The Role of Doubt…
Last night at Soulstice we walked through a classic passage of scripture that many people I’m sure are familiar with. In John’s account in chapter 20 we find Jesus appearing to the disciples and then appearing to Thomas who of course, needed a little extra help to get over the hurdle of doubt to the place of belief.
The resurrection of Jesus sets the stage for all kinds of feelings and emotions. I mean this is a big deal. Not a lot of people are dying and then being resurrected from the dead these days. It’s no small surprise that the poor guy, Thomas, needs to see and touch Jesus’ hands and side before he believes. In the story, when Thomas gets what needs for faith, he exclaims “My Lord, and my God!” which is packed with all sorts of meaning.
I guess the question I want to pose and maybe have people think about it is this: What is the role of doubt. I obviously have some thoughts and opinions on this, which you could hear by downloading the message from last night. Those of you that were there, do you agree disagree? And for those that weren’t, what role does doubt play in the spiritual life of faith?
Great message on doubts. But, I have a problem with the statement, “Questions demand an answer, (I agree with that) and Doubts demand a verdict”. My problem is that doubts don’t demand a verdict, they are sort of like little mice scurrying around avoiding confrontation. They get an “answer” they swerve in a little bit different direction with a big “but, if …”. So I like your idea of writing them down. I guess doubts can be eliminated in theory, but I don’t think you can ever eliminate Doubt completely. So they just exist in the universe. Maybe in that sense doubts are positive. They resist our faith and as we exercise our faith we grow from them?
I have to sheepishly admit that I was one of those people that went a little postal when I found out Micah wasn’t addressing individual doubts and answering them, but it seems that Jim, if what you write is true, doubts will always exist and for many there are no answers. I like the idea that doubts exercise our faith and keep it from becoming atrophied. Doubts, I believe as well, are almost alive and cyclical. What doubts I had as a teenager may have faded away in college and have re-emerged recently. Does that make sense to anyone? Anyone experience the same?
no need to sheepishly admit that DW’s, it’s a valid concern and I’ve heard through the grapevine that a few peeps were looking for tomatoes but cooled down a little after it was all said and done.
Would it be worth it to give my thoughts on some of the questions that were asked via the blog??? that might stir up some dialogue.
I just had a conversation about doubts yesterday with a dear friend. I think there maybe different kinds of doubts. But it may come down to the heart of the doubter.
Thomas had walked with Jesus been, with Him, learned from Him… then watched His “tragic” death. He was still in his deep grief when Jesus appeared to His disciples. Thomas’ doubt quickly resolved.So we’re told. All he needed, was to touch the nail prints in His hands and feel the holes in His side and he believed the this was his Jesus.( I think there is some significance in that very thing, but that’s another chat.)
OK here’s my point. Thomas sought Jesus to relieve his doubt, or at least reached out to touch Him when invited to do so.
Many of us in our doubt search all around God with out coming to Him WITH our doubt.In our connectedness with Him we can still have doubts, but we can come to Him even with those. We grow through our wrestling with them, with God.
I guess what I am trying to say is that, if we have a seeking heart; seeking to know God, to believe Him, our doubts can bring us into a greater understanding of who He is etc.
If we do not have a heart truly seeking HIM, doubts keep driving us in circles around Him.
Some of us seem to be more prone to doubting and struggling than others. My tendency is to allow my doubts to drive a wedge between God and me, but I am learning to take them to Him and to use them as a way to dig deeper, to find out what I believe and why…. I am just coming out of one of these seasons of wrestling with God and have found Ravi Zacharias, Philip Yancey, and Lee Strobel to be very helpful. Some questions will never have answers and I’m learning to be okay with that. I haven’t listened to your sermon yet but plan to when I get a better computer (soon!)