Dealing with Doubt
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Mark 9:14 - 19; John 20:24 - 29; James 1:5 - 8
January 15, 2012
David C. Wright
This morning we begin our series, “Tough Questions About the Faith.” I want to thank all 50 of you who submitted the questions we received. There were lots of very good, searching questions that will require a full sermon to even begin answering them! And then there were others, like this one: “Why do all the people in the Old Testament have odd and hard-to-pronounce names?” Well, there are some hard, odd names in the Old Testament, although not all of them are hard-to-pronounce- “David,” for example! But the hard ones are due to the fact that the Old Testament contains stories of people who lived in the ancient Middle East where people spoke Hebrew and Egyptian and Babylonian and other languages which use names with which we aren’t very familiar today. OK. That brings us down to 49 questions!
Seriously, we won’t be able to deal with all your questions, but we’ve selected 5 of the most popular questions, some of which were asked several times in different ways. This morning we’re dealing with the topic of doubt, an issue that spills over into many of the other questions, so I decided to tackle this one first. How do we Christians, for whom faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is essential, deal with the doubt that seems inevitable for us?
In the classic Peanuts TV special, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” Linus is preoccupied with the Great Pumpkin, a fictional Santa-like character who descends from on high every Halloween night bearing toys for good little children. No one else seems to share his belief in the Great Orange One, but Linus perseveres in his unwavering faith. However, on one occasion, when Sally abandons him as he waits in the local pumpkin patch on Halloween night, he says to her, “If the Great Pumpkin comes, I’ll still put in a good word for you.” Then, catching himself, he cries out, “Good grief! I said ‘if!’ I meant ‘when he comes.’ I’m doomed. One little slip like that can cause the Great Pumpkin to pass you by. O Great Pumpkin, where are you?”
Some of us grew up in churches that treated religious doubt a lot like that. One little sliver of doubt could cause God to judge us, pass us by, or at least ignore our prayers. Is that the way things really work?
Let’s look at two stories where Jesus responded to the doubts of others. In Mark 9 a man has come to Jesus, pleading for help for his son, who is seriously ill with epileptic-like symptoms. No one has been able to help him. He says to Jesus, “If you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.” Jesus responds, “If you are able!?- All things are possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe: help my unbelief!” It sounds a little like the Great Pumpkin, with that “if you are able” phrase, doesn’t it? But unlike the Great Pumpkin, Jesus doesn’t condemn or ignore the man. He accepts his mixture of faith and doubt and immediately heals his son! Part of what I like about this story is its recognition that many of us have a mixture of faith and doubt. Sometimes we believe; sometimes we doubt. Often, like the father in the story, we have a mixture of faith and doubt at the same time. Jesus understands that.
The second story is the story of Thomas, the patron saint of doubters. Thomas was one of Jesus’ closest followers. He had been with him for three years. He had seen him do many miracles. He had even shown great courage by following Jesus into dangerous situations. But he had also seen Jesus die like a common criminal on the cross. And he was devastated. It must have caused him to question everything he believed about Jesus. Meanwhile, the risen Christ appeared to the other disciples. That’s where we pick up the story.
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin ), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."
28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (John 20:24-29)
Again, Jesus is confronted with someone’s doubt. And again, Jesus does not condemn the doubter. Instead, he welcomes him and offers him what he needs in order to allay his doubts. He invites him to explore the wounds in his hands and side. And Thomas believes.
Doubt isn’t always a negative thing when it comes to Christian faith. Sometimes it serves a positive role. For example, it can cause us to search more deeply, which leads to a deeper faith and commitment. Honest questioning can lead us to new discoveries about our faith. That can help dispel misunderstandings we might have had. It can help us re-affirm that, yes, we do believe and we can act on that faith. As Frederick Buechner said, “Doubt is the ants in the pants of faith. It keeps it alive and moving!”
Doubt can also lead to humility. Some Christians are hard to be around because they never seem to have any doubts about any of their positions! That can be hard to take! But a season of doubt can lead us to a more humble faith. In I Cor. 13, the Bible itself tells us that we don’t see everything clearly right now; it’s like we’re looking in a distorted, dark mirror. Only when Jesus returns will everything be clear to us. That should cause us to be a little bit humble in our pronouncements about our faith! Doubt can give us a little of that humility.
But not everything about doubt is good, although our culture seems to prize doubt above faith. Have you ever noticed how people refer to “honest doubt” and “blind faith?” Those phrases betray a bias favoring doubt above faith! Why not “blind doubt” or “honest faith?” Doubt can be helpful to us, but there are some potential pitfalls to doubt, too. Listen to these words from James 1. As usual, James writes in black and white, provocative language which is intended to shake us up.
5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.
6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind;
7 8 for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:5-8)
Sometimes doubt can be an excuse to keep us from doing what we ought to be doing. Some skeptics continue to nurture their doubt because hanging on to their doubt keeps them from having to make any commitment one way or the other. I think that’s what James’ comment about double-mindedness is about in the passage we just read. Doubt gives us an excuse to keep from committing, but living that way is a tough way to live.
Other people embrace their doubt and wear it proudly, refusing to believe. They have arrogant doubt. It’s not that they have sincere questions; they don’t want to believe! I’ve had conversations with some people like that. They asked lots of questions about the faith, which I’ve done my best to answer. But at some point it became clear to me that even if I could answer every question they had about the faith, they still wouldn’t believe it! Why? They had no desire to give control of their life over to anyone or anything else, including God. They think they know best how they should live, and they don’t want God messing with their finances, sex lives, marriages, politics, or time commitments. Their doubt functions to keep God at a distance. Their intellectual questions aren’t the real issue. Their unwillingness to entrust their lives to God is the real issue.
You’ll notice that while Jesus didn’t condemn Thomas for his doubts, he didn’t want him to stay in doubt, either! He invited him to search for answers and to believe. That’s what God wants of us.
In the movie, “Finding Nemo,” a clownfish named Marlin heroically searches for his son, Nemo. Because of a traumatic childhood, Marlin has always played it safe, taking no risks, living in fear. This caused him to be overprotective of his son. But despite his vigilance, Nemo is trapped by a deep-sea diver and taken to Sydney, Australia. Marlin sets out on an epic journey to find his son, along with a lonely fish named Dory, who is much more trusting and optimistic than Marlin.
At one point, the two find themselves trapped in the belly of a huge whale. Marlin, frustrated and angry at Dory, who he blames for getting them into this mess, pounds himself against the slimy walls of the whale until he falls limp, dejected and worn out.
Dory asks, “Are you OK? There, there; it’s all right; it’ll be OK.”
“No, no, it won’t!” Marlin replies sharply. “I promised Nemo I’d never let anything happen to him.”
“Huh,” says Dory, “That’s a funny thing to promise.”
Suddenly a rumbling sound surrounds them. The whale begins to tilt back, and the water begins to recede. They cling valiantly to the sides of the whale as Marlin cries out, “He’s eating us!”
But Dory doesn’t think so. Through her hilarious attempts to speak whale, she is convinced that he can be trusted. “The whale says it’s time to let go. Everything is going to be alright!”
“How do you know something bad isn’t going to happen?” Marlin asks.
“I don’t,” is her reply. And she lets go. Marlin, fighting within himself, finally does the same.
Marlin wants to trust Dory’s faith that everything is going to be alright, but he has serious doubts. A mixture of faith and doubt! He overcomes his doubts and lets go. It was a wise choice. The whale sprays them out into Sydney Harbor.
Like Marlin, many of us struggle with a mixture of faith and doubt. That’s our human predicament. But, when you’re confronted by doubt, remember that you don’t need strong rock-solid faith all the time; you only need enough faith to act. Sometimes when we encounter persistent doubts, we need to simply set certain issues aside for a while as unresolvable. We see in a mirror dimly. We won’t be able to resolve every question we have. None of us can! All we need is enough faith to act.
But there are some answers to our questions. Some of the greatest thinkers in the world have wrestled with our tough questions. It’s doubtful that you have come up with the one question that’s going to sink the entire faith! So, read what others have written. Ask me or one of the other pastors for guidance. And ask God for enough faith to act. God can handle your honest doubts and questions. Pray like the father in Mark’s gospel did, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”
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