Whether you are a disciple of Jesus Christ or still thinking about it, every person reading this has experienced doubt, either as a major stumbling block in your spiritual journey or only an occasional occurrence.
I will suggest three general kinds of doubt.
1) Skeptical Doubt
Skeptical doubt is the decision or habit to doubt everything deliberately, as a matter of principle. Some people wear their doubts on their sleeve as a badge of honor. I was talking to a woman who told me she needed to question everything because she had been taught to never take anything at face value. However, as she continued to talk, the underlying message I received was “people who don’t ask many questions just aren’t as smart as I am, or else they’d be asking all the probing questions I do.”
Sometimes pride masquerades as doubt: some people need their doubts to support their self-image as an intellectual or tough-minded thinker.
2) Willful Doubt
When I was starting my ministry as a youth pastor in the early 1980’s, I had a girl in my youth group with a brilliant mind: class valedictorian and National Merit scholar. I always respected her because she was the only one in our youth group who chose not to the join the church at the end of the youth confirmation class. She knew she was not a Christian and had the integrity openly say so and not just go with her parent’s or church’s expectation.
Before she headed off to college, I visited her one day to take one last stab at sharing Christ with her. As we sat talking in her living room, she asked: “How can we know Jesus is really the Son of God?” and we talked about that for awhile. Then she said, “To me, the Bible is just a history book” and we talked about that. After discussing all her intellectual questions, she said something that I’ve never forgotten.
She sighed and said, “I guess I just don’t want God telling me what to do.”
For a good many people, the essence of their doubts is not a matter of the mind, but of the will. For those of us honest enough to realize that becoming a follower of Jesus means surrendering our will, doubt is an excellent defense.
3) Honest Doubt
Honest doubt is very different than skeptical or willful doubt. In fact, I observe most people who come to genuine (not superficial) faith in Jesus Christ do so only after some honest doubt.
A good example of honest doubt is how a scientist approaches any question in the natural world. He or she tries to suspend judgment (e.g., a resurrection from the dead is highly unlikely or irrational, but I’m willing to look at the evidence). Instead, one honestly keeps an open mind and seeks the truth wherever it might be found, using reason as a tool to discover and sift through evidence on this journey toward truth.
Historians agree that modern science arose in western Europe in the 16-17th centuries because this culture was saturated with a belief in a Creator God who created a coherent, rational, knowable creation. It was a culture that valued reason, and this value was reflected over and over in what reason discovered about creation itself.
Many of the seminal scientific minds that launched modern science (Sir Isaac Newton is a prime example) were deeply pious Christians who believed their discoveries of an amazing, orderly creation pointed to and glorified the truth of a wise Creator. By carefully examining observable data and drawing rational conclusions, science discovered more and more objective truth about God’s creation.
Like the scientist, Christians also claim to know objective truth. Christianity is not simply “belief.” Christians believe in historical events. If you were there, you could have recorded these events on your phone and shown the video to your grandchildren. The greatest historical event of all is resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And yet, in my 40 years of ministry, I’ve found that a good many Christians do not understand Jesus’ resurrection in this way. They think of it not as an historical event, but rather something they choose to believe or are expected to believe because they are a Christian.
Indeed, more churchgoers than we might expect are like the child hearing a children’s sermon about a squirrel who replied: “I think the story is about a squirrel, but I know you want me to say Jesus.” She was well-trained! She knew that every children’s sermon had only one “right answer” (Jesus), even if it did not make much sense to her.
Must Christians jettison reason to believe Jesus’ resurrection?
(“I think the story is about a squirrel, but I know you want me to say Jesus”)
One of my favorite biblical scholars, Dr. Dale Bruner, connects the Jesus’ resurrection with the inspiration of Scripture in his Commentary of the Gospel of Matthew
There is a direct line between faith in the resurrection and faith in the inspiration of Scripture, a line that passes, as it should, through the acids of historical-critical research. Historical-critical study of Scripture is legitimate, for, among other reasons, the first messenger of the Risen One told the women at the empty tomb to “look at the place where they laid him” (Mt. 28:6), i.e., “check out the truth or falsity of the gospel’s claims with your sense and senses.” The church doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture is not uncritical, “unlooking,” or mindless.
Contradicting Christians who disdain rigorous intellectual biblical study as the enemy of faith, Bruner points out that belief in the inspiration of Scripture means we must not mindlessly jettison our reason! The Bible itself asks us to “check out the evidence” about Jesus’ resurrection.
Indeed, with some exceptions, most people come to faith in Christ by using their reason: by asking questions, by sifting through what they know about who Jesus is and what he’s done, and (increasingly for many today) by recognizing there are alternative views to all the negative images they have absorbed about Christians and the modern church.
My experience convinces me that far more damage has been done by the attitude “Don’t think about it—just believe it” than any problem created by asking too many questions.
How many kids have grown up in a cozy Christian bubble without ever being challenged to think through legitimate questions about their faith? By denying any opportunity to reasonably consider honest doubts, their elders may assume they are protecting them. Actually, it’s just the opposite! When they go to university, many such kids are left vulnerable and lose their faith completely when they have no answers to the skeptics they meet.
So, is there reasonable evidence for the resurrection of Jesus? Yes, definitely. That is my topic for next week. Honest doubt means (like a good scientist) being willing to follow wherever the evidence leads.
In the meantime, here’s my point for today.
True biblical faith can never claim certainty (beyond all doubt). True biblical faith is always TRUST (even in the face of doubt).
So, in talking with friends about their doubts (or thinking about our own doubts) we can:
- Try to discern whether we are in the presence of skeptical doubt, willful doubt or honest doubt
- Refuse to be defensive! Instead, try to point people toward honest doubt and the healthy role honest doubt often plays in a spiritual journey.
- Reflect with them that reason can be misused (just as sexuality and all God’s good gifts to human beings are misused), but reason is not the enemy of God nor the enemy of faith; genuine faith is not irrational.
- Invite your friend to explore their doubts together with you. And then–before offering your opinions or arguments–listen, listen, and then listen.
