First off, ChurchMarketingSucks.com got the ball rolling on a network of local church marketing labs, one of which is located in Tulsa. The first meeting is Monday the 7th. If you’re interested in marketing, communications, graphics, or web design for your church, meet us at Panera Bread at 71st and Garnett at 6.
I’ve started reading Tim Keller’s The Reason for God. In the early chapters he makes some statements about faith and doubt, and it occurred to me that, at least in recent history, the church has done a terrible job communicating the limits of faith and the benefits of doubt.
When I say the limits of faith I don’t mean that faith can only be so deep or so wide, or that there is anything we can’t do through faith in Jesus. What I mean is that faith is not a blind leap, but it’s not the same thing as knowledge or concrete fact. We can’t set out and prove - beyond the shadow of doubt - that Jesus is who he said.
The whole idea of trying to prove something inherently unprovable is pretty ludicrous. But we have tried so furiously for so long, some are left to wonder if we’ve descended into dementia. Apologetics is a useful tool; but it’s only effective in showing the possible, and even the probable. But you can’t reason faith…not to an unregenerate mind. You can reason some level faith to those who have it, and to those whose hearts have been prepared by the Spirit. But in general, it’s a lost cause.
And because you can’t reason faith into knowledge, doubt has a role to play. We all have them from time to time, but we’ve been taught that doubt is bad. We’ve been taught that to doubt in any way, or at any level, is basically blasphemy. “Look at how they treated Thomas!”
But Keller has a take on that story that I hadn’t thought of before:
Kelly’s account recalls how, as a struggler with doubt and faith, the passage about Thomas…was a comfort to her. There Jesus modeled a view of doubt more nuanced than those of either modern skeptics or modern believers. When Jesus confronted “doubting Thomas” he challenged him not to acquiesce in doubt (”believe!”) and yet responded to his request for more evidence.
Jesus used Thomas’ doubt as an opportunity to remind him who he was and to bolster his faith. Surely Thomas learned that day to trust in the power of the Lord in a way he had not known before. If we react to it correctly, sharing it with those closest to us and those who support us in Christ, doubt can lead us to God, rather than away from Him. It’s an opportunity to seek the answers to questions and know God more.
Of course, I’m not on board with the type of theology that uses doubt as a weapon to bludgeon its opponents. There are those out there - many would call themselves “progressive” or “emergent” - for whom doubt is a tool they use to tear down all forms of traditional theology. They are the type who ask questions, but don’t want answers. They say, “What if…” rhetorically, not looking for answers, but loopholes. This is an abuse of doubt.
It’s clear to me now that God gave us doubt as a gift. It keeps us from relaxing comfortably in our current spiritual state. It makes us seek Him out for support. But like his other gifts - food, sleep, emotion, sex - it can be misused. We should be diligent in facing our doubts, not with denial, but with study and prayer.
Technorati Tags: apologetics, christ, christianity, communications, doubt, faith, jesus, knowledge, lord, marketing, reason faith, Theology, tim keller
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