I Doubt It

Doubt seems to be in all of us, yet we don't like to admit it. The questions of "why" are masked with the "pretend like they don't exist" because we don't want to look foolish or maybe simply because we want to have all the answers. There is this belief that the opposite of faith is doubt. It makes sense.......if doubt were not the opposite of certainty. I submit that faith is not the opposite of doubt, but rather the opposite of sight.

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." "So, if faith is trusting in what you cannot see, then the opposite of faith is sight - only trusting in what you can see (The Jesus of Suburbia, p. 84)." 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "We live by faith, not by sight." What's the implication? The implication is that to live by sight requires no faith at all. No trust in God, whom we cannot see, but rather trust in ourselves and our own eyes, which we use to make many of our decisions.

I think what Christianity has done on a large part is say that faith and doubt cannot coexist. You either have one or the other. What I think that's done is caused many people, believers or not, feel like they're wrong for having questions, wrong for doubting, and even unbiblical for not having "enough" faith.

Tim Keller (The Reason for God) says that, "A faith without doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person's faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection (p. xvii)."

A man who's child was possessed by an evil spirit comes to Jesus in Mark 9 and pleads with Him to heal his boy. Jesus says anything is possible for those who believe. His response was that he did believe, but his plea with Jesus was to help him with his unbelief.

Charles Spurgeon once said, "While men have no faith, they are unconscious of their unbelief; but, as soon as they get a little faith, then they begin to be conscious of the greatness of their unbelief.”

I believe in all cases, believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts. I believe that it should be a regular thing. To understand an infinite Being with a limited and finite brain is utter mystery. I also believe Jesus knew the man's faith in Mark 9 for it was evident by the fact that he even came to Him for help. This man may not have understood Jesus fully, but He did believe (although unexplainable as to why other than what he heard) Jesus had the power and even desired it so that his son might be saved. A statement like "help my unbelief" can only be said by faith. If you didn't have any, why would you ask for the impossible?

All that said, I believe faith and doubt can coexist. I believe it allows for honesty and authenticity. But what I believe it allows for the most is growth. Growth in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ so that we too may learn to trust Him even when we don't have all the answers and even when we cannot see.