6640 Doubt about doctrines of faith.... spiritual compulsion....

September 9, 1956: Book 71

Being in inner conflict with a doctrine of faith is only ever advantageous because it proves the will for truth and because then the truth can also be mentally conveyed to the human being because he opens himself to receive it. Every doubt is preferable to absolute certainty as long as it is not the directly imparted truth which, however, will then also appear acceptable to a person seriously desiring truth, even if doubts have preceded it. In any case, however, doubt proves that the human being is not indifferent to the nature of the spiritual knowledge offered to him. And therefore it is to be condemned in any case if people are forbidden to think about a doctrine of faith, about the justification of the truth claim of such a doctrine.... The human being has the duty to think about it, because he alone has to bear the responsibility for his soul.... because this responsibility cannot be passed on to those who demand the unquestioning acceptance of a doctrine of faith. Only when the human being thinks for himself can spiritual good become useful to him, and then he will also.... if he is serious and demands truth.... will take offence at illusionary or untrue teachings. He will mostly start to doubt, and this is truly a blessing, for then he will open himself to the spiritual currents which are mentally conveyed to him through the world of light. It is so easy for the human being to attain truth, for the desire for it also secures him the attention of truth. But people have fallen into a certain laziness of thought precisely because of the well thought-out trick of God's adversary to forbid people from thinking about what they are required to believe.... This is one of his most shameful means by which he has subjugated people to himself and can keep them in blindness of spirit.... But neither will man be able to excuse himself, for whatever the 'supposed church' demands of him.... he can turn to God Himself at any time and let Him advise and instruct him, and just one thought of wanting to fulfil God's will would truly also reveal God's will to him, for God has ways and means enough now (in order to) comply with the human being's desire. But this very 'desire' is lacking in people, and they entrench themselves behind this commandment.... to accept every doctrine of faith unchecked and without hesitation. And thereby God's adversary created many opportunities for himself to assert the pure truth without being offended. And therefore every doubt is the first step to escape from this area; every doubt proves one's own thinking and use of intellect, which God gave to every human being because it concerns a free decision of will in earthly life. Every person has to stand up for himself, and his intellect can help him to do so if he wants to reach God, to fulfil his earthly task. But God's adversary prevents this free decision of will by wanting to force them to adopt his way of thinking.... which, however, never leads to God.... And thus, as long as people are still dominated by spiritual coercion, as long as they are still forbidden to acquire knowledge and to freely choose their thoughts, they will still be under the adversary's power, but they will immediately escape from him if they pursue the doubt arising in them and try to acquire the right knowledge.... And God meets them, He first lets them clearly recognize the baseless and wrong and then also guides them to the pure truth which will dispel their doubts and which they unhesitatingly and convincingly accept as truth. For the intellect should not only be used in earthly relationships but it is also the task of the intellect to fathom and clarify spiritual matters as soon as the human being seriously strives to perfect himself, to reach God and to think, want and act in accordance with His will.... Then he can be convinced that God will not let him fall prey to error because He Himself is the 'eternal truth' and He also wants His living creations to walk in truth....

Amen

This proclamation is used in the following themebook:

Themebook	Title	Download
150	Form Christians - Living Christians	ePub   PDF   Kindle

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