James 1:6 says that a person who doubts is like “a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” And in John 20:29, after Thomas doubts that Jesus has risen from the dead, Jesus says to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Verses such as these certainly don’t cast doubt in a positive light. On the surface, they seem to be implying that God will be more pleased with us if we believe without questioning and never have doubts. Many authors and speakers warn against the dangers of doubt and encourage us to take every thought captive, not allowing ourselves to entertain any thoughts that are contrary to the truth. But is doubt a sin? Is it dangerous? Should it be avoided?
The answer is complicated, but in a simple sense I would answer “no” to all three of these questions. However, I would like to explore this issue a little more deeply, because I feel that there are some misconceptions we may have about doubt that could be a greater threat to our beliefs than doubt itself.
Often we fear that if we experience doubt, fellow Christians, or God Himself, will be disappointed with us. We may think it is a sign of weak faith, or perhaps even that we are not true Christians. And even if we admit to ourselves that there are times we experience doubt, we may be reluctant to admit it to others. It is imperative that we understand doubt and not be afraid of it, as doubt actually is a necessary and powerful tool for acquiring knowledge, determining truth, and setting our beliefs on a solid foundation.
The first thing we must understand is that doubt is normal. In fact, we will all have doubts at some point about nearly everything, so it isn’t unusual that sometimes we may doubt the truth of Christianity. At various times I have doubted whether I was marrying the right person, whether I had chosen the right career, whether I could trust a friend of mine, my ability to perform a particular task, and all kinds of other things. Sometimes our doubts are reasonable, and sometimes they’re completely crazy. As we mature, we (hopefully) become better at distinguishing between reasonable and unreasonable doubts, and are better able to tune out the unreasonable ones. But there will always be times when we pause for a moment and ask ourselves whether we’re really sure about a particular thing. As George W. Bush wrote in his book Decision Points, “If you haven’t doubted, you haven’t thought very hard about what you believe.”
Doubt is not only normal, it occurs involuntarily, which is key to understanding whether it is inherently wrong. We don’t choose to doubt something; it is simply a natural result of certain thoughts and emotions. Therefore, doubt cannot be a sin, since sin is a voluntary rebellious choice. Our only choice is how to respond to it.
The second important point is that doubt is not only normal, it is essential for critical thinking. Beliefs that have not been doubted are on a very shaky foundation, whereas those that have been doubted at some point and have stood the test are much stronger. The default position whenever we hear new information should be to doubt it, and it is this doubt that motivates us to check it out for ourselves and find out whether it is true. The alternative would be to accept automatically any new information we hear, which would be extreme gullibility. It is this process of doubting and checking things out that weeds out unfounded assertions and helps us become more confident in the things that are reasonable to believe.
Thirdly, doubt is not a position, it’s a method. Many who hear the word “doubt” may think of it as the opposite of belief or faith. We may imagine that it means a permanent resistance to acceptance of the claims of Christianity, but this is not what the word implies. Like I said before, the opposite of doubt is gullibility. It is the starting position we ought to have regarding any new information, but the goal will always be to investigate further until we can accept or reject a proposition. In either case, we don’t remain in a position of doubt. Doubt is merely the middle ground between accepting and rejecting a truth claim.
How, then, do we interpret verses such as the ones mentioned above? To answer this question we must differentiate between two different types of doubt a Christian may have. The first type is doubt that God is real, the Bible is accurate, or that Christianity is true. The second type is doubt that God can be trusted or that He really loves us or has our best interests in mind. Notice that the latter already accepts those things that are doubted by the former. I believe it is to this second type of doubt that the verses above are referring. The verse in James is referring to asking God for wisdom, but then doubting that He will answer that prayer. And Thomas was not doubting anything basic such as the existence of God. He had been around Jesus for quite a while and seen plenty of evidence that Jesus was who He said He was. Jesus was chastising him for not trusting that He would do what He said He would (rise from the dead). Therefore, these verses are not condemning the former type of doubt. In fact, elsewhere the Bible encourages a healthy skepticism, such as in 1 Thes. 5:21, where it says to “..test all things” and “hold fast to the good.”
To return to the point I made earlier, it is particularly important that we create an environment in which we are all encouraged to bring up our questions and doubts, to admit when we’re struggling with certain beliefs and talk to those who may be able to help us work through it. If we fail to do this, Christians who struggle with doubt will be far more likely to walk away from God not only because they haven’t found adequate answers to their questions, but also because of the perceived necessity to put on a facade and pretend they are not feeling and thinking what they are.
The logical follow-up issue is how to deal with and overcome doubt. However, this is a topic for another time. For now, my main goal has been to argue that doubt is normal, not something to be afraid or ashamed of, and something which we need to be more willing to discuss openly without judgment. Ultimately, doubt can be a powerful tool for making more solid our conviction that Christianity is true, by putting it to the test and revealing that it does hold up to scrutiny.
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