In This Edition:
A Faith Worthy Of Our Doubt
(photo credit: Towfiqu barbhuiya)
“We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.” (1 Corinthians 8:1-3 MSG)
Maybe you have never really questioned if Jesus is God’s Son. But you might have asked “Why is it so hard to pray?” Perhaps you have never struggled with whether Jesus really did rise from the dead. But you may have wondered “why do I still feel guilty?” Some people sitting in the pews on Sunday bow their heads in silence, but quietly murmur to themselves "why did my child die?” or “why did my marriage break up?” The simple word for all these questions is doubt.
Doubt in God’s providential plan. Doubt in God’s presence. Maybe even doubt in God’s existence.
Doubt is something virtually all of us experience, but we don’t always know what to do with it. Our churches don’t always know what to do with it. One writer who has greatly helped me understand the role of doubt in the life of faith is Philip Yancey. A few years ago, Yancey was asked to sign a “statement of faith” put out by Christianity Today magazine, and to sign it “without doubt or equivocation.” He put the pen down and said to the people standing in the room, “I can barely sign my own name without doubt or equivocation.” Can anybody relate? I’m shocked, struck with awe, how many people in the Bible could. There may be people who never have a doubt in their mind about anything involving the Christian faith; I just wonder if they are reading the same Bible I am reading, and if they are experiencing the same faith the Bible characters did. Because I read of doubting Thomas (who only wanted to experience what all the disciples experienced one week before), skeptical Abraham and laughing Sarah. I even read of a Savior, Jesus Christ, who prays long and hard in the garden asking if there is any other way than the current plan.
Yancey suggests that we try this exercise. Find a single major argument against God that you’ve heard an atheist use that isn’t already included in the Bible itself. “Life seems meaningless?” You’ll find that in Ecclesiastes. “God can’t be good, or loving, or even there if bad things happen to good people.” That’s Job. “Evil flourishes and nothing gets done about it.” That’s in the Psalms and in Habakkuk. “My soul is crushed; I go looking for comfort from God, and I can’t find him.” Read Lamentations.
I remember an episode of the Andy Griffith show where Opie tells his father he wants to run away, he just needs permission first. Andy not only gives him permission, he helps him think through all the things he’ll need to ensure a clean getaway. As Yancey points out, don’t you find it amazing that God not only allows his creatures to deny him, deride him, and defy him, he provides arguments to use against him in the Bible!
The Bible expresses our doubts. It expresses our waffling. Psalm 22 cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then just one chapter later, “The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want.” But isn’t that what a life of faith is like? Doesn’t any deep relationship have highs and lows, yet you stick it out?
Was there ever a stronger believer with more conviction than John the Baptist? You had to be convicted to dress like that in public! Yet after all his preaching, and even seeing declaring Jesus to be the Messiah at his baptism, John sat in a prison cell and said to his followers, “go ask Jesus—is he really the Messiah? Did I pick the right horse?”
If there was a disciple who deserved the “tremendous courage award” it was Thomas. When Jesus decided to go to Bethany to see Lazarus, it was clear this might be a suicide mission. But Jesus was determined to go. So Thomas—Thomas—said “let us go too, so that we may die with him!” (John 11:16). And all the other disciples were able to see the risen Lord on a day that Thomas wasn’t among them. So when we call him “doubting Thomas,” we do him a great disservice. But he gets that name because, wanting the same assurance all the others had, Thomas says “until I see the nail prints in his hands, I just can’t believe it’s true.” As Ray Pritchard puts it, “He’s not an unbelieving skeptic; he’s a wounded believer.”
This is why it’s so important to recognize that doubt is not the unforgivable sin. In fact, I’m not convinced it is a sin at all. God doesn’t turn his back on questioners; he invites questioners! He honors them. He engages with those whose struggle with faith brings them face to face with difficulties, and they cry out to God about them. “Why did you let this happen?” “How can I continue to follow you if you are going to be like this?” “Where were you?” “I don’t believe this.” “I want you to change what you are planning to do.” “That can’t be right. Answer my arguments.” This is in the Bible. Spoken by heroes of faith. And God uses this. Ask Job. Ask Abraham. Ask David. Questioners all.
I see it most clearly in story of the hurting father with a dying child who has come to Jesus and has been asked if he believes Jesus has the power to heal. “I believe,” says the father; “help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). This may be the greatest 5-word prayer recorded in Scripture. So raw. So transparent. A recognition of one’s own faith struggles, but a desire for one, nonetheless. This is the prayer of many of the people of God. I believe. Help my unbelief.
— — —
A recent poll coming out of Great Britain said 4 out of 5 claim the church puts more people off Christianity than attracts them. How could it be possible that church could appear to some as a block rather than a bridge to faith? Well, let me give you some history.
In the year 1633, the religious scholars of the day were convinced that the sun revolves around the earth. They reached this conclusion from a couple of places, but principally from reading their Bibles. I mean, look at Ecclesiastes 1:5 that says the sun rises and the sun sets. If the sun isn’t the thing moving around us, how could Joshua tell the sun to “stand still” (Joshua 10:13)? And if the earth moves, how can the Psalmist say the earth is firm, secure, and immovable (Ps 33:9; 75:3; 93:1; 96:10; 104:5; cf. 1 Chron 16:30)?
But ask any science teacher in this church—ask any science major in your church; in fact, ask any 6th grader, and they will tell you: the earth revolves around the sun. We have several people to thank for that, including Galileo. And once that was firmly established, many went back to the Scriptures and saw things they had never seen there before. Poetic license in the Psalms; accommodative language in Joshua. Metonymy in Ecclesiastes. Listening to what was going on outside Scripture helped us read and appreciate what was going on in Scripture.
But it didn’t happen overnight, and some good-hearted Bible-reading religious believers made their changes kicking and screaming. Just read the Papal Edict against Galileo from 1633. It charges him for “replying to the objections from the Holy Scriptures…by glossing the…Scriptures according to your own meaning” teaching things that are “expressly contrary to the Holy Scriptures and therefore cannot be defended or held.” He only spent one day in prison but was under house arrest until the day he died 9 years later.
A century before him, Martin Luther was called to his own trial. He dared to challenge the prevailing views he heard both in the world and in the church of his own day. At his trial, the prosecuting attorney said that Martin was teaching ideas their forefathers already considered and rejected. The prosecutor continued:
“But if every one was at liberty to bring back into discussion points which for ages have been settled by the church and by councils, nothing would be certain and fixed…You, for instance, who today reject the authority of the council…tomorrow may, in like manner, proscribe all councils together…and there would remain no authority whatever, but [your] individual word.”
Did you hear that? We’ve already decided what we think about that stuff. To re-examine it again, to look into the Bible with the possibility that our parents were wrong on it and we might find a fresh take on it is dangerous; trust the tradition, and don’t ask pesky questions.
— — —
35 years ago, Daniel Taylor (who teaches English at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota) wrote a book with the curious title The Myth of Certainty. His subtitle reads “The Reflective Christian and the Risk of Commitment.” His book is written for the questioner; the doubter; the person always with her hand up in the back of the room. And his message is “the world—and the church—needs you.” Because your willingness to ask tough questions will only make us better and will remind us of the Christian virtue of humility.
You know that narrow-mindedness is not simply on one side of the divide. And in this book, Daniel Taylor reaches out to those of you sickened by over-confidence. Those who say “a pox on both their houses.” Surely the grandeur of the universe, says Taylor, and the greatest minds in the history of the world have left room for us to be less than certain about any number of things. But I want to explore, reason, think, discuss, argue in the best sense of the word, and I want to do it with someone who knows the limits of their own position, someone aware of the strengths of the other side, and who can show me how to live with tensions and uncertainties, rather than sweep everything under the rug like it’s a magic show.
I don’t know about you, but that resonates with me.
When I was growing up, I ran with a group that idolized “the Bible answer man” vision. That was the goal. To be the Bible answer man. But Yancey surprised me here as well. Did you know that, in the Gospels, people came to Jesus with a question 153 times? 96% of the time (147 times to be exact), Jesus responded…with another question. Good questions open up discussion. Good questions push us further and deeper into our investigation. Good questions allow both of us to share in the quest.
— — —
Tim Keller notes that, in the New Testament, faith involves three elements: it begins with understanding, then it leads to conviction, and ultimately it leads to commitment. Faith begins with understanding. Faith starts with “thinking.” Do you believe that? Just because you stand in a certain place doesn’t mean you are standing on solid ground! To repeat over and over again what you have always assumed is true—with tenacity and force—can do more harm than good.
Doesn’t Hebrews 11:6 show us that thinking leads to faith? Without faith it is impossible to please God; for anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists!
But to seek, to search, to engage in a thinking faith inevitably will bring about new, even disturbing questions. It’s the active engagement in faith issues that can produce difficult questions. That is why doubt is not always some big danger to faith, but instead, can actually be a sign of faith. In 2014, Julia Baird wrote an op-ed in the New York Times arguing that very thing. You have to believe in something in order to have any doubts about it! Do you see how doubt is a sign of faith? Struggling with God means we are grappling with faith issues. Doubt and faith can co-exist together, and doubt can often lead to greater faith. In moving prose, Barbara Brown Taylor writes the following:
As many years as I have been listening to Easter sermons … [r]esurrection is always announced with Easter lilies, the sound of trumpets, bright streaming light. But it did not happen that way. If it happened in a cave, it happened in complete silence, in absolute darkness, with the smell of damp stone and dug earth in the air … [N]ew life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.
The Bible welcomes doubt; it calls for us to seek humility. What it never does is give the impression that Christians have it all figured out. Certainty is actually not one of the virtues or traits of the people of God.
— — —
Historically, church has been a place for thinking people to share their curiosity and intellectual doubts, finding unity not in settled questions but in the One who is the final answer. Paul devoted two whole chapters of Romans to this question: how do we live together with brothers and sisters who disagree about matters where one side thinks it’s a matter of faith, and the other side thinks it’s not (Rom 14-15)? And he says “we can do this.” It’s why I want to tell people with doubts, concerns, questions—lets have those discussion within the family of faith, rather than seeing those questions as barriers to belonging to the family of faith. But you and I are going to have to see the value in that. We are going to have to re-examine our list of what keeps you out, and me in, or what makes you wrong and me right. But that means questioning, challenging, re-thinking, and listening. It means being open to learning.
That is why I have always loved the definition of Christian theology given by an 11th century believer by the name of Anselm. He defined the Christian life as faith seeking understanding. The order here is important. I don’t have faith because I figured everything out; I am able to make sense of things because I start with faith. I don’t fear learning (as if learning, questioning, reading, hearing new ideas outside my usual circle will hurt my faith). It is because of my faith that I eagerly seek to learn, explore, and grow.
The phrase “faith seeking understanding” is beautiful but it also is challenging. It takes faith seriously, but it takes understanding with equal seriousness. We are called to be child-like, but not child-ish. An unquestioning, unchallenging, non-reflective faith is the opposite of healthy, it would be faith rejecting understanding. The phrase “faith seeking understanding” makes an ethical demand upon us as well. It requires the virtue of intellectual honesty. We are believers in God seeking to more fully understand God. When we read, when we think, when we study, when we listen to new ideas, we aren’t seeking “ammunition” or more “planks” upon which to express or argue our deeply-held beliefs. That would be “faith seeking the opportunity to win.” This approach would look for some book, some person, some website, or some reference source that gives support for an idea we have, and then looks no further (out of fear), having found what we were looking for. No, faith seeking understanding wants to know what is true. We welcome challenges to our assumptions; if someone shows us something that is more true, more right, it makes us better. That’s faith seeking understanding. Discipleship is a call to virtue, and that must apply to an open mind and a desire to be corrected; after all, the ability to be corrected is the mark of a truly wise and truly spiritual person.
Church is not a place that guarantees certainty, but a place that inspires confidence. Confidence in the One who has called us. Confidence in God as the source of all truth. Confidence in Jesus as the giver of all truth. Confidence in the Spirit as the one who leads us into all truth.
And Christ has placed a big sign up above his church house door: “Doubters welcome!”
Let our attitude toward seekers who come through our doors—and our attitude toward one another—model the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:1-3. But hear it in an unfamiliar translation so it might hit you differently than before:
“We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.” (1 Corinthians 8:1-3 MSG)
A sermon preached at the West Side Church of Christ titled “A Faith Worthy of our Doubt.” It is the fourth and final lesson in the series “A Worthy Faith.” This lesson appears on the Life on the West Side podcast (Season 2, Episode 33). Available on all podcast platforms.
Coming Soon To The West Side
Matthew declares that Jesus enters the world as “God with us.” But what does that mean? Join us on December 4, 11, and 18 as well consider the power and significance of the birth of Christ according to three Bible writers: Matthew, Luke, and John.
These lessons will be live streamed on Sundays at 9 AM (CST) on facebook or YouTube, or you can visit my website later to watch the sermons, read the transcripts, or listen to them as a podcast. If you are in the area, we would love to have you join us.
Resources For Doubt
Books
Stackhouse, John G., Jr. Can I Believe? Christianity for the Hesitant (Oxford, 2020)
Taylor, Daniel. The Myth of Certainty: The Reflective Christian and the Risk of Commitment (IVP Books, 1999).
Yancey, Philip. A Skeptic’s Guide to Faith: What it Takes to Make the Leap (Zondervan, 2009).
Yancey, Philip. Reaching For the Invisible God (esp. chap 3) (Zondervan, 2000).
Online Articles
Baird, Julia. “Doubt as a Sign of Faith.” The New York Times. Opinion. Sep 25, 2014.
Craig, William Lane. “Doubt and Certainty.” ReasonableFaith.org. July 11, 2016.
Graves, Josh. “The Place in the Soul for Doubt.” Patheos.com. April 20, 2014.
Yancey, Philip. “Faith and Doubt.” PhilipYancey.com blog.
Online Sermons
Graves, Josh. “The Big Questions: Faith and Doubt.” Otter Creek Church of Christ (Nashville, TN). April 19, 2015.
Keller, Timothy. “Noah and the Reasons of Faith: Faith as Understanding.” Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York). Sep 18, 1994.
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My name is Nathan Guy, and I serve as the preaching minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Searcy, Arkansas. I am happily married to Katie and am the proud father of little Grace. You can find more resources on my website over at nathanguy.com. Follow me: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
