What is the difference between obstinate doubt and ordinary doubt?
The short answer
Obstinate doubt is voluntary doubt — deliberately refusing to hold as true what God has revealed — and is a grave matter. Involuntary doubt — hesitation, difficulty with objections, anxiety at the faith's obscurity — is not in itself sinful.
Voluntary and involuntary
Voluntary doubt disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes. Involuntary doubt is hesitation in believing, difficulty overcoming objections, or anxiety at the faith's obscurity. Deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness (CCC 2088).
Their weight
Involuntary doubt is not sinful in itself and may affect any sincere believer. Voluntary doubt, a willful refusal to assent to revelation, is grave.
Continue exploring
- Can God make square circles? If not, is he not all-powerful?Q&A
- How can I explain the Trinity to a Oneness Pentecostal?Q&A
- How can I refute a colleague's claim that truth is relative?Q&A
- How should I respond to my friend's understanding of God as remote?Q&A
- Will we all be gods one day, as Mormons believe?Q&A
- Does the Catholic Church accept evolution?Q&A