. Take heart! God is for you, even in your doubt.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>We care!<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Submit a prayer request to us <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/josh.org\/prayer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Do you want to have a relationship with Jesus? Start <a href=\"https:\/\/josh.org\/resources\/spiritual-growth\/know-god\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>We invite you to read Josh&#8217;s book, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/store.josh.org\/product\/more-than-a-carpenter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More Than a Carpenter<\/a>. <\/em>This short apologetics classic examines the historical evidence about Jesus. We can trust that He lived, died, rose, and walks with us daily!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For 50+ years, Josh McDowell Ministry has been leading seekers into a deeper knowledge of God\u2019s truth and power. We offer you our accumulated knowledge and research to help you find truth and encouragement to live a healthy and whole life in Christ. What Doubting Thomas Teaches Us When we are uncertain, it can feel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23327,"featured_media":55210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"The point of the biblical story of doubting Thomas isn't shame, but God's grace! Trusting in His love and understanding invites our closer walk with Him! >>","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[440,956,823,186,821],"translator":[],"blog-author":[78],"class_list":["post-54935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","tag-doubt","tag-doubting-thomas","tag-gods-goodness","tag-grace","tag-trusting-god","blog-author-josh-mcdowell-ministry-team"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2020\/06\/doubting-Thomas.jpg","meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92841,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54935\/revisions\/92841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54935"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/translator?post=54935"},{"taxonomy":"blog-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-author?post=54935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}