Is it wrong to want to inspire doubt?

In a word, Yes.  I have always been mystified by the aura of sanctity that doubt seems to have clothed itself in among some circles of Christians.  It seems to be a way of treating the symptoms of a spiritual illness that afflicts certain intellectual unbelievers who are still in the habit of going to church, rather than curing the disease.

Of course we will always doubt.  Just like we will always sin.  But let's not make a virtue of necessity. 

In the scriptures, doubt is always a bad thing.  And not just in marginal texts, but in important ones.  Like Jesus walking on water and Peter failing to meet him halfway.  Or Doubting Thomas.  Or James 1:5-8.  Or Mark 4:35-41.  Or the sign of the Immanuel in Isaiah 7.

Now what most of these texts have in common is that the disciples are in a crisis.  Their lives are in danger.  The raging waters are not mere metaphors for some sort of intellectual upheaval that readers of Frederick Buechner occasionally indulge themselves in while viewing the fall foliage from their lovely New England home.  These people may well die.  And it seems like the most wretched pastoral advice to approach people in crisis, be they in a hospital ER, or a jail cell, or on a battlefield, and "validate them in their doubts."  They need faith lest they fall.

It's certainly what I need.  Leaving a great congregation, and returning to grad school with no clear way to pay for it or to educate an autistic child was the biggest leap of faith I've made in quite a while.  Maybe forever.  And right now I really need to keep my eyes on Jesus rather than noticing the waves and pondering, "Why, as a matter-of-fact, maybe those waves are more real than that phantasm out there I've been pursuing.

Comments

[Barry Weber]

There is no negativity shown by Jesus toward Thomas about his doubting, other than a blessing for those who will not.

Unexamined faith is fragile. Why? Who? How?- those are questions that were breathed into us by God. They are part of the Imagio Dei that allows us to move through time. Even faith that is shaken by outside events- and whose hasn't been?- even that faith settles into a much more solid, realistic, and livable faith. Untested, faith is a collection of words. Tested, from within or without, is becomes a vital reality.

[David]

I understand where you are coming from, and I agree that there shouldn't be an effort to shake people loose from the faith that holds them together. But, similarly, for some, holding on to faith during disorienting times is just as unhelpful, because the reassurances, for some, rather than being reassuring sound like platitudes.

I can only speak from personal experience (I am not a pastor), but it has been the times of darkest doubt that have drawn me into deeper relationship with God because it shook me from complacency. I think God probably deals with each in a specific manner. For me, doubt was a corrective to a corrosive Christian faith.

[David]

And, speaking as a lay person, I long for the day when a pastor is honest enough to say, "I don't know," and share their humanity of doubts. It does me know good to hear that, "This is God's will" and that "All things work together for the Good of those that love God." It does me tremendous good, though, to be met where I am at with honesty.

I think a certain kind of doubt can be corrosive. But doubt can also be extremely constructive. I would challenge all to look at this issue with more complexity.

[Marvin]

I've got no problem with sharing doubts, just like I've got no problem with confessing sins. And "I don't know" is a perfectly acceptable answer to a question, especially from a pastor. It's an answer I've given (on more than one occasion, I'm sure!), and it's one I've received as well.

Perhaps I've been blessed with more favorable circumstances than most, but I've never been in a religious climate where asking questions was frowned upon or where authorities were afraid to answer with "I don't know."

I'm not all that worried about a militant fundamentalism that stifles intellectual curiosity. The fundamentalists were driven out of mainline churches in the '20s, and I expect that Tuesday's election will expose them as a spent force politically.

But even if some sort of brute force dogmatism were a big problem in my denomination, blessing doubt is not the solution to that problem. Perhaps we define our terms differently, and please see the post above for more about that, but I think that a mature faith looks like something rather different than the quivering mass of equivocations and Rogerian Um-hmming that's so in style among those who are still battling the fundamentalists.

[David]

I started writing a response, but it got a little long, so I put it up on my blog. I'm not sure if we have different definitions of doubt, but I am pretty sure we have very different experiences of it.

I admire your gutsy decisions, but some people have more difficulty keeping their eyes on Jesus because they can't seem him, because they have been blinded, perhaps on purpose, perhaps on the Damascus road.

For me, doubt doesn't lead to quivering equivocations, but liberative, forceful living because it shakes religion out of the realm of belief and into action.

For me, I think most in the religious world, conservative or liberal, fear doubt, rather than seek to understand how God uses it constructively.

Anyway, I appreciate the perspective, though. It is good to temper my thoughts, to realize that doubt can be overdone and that doubt is unproductive and harmful to some and at certain times.

Thanks