“I Doubt It”: A Place For Doubters
Aside from the nickname given by the Bible to the disciple known as Thomas (“Doubting Thomas”), far too many Christians treat doubt with fear and anxiety, never willing to maintain an open, in-depth dialogue about it. For some, their fear is that openly discussing doubt might reveal some doubts of their own, of which they are ashamed. Others may fear that dealing openly and non-judgementally with doubt will actually cause them to have doubts which they didn’t have before. I have heard many Christians make statements that imply that doubt and faith cannot coexist, and therefore any expression of doubt is also a rejection of faith. Or could it be that God will reject us if we allow doubts to be explored? Perhaps saddest of all are those who never entertain doubts simply because they have never really thought enough about what they believe for anything resembling a doubt to develop. Whatever the reason, “doubt” looms like a giant elephant sitting in our sanctuaries, inescapably obvious but never acknowledged.
In response to these fears, I must say this: Interacting with doubt cannot cause you to have doubts anymore than talking about sex can get a woman pregnant. Instead of signaling a rejection of faith, doubts prove that we are searching for and open to faith. If God did not permanently reject us because of our sin and disobedience, he surely isn’t going to abandon us merely because of doubt. And as far as really thinking about our faith long and hard enough that some doubts arise, why on earth do we think God gave us such a great capacity for investigation?
Now let’s take a look at what doubting is all about. To begin with, Jesus must have been entirely comfortable with honest doubts because he deals compassionately and positively with Thomas’s doubts. Although he warns the disciples in the Upper Room that one of them will betray him, and warns Peter that he will deny even knowing Jesus, no such warning or instruction was given to Thomas, even though Jesus knew then exactly how each of his disciples would react. After the resurrection, when Thomas has declared that in order for him to believe that Jesus had in fact been raised from the dead, he’d first have to prove it form himself by touching Jesus’ hands and side. When Jesus encountered Thomas, he didn’t give a reproach or lecture or even ask for an apology; he simply allowed Thomas to do what he needed to do to eliminate doubt.
Seeds Of Faith I have long taught this very simple truth (long enough that I’m not sure if these were my own original words or if I discovered them in someone else’s teaching) about faith and doubt: “The seeds of faith are sown in doubt.” Put another way: where there has been no doubt, there can be no real, life-changing faith. If we do not doubt, we cannot believe.
If doubt hasn’t been a part of our faith development, whatever faith we have is weak, underdeveloped and powerless. If I have never doubted something, neither can I passionately live it. Our understanding of things we haven’t doubted is superficial and will lead to discouragement at the slightest hint of opposition or confusion. A lack of doubt leads to a corresponding lack of gratitude. Consider this example:
A group of us wants to go ice skating on a local pond. The question is raised, “Is the ice strong enough to hold us?” If I simply say “Yes,” we may all get out there and fall through, experiencing great suffering and trauma. Or the ice might hold us, but we don’t have nearly as good a time as we could because we’re always wondering if the ice really is strong enough. If I say “I think so” and go test just one small edge, we may be a bit safer, but only near the shore. There is always the possibility that there are some weaker spots, and so my fear limits my experience. But what if I say “You know what? I’m not really sure” or “I really doubt it”? We choose to test it by cutting hole through it to measure the thickness, or we try to heap as much weight on it as possible trying to break it. Or we go out one by one, always looking out for danger signs. At any rate, what blast we will have once we have established that the entire pond is covered with very thick, very sturdy ice!
Can you see how doubt led to a more rewarding experience? Can you see how doubt ultimately gave us greater confidence? Can you see how doubt set us free from pointless anxiety?
So go ahead, doubt God’s existence! In sincerely doing so, you will discover just how real he is. Doubt long and hard, but be cautious about doubting without testing. A great contemporary example of how doubt leads to powerful faith rather than no faith can be found in Lee Stroble’s book, The Case For Faith. In it, Strobel shows how as an investigative reporter he set out to disprove God’s reality and in the process became convinced beyond doubt!