When Faith Fails: Finding God in the Shadow of Doubt

by Dominic Done, Bob Goff (Foreword by)

Overview

Wrestling with doubt can be profoundly lonely, but Portland pastor Dominic Done offers a safe place to openly wrestle with your faith without being criticized or judged.

Writing with humor and candor out of his own experiences, and incorporating Scripture, literature, and accounts of others who have doubted, Dominic Done argues that not only is questioning normal, it is often a path toward a rich and vibrant faith. Rather than viewing trust and doubt as incompatible, When Faith Fails provides readers with a way to wrestle and ask questions while growing ever closer to God.

No subject is off-limits, and Dominic fearlessly and graciously addresses topics including:

• the experience of tragedy
• the difficult parts of the Bible
• the intersection of science and faith
• the times when God is silent

By walking in the path that many others have trod, you can move through doubt into a deeper, fuller faith—a faith that doesn’t run from questions and the hard work of honest wrestling but instead embraces the mysteries of belief.

"This book is for those of us who have experienced a gut check, or two, when it comes to some of the intersections between our lives and our faith. It’s for those of us who no longer want to add unnecessary explanations to our beliefs just because we can’t fully see what God is doing in our lives."

—Bob Goff, New York Times bestselling author of Everybody, Always

“This book is one of those books that I will be buying to give to multiple friends.”

—Jefferson Bethke, New York Times bestselling author of Jesus > Religion

“This book will help you surrender and trust the areas of your life that are meant to exude God-designed mystery, while also holding your hand as you search for substance and truth.”

—Audrey Rolo­ff, coauthor of A Love Letter Life, founder of Always More, and cofounder of Beating50Percent

“Doubt is such a pertinent issue in this cultural moment. Dominic walks us through the issues of doubt with which we wrestle but he does so in pastoral practicality. One feels as though you are seated in his living room sipping coffee. Dominic is the type of soul who understands the questions of the heart. He never shames. He’s always transparent. He gives substantive hope.”

—Emerson Eggerichs, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Love & Respect

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400207763
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	02/19/2019
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	639,841
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Dominic Done is founder of Pursuing Faith and author of When Faith Fails. With a master’s in theology from the University of Oxford, he has served as a pastor in Portland, Oregon; North Carolina; and Hawaii. Dominic has also taught English for companies in Europe, lectured in theology and history at various Christian colleges, worked as a radio DJ, and lived as a missionary in Vanuatu and Mexico. He and his wife, Elyssa, have a daughter, Amelia, and a fuzzy Goldendoodle, Bella.

Table of Contents

Foreword Bob Goff xv

Introduction xix

Part I Far From Home

Chapter 1 Knowing We Don't Know 3

Chapter 2 Between Two Worlds 20

Chapter 3 When the Sun Goes Dark 36

Chapter 4 I See Stars 52

Part II Exploring The Terrain

Chapter 5 Can I Trust the Bible? 73

Chapter 6 Is Science the Enemy of Faith? 91

Chapter 7 Why Is the World So Broken? 109

Chapter 8 Why Is God Silent? 125

Part III Coming Home

Chapter 9 The Luchador 147

Chapter 10 Be the Answer 164

Chapter 11 Balloons and Spears 182

Conclusion 195

Acknowledgments 199

Notes 201

About the Author 211

Editorial Reviews

11/12/2018
Done, pastor of Westside Church in Portland, Ore., insightfully addresses the problem of doubt in the Christian mind in this lucid debut. Done’s way of thinking emerged from a revelation: “It dawned on me that what had been wrong in my heart was my relentless quest for certainty.... I’m learning that sometimes the most liberating words are ‘I don’t know.’ ” He focuses on four sources of doubt among believers: difficult biblical passages, suffering in the world, contradictions between science and scripture, and the silence of God when life hurts. In each instance, Done addresses the questions and provides answers from sometimes unexpected sources (including Nietzsche and quantum physics), always leading back to the productive value of doubting faith. For Done, God’s plan will always overcome one’s doubts and so doubt should be embraced. There is a faithful way to live, he writes, that “doesn’t demonize or idolize doubt but recognizes doubt for what it is: an opportunity for authentic and vibrant faith.” Drawing on his own experiences, the lives of those he has pastored, and characters from literature, Done crafts peaceful meditations that will appeal to Christian readers interested in the intersection between faith and uncertainty. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly