Doubt and Faith I. Introduction A. Matthew 28:17, John 20:24-29 1. Thomas is forever known as "Doubting Thomas" because of this event! 2. Demanded visual, tactile proof before he believed that Jesus was raised from the dead 3. Given the opportunity, believes, no longer disbelieves 4. Based on Matthew 28:17, very likely others shared in that doubt B. Doubt often portrayed negatively 1. It is easy to want to censure Thomas, others for their doubting and their lack of faith 2. Doubt is often seen quite negatively, opposed to true faith, hostile to belief 3. Yet not so in the text-- Jesus offers Thomas the opportunity to examine Him C. Doubt really quite necessary! 1. The faculty of doubt is given to us by God for very good reason! 2. Doubt is not inherently evil-- it can be misdirected toward evil, it can be made its own god, but it is there for a reason and it is good for us to understand its role in our faith D. Let us spend some time investigating the relationship between doubt and faith II. Doubt and Its Role A. What is doubt? 1. Webster: a. To question, or hold questionable; to withhold assent from; to hesitate to believe b. To fear; to suspect c. To distrust; to withhold confidence from 2. Doubt, therefore, involves questioning, hesitation, suspicion, a level of distrust B. It would seem that doubt and faith would be antagonistic toward each other! 1. Hesitating to believe is not exactly believing; distrust and trust do not go together! 2. How could it be good to distrust when God calls us to trust in Him (Hebrews 11:6)? C. Yet God does call on us to examine things! 1. 2 Corinthians 13:4, 1 John 4:1 2. If we were truly all-trusting we would be open to believing anything, and that is not the goal (Ephesians 4:14)! 3. A person without any kind of doubting instinct is entirely naïve-- perhaps as innocent as a dove, but the Lord calls upon us to also be as wise as serpents (Matthew 10:16) 4. The Lord Himself expects us to question every spirit, to challenge all things, to investigate all claims, so that we may hold firm to what is true and good and reject that which is false and evil (Romans 12:9, 1 John 4:6) 5. Doubt is an essential part of this process! III. The Challenges of Doubt A. Yet it remains true that doubt presents many challenges! B. Our present society is marred by an overabundance of doubt and skepticism! 1. One of the big premises of the Enlightenment was a spirit of investigation and a skeptical attitude toward existing claims 2. There are plenty willing to doubt and cast aspersions on other's views! 3. Doubt has been made a god by many people C. But what has been gained by making a god out of doubt? 1. Doubt is pervasive, and since no one is very confident in anything, it is believed that there is nothing in which we can place our trust! 2. Morality, belief systems, etc. are reckoned to be up to each person 3. In such circumstances, people are made out to be gods, but they can claim no ground that can be assured as true 4. An unsustainable trend! D. The Problem: Not Enough Doubt! 1. It may seem odd, but the problem with many doubters is that they have not doubted enough, and have deluded themselves about their beliefs 2. Not enough effort is put into doubting one's doubts 3. Some do and come out as nihilists, but even then, doubt is assumed to always be good and should be the ultimate standard for everything 4. Yet far too many challenge their ultimate premises, assumptions, and prejudices! E. The challenge of doubt really comes from its inconsistent application! 1. Ultimately, everyone has some kind of belief system-- everybody places their trust in some idea or another 2. For many, it is themselves or their own judgments; for some, science; for quite a few, their view of God 3. As in politics, so in the essential questions of existence: people are more than willing to give their own views/ assumptions a pass while subjecting contrary views and assumptions to excessive critical rigor 4. We all have the tendency to justify what we believe and to cast aspersions and doubts on anything and everything that goes against those beliefs! F. Yet, if our interest is truly coming to an understanding of what is real and true, we must be as willing to subject our own assumptions and beliefs to the same critical examination as those views which are opposed to us! G. God is love; love rejoices in the truth (1 John 4:8, 1 Corinthians 13:6)-- therefore, just as Jesus was with Thomas, God/truth is open to investigation, for God/truth has nothing to hide and nothing to fear from such an investigation! IV. Doubt and Faith A. Investigation, therefore, is demanded so that we can come to a knowledge of what is true and to be saved (cf. 1 Timothy 2:4) B. In a sense, this is a process that is to exist continually, for we always sit as prey for the most pervasive lie of human history-- self-delusion (cf. 1 John 1:8) 1. How many people think that they are quite wrong about reality? 2. How many religious people even give off the hint of doubt about anything? 3. And yet how many different views exist out there? 4. Sin is quite deceitful (cf. Hebrews 3:12-14); any one of us could easily begin believing something that was, in fact, a lie, and never doubt it! C. In fact, the most pervasive challenges always come not from what is often disputed but from the assumptions that most often get shielded from dispute! 1. In the 19th century, it was held as common sense that God existed-- nature demonstrated it 2. Then again, during the same period, it was held as common sense that some races were superior to other races! 3. When the assumptions that sustained these views began to be challenged and undermined, so did faith in them-- for better and for worse! 4. So it is with us today-- most of the time, disagreements exist less on surface matters and more in terms of the assumptions, prejudices that underlay how people put various ideas together D. Few want to dig down deeply to investigate; the majority is quite willing to keep on going without seriously questioning their foundational and fundamental assumptions about who they are, the world in which they live, and the relationships between those two and between themselves and the supernatural! 1. Not surprising, based on Matthew 7:13-14 2. Yet let us not maintain the automatic conceit that "we" are immune to this problem! E. Yet when we begin showing skepticism and begin to rigorously challenge our assumptions, we tend to find out that everything is not as simple or as black and white as we would like! 1. The story is replayed often: person grows up in a church, seems to have a strong faith, finds him or herself challenged in a way he or she cannot answer, or he or she experiences some great faith-testing tragedy, and they fall away 2. Doubting and challenging one's own viewpoint-- either based in self-motivation or motivated by the critique of others-- is never pleasant and often quite dangerous! 3. We may discover that some of our ideas were not well-founded or the way we present them are not quite effective or done well 4. We may have serious questions about some aspects of faith that we cannot really answer as well as we would like 5. We quite likely will walk away with a bit less certainty! F. So how could this possibly be a good thing? G. It ought to force us to be humble and to remember that we walk by faith, not sight! 1. 2 Corinthians 5:7 2. No, faith is not to be blind-- faith ought to be reasonable, making good sense out of the world, its problems and its blessings 3. But faith is also never equated with complete certainty, either-- faith is trust, and that trust demands that we are willing to be alright with never perhaps fully understanding things, but still having the attitude of Peter in John 6:68-69 4. Certainty, after all, can become an idol! H. The Doubt and Faith Process 1. That God is love, and that love rejoices in the truth, and God is truth, is the claim that God intends for us to believe on the basis of sensible evidence in creation and in Scripture (Romans 1:19-20, 2 Timothy 3:16-17) 2. The likelihood of any of us coming to a complete understanding of that truth in the flesh is entirely dim (Romans 3:23) 3. As humans, we are often wrong, and disastrously so (Jeremiah 10:23, Romans 3:9-23); this is true even when our intentions are good and noble 4. We have been designed to seek out God-- we have the faculties of thought and reason, able to analyze the truth claims we hear (Acts 17:26-27, 1 John 4:1) 5. Thus, we are to investigate all claims 6. Yet we must remember that we are not god or gods and our understanding is limited, biased, and slanted; there is much we will never understand and our assumptions can often be wrong despite our best intentions 7. In such investigation I am confident that we can come away with faith in God and His work through Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture-- but only if we remember that we must even doubt our doubts, and understand that we can never find absolute proof or certainty, and must content ourselves with making the best sense out of what we discover about the world 8. Thomas doubted, all the Apostles had their moment of doubt-- but they put their trust in God and did great things in the Kingdom (John 20, Acts)! 9. Having doubts does not automatically mean that you are a terrible person or one that does not have sufficient faith-- after all, how many of the great men of faith went through their moments and times of doubt? 10. Are we really any better than Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 16)? Elijah (1 Kings 19)? The sons of Korah (Psalm 44)? The Apostles? 11. To have some doubt is to be human, and it is probably there to keep us humble-- where there is "certain belief" there is often presumption, arrogance, and pride (contra Matthew 23:12, etc.) I. The truly concerning ones are those who seem to never have any doubts! 1. To have no doubt means one of a few possibilities 2. One is the fear of exploring one's beliefs and having to come to terms with doubt 3. One is never having been challenged in one's beliefs so as to deal with doubt 4. One is being too proud and arrogant to believe that one could possibly be wrong 5. Others are quite possible 6. Nevertheless, a faith without any kind of doubt is too simple and too innocent of faith, one that proves too easy for destruction when difficulties arise (cf. Matthew 13:4-9, Acts 14:22, Romans 8:17)! V. Conclusion A. Doubt is a necessary feature of life in order to separate good from evil, truth from error B. It is easy to make a god out of doubt, or to try to shield one's own assumptions from critical review, yet such are incompatible with the endeavor to really discover what is true C. Certainty will always be elusive; we will always have questions and find aspects of this life quite challenging to accept D. Nevertheless, we can have confidence and faith in God, trusting that He is the Creator and has worked to save us through His Son, and walk in faith in Him, subjecting our doubts to Him in reverence E. Let us maintain a critically examined faith, and having endured the trials of faith, conquer through the Lamb! F. Invitation