Chapter 9
Luke 24:38 “He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?'” See,” he seems to say, “I give you my peace: why are ye troubled? why do you allow perplexing, harassing thoughts to arise in your hearts? The past is forgiven and forgotten.” “I come not, as a wrathful Judge to reckon with you for your unbelief and unfaithfulness. I bring to you something very different”.
Doubt from Cambridge Dictionary: (a feeling of) not being certain about something, especially about how good or true it is.
Why is doubt so appealing, even trendy, in today’s society? Why do some religious figures suggest that doubt signifies spiritual growth? Is doubt truly the companion of faith, or is it something else entirely? What does it say about our theological understanding when doubt is elevated as a virtue?
Brad East, Associate Professor of Theology at Abilene Christian University, has written about the basics of faith for the spiritually hungry and shares his thoughts in an essay. I’ll summarise some of the key points.
There are several pitfalls in embracing doubt. First, proponents tend to universalise a particular experience, presenting doubt as a pervasive challenge for all Christians, which may not be true in different historical and cultural contexts. Second, they elevate doubt as a necessary aspect of a mature faith, ignoring the diversity of experience and background among believers. Third, they exalt doubt as a virtue when its role in the spiritual journey is ambiguous. Finally, they fail to recognise doubt as a tool rather than an endpoint, akin to lingering on a ladder rather than reaching a destination.
At best, doubt is a ladder to climb. But ladders aren’t ends in themselves. We use them to get somewhere, to complete some job. Dwelling forever in perpetual doubt is like making one’s home on a ladder—technically possible but far from ideal.
Questions are not the same as doubts. Thomas Aquinas asked thousands of questions in his short life. Augustine’s Confessions alone contains more than 700 of them. But there’s the rub. Doubt begins with a loss of trust or credibility; questions do not. My children ask me questions every day, not because they doubt me, but because they trust me.
For this reason, saints and mystics adore questions, including questions that cannot be answered in this life. Questions arise from and foster our trust in God. Questions grow faith.
Doubt often entails questions, questions do not always entail doubt.
Faith, on the other hand, is not this desperate maintenance of inner certainty. It is just as accurately translated as faithfulness. To have faith is to keep faith, to remain faithful to God, to trust Him and to become trustworthy in return.
Doubt can be part of that struggle. The struggle is real, lifelong and common to us all. But the struggle is not the point. The point is where we are going. The point is who we follow. We are not condemned to struggle and suffer and wonder forever. Doubt may have been, is now, a ladder, but it’s not a home!
Wishing a good start to this new week.
Philemon