Doubt: Facing Our Questions, Finding the Way [Part Two]

Cutting Edge Christianity

Some might be concerned that a show like Unbelievable? sows seeds of doubt in good soil, and ask why a Christian radio show would allow the weeds to compete with the wheat. But I must remind them that the tares are already growing in the cultural fields, and if we don’t learn to recognize them, it won’t be long before we are completely overrun. 

As Christians, we often feel threatened by the overwhelming number of critiques leveled against us. We try to be good citizens, yet the villagers treat us like monsters and come at us with torches and pitchforks. We see every other god get a seat at the table, while ours is told sit in the corner with an “Unknown God” sign around His neck. Our God is ghosted, while all the other deities are invited to party with the rest of the pantheon. Surprisingly, despite all this hostility, Christianity endures.

Why has Christianity survived every cultural ice age? Why hasn’t it gone the way of the dinosaurs? I would argue that its remarkable fitness isn’t due to its ability to mutate under societal pressure but its extraordinary capacity to remain true to its doctrinal DNA. Saint Bonaventure compared this noble Christian form to Michelangelo’s David, which was already present in the marble but just needed to be revealed.

“Michelangelo already saw in the stone that lay before him the pure image that, hidden within, was simply waiting to be uncovered…Michelangelo considered the proper activity of the artist to be an act of uncovering, of releasing – not of making” Saint Bonaventure referred to this process of removal as ablatio which slowly revealed the nobilis forma, the noble form beneath.^[1] (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger)

Michelangelo knew his David was hidden within the marble slab, but it would take a sharp chisel to reveal his beautiful form. I believe that Christianity is no different. The Body of Christ is also gradually being uncovered as the raw marble of the church is slowly chipped away. While the business end of a cultural spear can be painful, its piercing tip may be the artistic tool needed to reveal the doctrinal contours of the nobilis forma beneath. Perhaps we need to rethink our attitude toward criticism. Maybe the burning anger aimed at Christianity is a refiner’s fire, purifying our faith, degree by cultural degree.

We need not fear cultural change because it doesn’t dim the gospel but instead brings its previously hidden strengths to light. I’m reminded of the controversy surrounding The DaVinci Code, which, while briefly upsetting, forced us to up our apologetic game and educate a new generation about what a Gospel is and why the four in the New Testament can be trusted. The challenges the church faces continue to come fast and furious as our culture rapidly changes, but rather than crumble under the constant chiseling, the noble Christian form is progressively being revealed. The tragedy of abortion has led to a deeper understanding of the sanctity of life, controversy over same-sex relationships has helped us reclaim the Biblical view of marriage, the transgender issue has helped us clarify what it means to be created in God’s image, and the evolution-creation debate has helped restore the relationship between science and scripture.

The church tends to grow when it is persecuted, so every time we feel the sharp tip of a cultural chisel, the jagged edge of doubt, we need to remember that we are on the cutting edge of Christianity. 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 37-39)

Tilling the Soil

Church planting is valuable, but if we do it just because we want to remove cultural weeds, then we will fail, because we may uproot some new wheat in the process. A new church must begin by preparing the ground, which doesn’t mean, however, that we just throw down some Biblical potting soil, but requires that we till the land. Tilling involves breaking up soil and removing rocks. Could it be that when we engage in difficult dialogue with those who doubt, we are tilling the soil? 

While we know we must work the ground of our critics, we cannot assume that our children already have good soil. Their ability to give Sunday School answers may lead us to believe their soil is fertile, but we won’t truly know if their faith is shovel-ready until we dig deeper with our apologetic gardening tools.

Facts or Friendship

One of the problems with the modernist mindset is that it has led us to believe that the goal of the religious life is intellectual certainty. It has caused us to develop a relationship with the Almighty based on His intellectual capacity rather than His emotional availability. Jesus, however, isn’t just the Truth but He is also the Way and the Life. Jesus isn’t simply an intellectual answer to an academic question but is the means, motive, and opportunity necessary for us to become convicted Christians. Dominic Done states it like this:

“It dawned on me that what had been wrong in my heart was my relentless quest for certainty…But what I found was that my soul craved far more than just a list of academic explanations. I wanted communion with God. Could this be what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the way”?… And that’s what I needed from God. Not more directions and maps, but closeness, intimacy, and relationship. I sought certainty but found a God who walked with me all along. I sought resolution but found relationship. I sought clarity but found friendship. He reached out his hand and said, “Follow me.” And when I took his hand, things began to change.”^[2]

Heart of Worship

Sadly, doubt is often precipitated by the bad behavior of the “faithful,” which is unfortunate because it was never about them in the first place. Christianity is about Jesus. I would encourage anyone contemplating leaving their faith because of the conduct of its adherents to walk past those sitting in the pews, sit at the foot of the cross, and answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” If you have looked Him directly in the eye and decided He isn’t worth the effort, then you have done your due diligence, but if you reject Him because of His followers, then I suggest that you never really understood the heart of worship.

I’m coming back to the heart of worship

And it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus

I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it

When it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus (Matt Redman)

While many doubts revolve around Christianity’s historicity, we need to remember that faith ultimately doesn’t dwell on an ancient religious story, but looks forward to a Jesus who makes all things new. 

Building a Bottom-Up Faith

The philosopher Descartes sought to find absolute truth by peeling away layer after layer of uncertainty until he reached a point where he could no longer doubt. He conducted a thought experiment on the world and discovered that the only thing he could definitively prove was that he was the one who thought up the hypothesis, which he famously summarized as, “I think, therefore, I am.” Doubt, like everything else, must be used in moderation because radical skepticism leads to nihilism. Healthy doubt, however, renews the mind.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Riding the Wave

Sadly, when we hermetically seal our faith off from doubt, our breath gets a bit stale, and those who come in contact with us get turned off by our holy halitosis. God doesn’t want yes men and women; He wants conversation partners. He created us in His image, not so He could admire Himself in an earthly mirror, but so He would have co-workers who weren’t afraid to ask Him a question or two. 

In the Book of James, doubt is depicted as a wave driven and tossed by the wind. However, when you consider the context of the passage, it’s clear that he isn’t writing about doubting the basics of the Christian faith but rather about doubting whether God will give someone the wisdom they need to scrutinize it properly.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-9)

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul argues that the church must appoint knowledgeable leaders equipped to answer difficult questions because, if they don’t, doubt will infantilize the faithful and provoke them to leave home.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. (Ephesians 4: 11-15)

We may occasionally be tossed to and fro on the ocean of uncertainty, but with a little help from our friends, we can safely ride the wave of doubt to the beach and shore up confidence in our faith.

Erik Strandness is a physician and Christian apologist who practiced neonatal medicine for more than 20 years and has written three apologetic books. Information about his books can be found at godsscreenplay.com 

^[1] Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today. (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1996) p. 141.

^[2] Dominic Done. When Faith Fails: Finding God in the Shadow of Doubt. (Nashville TN: Nelson Books, 2019)