Tuesday, April 6, 2010

I Doubt It...?

"Doubting Thomas" makes his annual appearance at about this time every year. Thomas is famous, or infamous for his "Unless." When told by the other disciples that they had seen Jesus, alive again and in the flesh, Thomas replied, "Unless I see his hands and put my hands on the nail prints, unless I place my hand into his side (where the spear went in), I will not believe."

So ought Thomas be honored as the patron saint of our modern, rationalistic-scientific world? Is doubt intrinsically an enemy of faith, or is it possible for doubt to be the friend of faith? We're familiar with having doubts about aspects of faith; is there ever a place to have doubts about our doubts?

14 comments:

Joseph Holbrook said...

is there ever a place to have doubts about our doubts?

hmmmm.... I doubt it ....

Brian Emmet said...

I've been thinking on that: people tend to view religious faith as a highly doubtful proposition, but don't seem to ever consider whether their doubts are doubtworthy or not. Most people would be just fine with God if God didn't ever demand anything of us; once there are demands, our "doubts" begin to blossom! Do is most doubt intellectually honest, or a screen to hide behind because we don't want to have to change?

Billy Long said...

I just posted a comment and somehow it got deleted before it posted. Now...what did I say? Are we distinguishing "doubt" from "unbelief?" Doubt seems a little milder, generally speaking. Most of us are strong in faith when we know God's word, heart, and mind in a matter. Often our doubts come not because we distrust God but because we are not certain we have heard clearly.

Billy Long said...

Also, like a car with the front end out of line that keeps pulling off to the side, in the same way our flesh tends to automatically pull off to doubt and unbelief if our spiritual walk is not cultivated in the Lord's word and presence.

Laurel Long said...

I would like to know why Thomas was not with the Others when the news of the Resurrection was announced. Of course I don't really need to know, it's just a curiosity.
The most comforting aspect of this story is that Jesus, as He always did, and always will, take extraordinary measures to make sure that our doubts are satisfied with Truth if our doubts are founded on honest questions and not cynicism (unbelief as an intellectual preference). After this time, remember, Thomas was never again called by that infamous title. He was completely satisfied with Jesus exclusive demonstrations of what Thomas had doubted; His nail scarred hands and feet. Jesus would not allow Mary to touch Him, but He allowed Thomas to "handle" His wounds. Extraordinary!!!!!!!!! Jesus, evidently, banished Thomas's doubts enough which would allow him to be the first Christian martyr in India, where Hinduism had not yet taken hold of the people, but where there were plenty of other gods who would have loved to have silenced him.
I don't have any doubts that you'all will agree with me.

Joseph Holbrook said...

undoubtedly

Brian Emmet said...

Good question, Billy. When Jesus cried from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is he giving voice to doubt, unbelief, or something else?

Joseph Holbrook said...

it seems to me that if he were "tempted in all things as we are", then he must have had a moment of struggle with legitimate doubt ... but not unbelief.

I would see doubt as the moment when belief hangs in the balance with unbelief ... and unbelief is the decisive moment when the scale tilts definitively toward a settled conviction against belief.

I find the honest skeptics in our Tuesday group much more refreshing than the incongrous believers who's actions and behavior is at odds with their adherence to faith propositions.

In other words, there was no rebuke for St. Thomas. Jesus met him at his point of doubt...

one of our guys who used to be an atheist is now a lukewarm agnostic (and sometime deist). He is the most passionate debator against the settled conviction of atheism. He challenges the atheists prove there is no God.

Robert said...

Allow me a quick drop in to mention that the 5th and last of Eugene Peterson's conversations on spiritual theology is out..."Practice Resurrection"...thought it fit a run up to Pentecost.

Looking for ways to say "no" to some things in order to say "yes" to the right things...this being one of the right things...peace.

Brian Emmet said...

Well, this has proved a dubious undertaking. New post aborning...

John M. said...

What about "self-doubt"? The idea is heretical in terms of "socially correct" thinking in our culture.

What is a Biblical perspective?

steve H said...

I was just noticing last evening that some of the Eleven were still doubting in Matt 28:16, just before Jesus commissioned them to make disciples.

Brian Emmet said...

John, you raise an interesting idea: might we bell well-advised, at times, to "doubt our doubts," to apply doubt to our doubts?

The supernatural/miraculous does not automatically remove doubt. Jesus seems to happily supply Thomas with the evidence requested, with a seemingly gentle rebuke (contrast his much sharper "Why are you so foolish and slow of heart to believe all that was written?" adminsitered to Cleopas in Luke 24). In Matthew 28, Jesus seems fine with the presence of doubt in the midst of his disciples. He neither purges them, nor rebukes them, nor even warns them, but issues "the great commission" and promises that he'll be with them, and us, even us doubters!

John M. said...

Regarding the "self-doubt" question, I was thinking in terms of denying oneself; humbling oneself, recognizing one's spritual poverty; not thinking of oneself more highly than he ought, and to beware lest he/she fall into temptation.

It seems that the scriptures encourage us to doubt ourselves, our own strength and the power of our flesh, i.e. to doubt human effort, and to trust Him and his power.

His strength is made perfect in our weakness. But this all flies in the face of the current cultral self-perceptions and the American values of self-reliance and independence.

Two things in life: (1.) There is a God. And (2.) I'm not Him.

That fits well with step one of the 12 steps: "Realize I'm not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable."

Hmmm, is God's wisdom found with the super-self-confident self-help, motvational gurus or with the lowly addict admiting his own powerlessness?

Sort of reminds one of the story of the Pharisee and the publican in the temple. The one who touted his righteousness got his reward (being noticed) that moment; the lowly sinner who held no confidence in his own ability to be righteous and cried out, "Lord be merciful to me a sinner went away justified and forgiven by God's grace.

I think I'm begining to believe in doubting myself.