MMM | Issue 7
Hi all,
Since it's Monday, I thought I'd write my weekly Faith and Doubt musing. By the way, yesterday's message is now up on the website. Just go to www.rivercommunity.ca and click on "Recent Messages". Feel free to forward this e-mail to friend so they can join the conversation as well.
Today, I want to say a word about skeptics and trust. Before I say anything , I want to say that I love conversing with skeptics and respect their desire to find the truth. In my judgement, it is better to be a skeptic with an inquiring mind than someone who just doesn't care.
That being said, I do believe that often skeptics would rather, even at their own expense, appear to be right than take the risk of trusting.
The skeptics is someone who says, I'm going to suspend judgment. I'm not going to commit myself, because the demand for sufficient evidence has not yet been met. Now, while this sounds very objective and rational, often the dynamic that is going on underneath the surface is something like this: The skeptic is saying I don't want to be wrong. I don't want to lose the argument. I don't want to risk being hurt or looking gullible.
An example of this from the Bible is the disciple who was known for doubt- "Doubting Thomas." We see him three times in the Gospel of John, and he's always expressing skepticism. The climactic incident occurs after Jesus appears to the other disciples who were gathered together after the Jesus' resurrection. All of them were there except Thomas. They are overjoyed to see Jesus and can't wait to tell Thomas. When they see him, they say, "Thomas, we saw Him! He is alive! He is risen from the dead!" They are stunned by Thomas' response. He says, "I don't believe you."
What Thomas is saying to the other disciples is that they are either lying or delusional, even though he knows better. Despite the fact that he knows them and Jesus; despite the fact that he's spent time with Jesus, heard him preach and witnessed miraculous things, he won't believe. More than any other human being, Thomas had good reasons to believe, but he chose the skeptics path. And he gives a striking response: "Unless I see Jesus myself, unless I see the nail marks in his hands, unless I put my finger in a hole, unless I put my hand in his side, I'm not going to believe." (John 20:25)
Skeptics do this. They demand certainty at a level that they know cannot be obtained. It looks rational, but underneath it's simply human pride. The danger of skepticism is that skeptics can be so invested in being right that they will never find out that God is trustworthy, because they never risk trusting.
Peace,
Pastor Bruce
Since it's Monday, I thought I'd write my weekly Faith and Doubt musing. By the way, yesterday's message is now up on the website. Just go to www.rivercommunity.ca and click on "Recent Messages". Feel free to forward this e-mail to friend so they can join the conversation as well.
Today, I want to say a word about skeptics and trust. Before I say anything , I want to say that I love conversing with skeptics and respect their desire to find the truth. In my judgement, it is better to be a skeptic with an inquiring mind than someone who just doesn't care.
That being said, I do believe that often skeptics would rather, even at their own expense, appear to be right than take the risk of trusting.
The skeptics is someone who says, I'm going to suspend judgment. I'm not going to commit myself, because the demand for sufficient evidence has not yet been met. Now, while this sounds very objective and rational, often the dynamic that is going on underneath the surface is something like this: The skeptic is saying I don't want to be wrong. I don't want to lose the argument. I don't want to risk being hurt or looking gullible.
An example of this from the Bible is the disciple who was known for doubt- "Doubting Thomas." We see him three times in the Gospel of John, and he's always expressing skepticism. The climactic incident occurs after Jesus appears to the other disciples who were gathered together after the Jesus' resurrection. All of them were there except Thomas. They are overjoyed to see Jesus and can't wait to tell Thomas. When they see him, they say, "Thomas, we saw Him! He is alive! He is risen from the dead!" They are stunned by Thomas' response. He says, "I don't believe you."
What Thomas is saying to the other disciples is that they are either lying or delusional, even though he knows better. Despite the fact that he knows them and Jesus; despite the fact that he's spent time with Jesus, heard him preach and witnessed miraculous things, he won't believe. More than any other human being, Thomas had good reasons to believe, but he chose the skeptics path. And he gives a striking response: "Unless I see Jesus myself, unless I see the nail marks in his hands, unless I put my finger in a hole, unless I put my hand in his side, I'm not going to believe." (John 20:25)
Skeptics do this. They demand certainty at a level that they know cannot be obtained. It looks rational, but underneath it's simply human pride. The danger of skepticism is that skeptics can be so invested in being right that they will never find out that God is trustworthy, because they never risk trusting.
Peace,
Pastor Bruce
posted by Pastor Bruce @ 11:05 PM
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