All people of faith are familiar with doubt. Yet we may well feel some sense of shame or guilt for doubting, as if we should not. The very existence of doubts seems to indicate a feeble faith rather than a clear conviction.
I see it differently.
Doubt is not the same as unbelief; it is a time of being unsure whether we believe or not; it is a potential turning point. Although doubt is not a sin, it is important to pay it careful attention, because there can be consequences for all eternity.
Look back at the things you now believe. Wasn’t there a time, maybe long ago, that you doubted them? Praise the Lord that he has brought you through those doubts to greater faith. Every advance in our faith was preceded by doubt, out of which grew conviction. Through doubt, in time, comes greater faith - doubt is the growing edge of faith.
But of course doubt can also be the turning point at which we lose our faith - hence its seriousness and potentially eternal consequences. So what makes the difference? When does doubt turn to faith, and when to unbelief?
I think it depends on what do you do when you doubt.
Do you dwell on your doubts and try to rationally work them out by yourself, probably getting stuck in the process? Do you pretend to have faith, but inwardly harbour doubt? Do you turn away from God, doubting that he will help? Do you stop going to church because you are not sure what you believe? If so, that way lies disbelief, discontent, disillusionment, and ultimately death.
Or do you take your doubts to Jesus?
There are many famous doubters in the Bible. Here are a few:
- Abram, who doubted God would give him the promised land, in Genesis 15v8
- Gideon, who doubted whether he was hearing from God, in Judges 6v17
- John the Baptist, who doubted whether Jesus was the Messiah, in Matthew 11v2
- Peter, who doubted he could walk on water when Jesus told him to, in Matthew 14v29
- and Thomas, who doubted whether Jesus had risen from the dead, in John 20v25.
Each was honest with God, taking their doubt to Him. And God didn't strike them down for doubting, but in each case responded carefully and gently to their doubts in a way that caused their doubt to turn to faith!
Why do I still doubt? Because my faith is still growing; because He still has more to do in me!
And if you are really struggling with doubt and wonder whether you can carry on as a Christian, do not suppose that you will resolve your doubts by giving up your faith. Do you really think that non-Christians and atheists don’t have doubts: What if there is a God? Perhaps Christians are right? What am I here for? Surely there is more to life than this?
So the answer to doubt is not atheism, but honestly taking your doubts to God. God can use doubt to grow our faith!
There is nothing that God wants better than to increase your faith, so that you know Him better and to make you more useful to Him. In every case I quoted – Abram, Gideon, John the Baptist, Peter, Thomas – it was through their doubt that God brought about greater faith! If we take our doubts to Him, He can use them to grow our faith.
Doubt is the growing edge of faith - when we take it to Jesus!
How alluring it is to be totally and really sure of something; how difficult it is to admit it when we don't know or even that we're not quite sure!
The commonly used solution to this discomfort is to make up some certainty! A trivial example would be the (probably male) driver who doesn't know the route but won't stop and look at a map. A much more significant historical example: when faced with not knowing our place in the universe, the religious answer was to state with certainty "right in the centre, of course, because God made it that way. The Sun and everything goes round the Earth". Over time various constructed arguments by eminent experts bolstered the 'fact' and when it was challenged this led to ever more extreme and hideous measures to defend their certainty from total collapse, because the whole credibility of Christendom was felt to be at stake.
With such a degree of distance, we can all laugh at the absurdity in this example - and it was actually only the credibility of those defending their pride which was at stake!
However, spotting our current and personal equivalents is much more difficult. Is it our certainty over the correctness of our particular theological position as opposed to whichever our preferred outcasts may be? Is it our certainty in our position regarding gay Christians? or women in church leadership? or ... (insert the things you feel most strongly about - it is almost certainly something we feel strongly about!)? Note that we are not looking for areas where we are uncertain, but areas where we are convinced we are right!
Pursue certainty at all costs and we will certainly end up in one of two outcomes. Either we'll spend a lifetime on a treadmill, attempting to nail down those doubts that just won't go away - with ever more detailed arguments and picky distinctions. Or we find ourselves building a fake and brittle certainty, which is founded on pride and will one day be shattered and with it all our counterfeit confidence.
Am I advocating blissful ignorance, or that we don't engage with the difficult issues of the day? No, just humility and honesty, a willingness to accept that we don't know all the answers, that the other side may have a point, and that ultimately we may never know this side of heaven.
Why do you think the Old Testament starts off with the 10 Commandments and becomes chapters and chapters of increasingly detailed rules for everything (Wondering which kinds of flying insects you can eat? The answer is only the four-legged ones which have jointed legs for hopping; Leviticus 11v20-23), while Jesus, who fulfilled the law, summarised it in two sentences: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all you mind"; and "Love your neighbour as yourself" (Luke 10 v27). In the light of this, our petty arguments and divisions pale into insignificance.
Let's stay with his clear commands, and not try to tie everything down to our liking, and in so doing find ourselves choosing to be 'right' rather than choosing life.
Though if any of you can tell me whether my 'neighbour' includes those who live 2 doors away from my house, I'd like to know. And what about those 3 doors away? But what if they are Catholics? And what if ...
