Doubting


First, a Bible excerpt - John 20:24-29 New International Version (NIV).

Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Photo by me.

Jesus’ rebuke of Peter in this story, “…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” is completely at odds with a posture of seeking truth. As a scientist, I’ve experienced finding truth firsthand. It takes a lot of questioning, experimenting, and scepticism. I think René Descartes put it nicely: “If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”

The glorification of blind faith and the condemnation of doubt seems, to me, to be a prevailing ideology of the Bible. The book of Job is a lengthy demonstration of a man who was strong because he refused to doubt God’s goodness. In Luke (1:18-20), Zechariah is made mute as a consequence of questioning the words of Gabriel the angel. James (1:6) declares that “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” The much-quoted Romans 10:9 declares the path to salvation, “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

What does it mean to ‘believe in your heart’ other than blind faith?

When I view Christianity through this lens, I see it as dangerous. Forgetting the fact that dogma is damaging, it is only natural (as a human) to question and doubt things for which you do not have proof. Doubting and questioning are behaviours which have allowed us to come so far as a species. Supressing and condemning such behaviour leads to poor mental heath on the small scale and tyranny on the large scale. To me, these parts of the Bible honestly read as though someone wrote them to stop people from questioning their power.

I cannot think of a way that rebuking scepticism could lead to a better life. This Christianity is the religion that has caused people I love to believe God has withdrawn from them because of doubt. This Christianity is the religion that persecuted Galileo for free thought. Of course, it is good to have hope and optimism, but it is extreme to say that one should never doubt.


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