Bible Study Blog: Faith and Doubt

Then [Jesus] 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." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 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 20:27-29 NRSV

Author Brian McClaren, in his book Faith after Doubt, defines doubt as being of two minds. After all, doubt and double share the first four letters. 

As we grow from children into adults, our minds develop from the dependency and absolute trust of childhood, the testing and questioning of adolescence, to maturity in adulthood. Faith in God is something that is shaped through learning and experience, and helps us to make sense of our lives and the world we live in. But we all reach a point where the faith we had before stops working, and we fall into doubt.

For three years, Thomas followed Jesus as his disciple. He was taught be Jesus, witnessed his miracles, and participated firsthand in his work. He believed Jesus to be the messiah. But Jesus's crucifixion and death changed all of that--bringing him to the greatest personal crisis he'd likely ever faced.

During our conversation, we identified numerous situations that would sow doubt in the heart of the believer and take faith to its breaking point:

Pain and Trauma

• Past adversity
• Unanswered prayers
• Sickness and death
• Financial insecurity

Self-Doubt

• “I want to believe, but I can’t”
• I don’t love myself
• I’m not good enough
• I’m not meant to have the faith that others have

The Squeeze

• Life’s urgencies push Christian faith practices to the margins
• Life has taken so much from me that I have nothing left for God.

The Failure of the Church

• “They don’t practice what they preach”
• “They mistreated me or someone I care about”
• “There’s nothing there for me.”
• “It’s not safe there for me to be true to who I am and what I’m going through”

Cognitive Dissonance

• How can God be real with all the suffering and evil in the world?
• I’ve learned or discovered something undeniable that’s caused me to question all previously-held beliefs
• My beliefs and the Church’s don’t match.

The gods of the world

• Personal ambition and achievement
• Money and materialism
• F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out)
  

Faith is not the opposite of doubt. Certainty is the opposite of doubt. Faith and certainty are not the same thing. Faith cannot exist without doubt. Therefore, it is not a moral failure on the part of the believer. Instead, it is faith's inevitable challenge. 

The Church's call is to be a safe space for people to share their struggles and doubts without shame or judgment. 

Keeping faith in the midst of doubt means carrying your doubts to God in prayer, trusting that when yesterday's faith fails, a new faith and a new person will rise in its place. A strong and vibrant faith is not one that never experiences doubt. A strong and vibrant faith grows even stronger during experiences of doubt.