Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 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.” 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!” 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.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29
Leslie Weatherhead, an outstanding British minister of the mid-twentieth century, addressed some of the key issues about questioning and doubt in his book, The Christian Agnostic. The term, according to Weatherhead, refers to “a person who is immensely attracted by Christ and who seeks to show his spirit, to meet the challenges, hardships, and sorrows of life in the light of that spirit, but who, though he is sure of many Christian truths, feels he cannot honestly and conscientiously sign on the dotted line that he believes certain theological ideas about which some branches of the church dogmatize, churches from which he feels excluded because he cannot ‘believe.’ His intellectual integrity makes him say about many things, ‘it may be so. I do not know.’” (1)
If we were truly honest, could we not all write God a letter about issues we had or have with Christianity? To have issues is not to say that we are not Christian, many in the faith have assured me. Some Bible passages are very complex or some cultural issues are hard to define. Sometimes we struggle with the very core of our faith. Others never seem to have anything close to a doubting faith. They seem to have a very sincere deep and abiding belief—a simple faith, by which I do not mean any less intellectual—and others are constantly on the search for an answer.
The person with simple faith will say, “It's right here in front of you.... Don’t you see it?” And the honest skeptic replies with, “No, I can't see it,” or “Yes, I can see how you might see it in that light, but my experience has been different.” I have been reading a book written by Lee Strobel called The Case for Faith. It is a book for a person who has struggles with some tough issues in the Christian faith, like reconciling an all-powerful and all-loving God with the evil and pain that exists.
In reading the introduction, I was introduced to a historical figure that I had never before read or even heard about. His name is Charles Templeton. Templeton is a contemporary of Billy Graham, and the two men used to be very close friends. Graham says that Templeton is one of the few men that he has loved in his life.
They were roommates and preached at revivals. Templeton founded a church that grew to 1,200 people. Many thought that he would overshadow Graham. He was a gifted orator and writer. But Charles Templeton left the ministry in the 1950s because of questions about God that he could not reconcile. One of those very issues was how a loving and powerful God could stand by and watch people suffer needlessly.
Graham also faced these doubts, but his faith somehow won out. He agreed with Templeton that there were questions that he could not answer, but Graham wrote that he was not going to place himself on the same level as God. He had unanswered questions, and he came to his knees and told God, “I can't answer all these questions, but I am going to place my faith in you, and believe that you have an answer.” And now, although aging and dealing with Parkinson's disease, Billy Graham still climbs the steps to the pulpit or walks over to the podium, and his message is always simple but true.
Templeton, on the other hand, lives in Toronto and is battling dementia, having written a book, Farewell to God. Both men still have enormous respect for each other, yet fifty years have shown that these men ended up on different sides of the page. Templeton was interviewed by Strobel, saying of Jesus, “I miss him.” Graham, however, has uttered the words of Jesus for who knows how many crusades over the past fifty years.
Templeton is what we would call an agnostic, and Graham, a believer in God. I think it is interesting that both men started out with similarities but diverged so greatly on such an important issue. (2) But let’s not give up on Templeton yet. He has a copy of Billy Graham's biography sitting on one of his coffee tables.
Without getting into all the objections people raise about the Christian faith, we can acknowledge that faith in Christ comes easier for some people than it does for other people. John 20:29 illustrates this well: “Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’” The him that Jesus is referring to is the Disciple Thomas, Or “Doubting Thomas,” as he has come to be identified over the years.
Thomas had not been there when Jesus first appeared to his disciples, and when they told him that they had seen the Lord, Thomas was not convinced. He wanted firsthand proof of this event. And, remarkably, he gets that opportunity, because Jesus comes again after eight days.
This time Thomas was there. And Jesus’s mission seems to be directed not only to Thomas, but also to the disciples and future readers of the Gospel. Jesus invites Thomas to come to him and to see his wounds and place his finger in the wound in his hand and in the wound in his side. And then Thomas bows and utters, “My Lord and My God.”
We might be prone to say, “Well, I could believe in Christ if I had that kind of firsthand experience.” Why, the whole world might believe then! Why doesn't God just give everyone a firsthand experience of some kind?
The Bible says that we have enough evidence in the Scriptures, and we also do through people like C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, and Lee Strobel, who write firsthand accounts about the road from being an agnostic to a true believer. Christ also thinks we have enough evidence to come to a verdict.
Remember the story he told of the wealthy man Lazarus, who ended up in Hell? The man begs to be able to at least go back and warn his family about the impending judgment. But Christ says that his friends and relatives have enough proof with the prophets and teachers. Christ must have thought there was ample evidence to reach a verdict.
However, doubt is not such a bad thing. I don't think it is a sin to doubt. It depends on how we resolve our doubt. Is it dealt with, or do questions keep circling it in our minds so that we become confused?
In other words, there comes a time to resolve our doubts. Not that everything is perfectly understood, mind you. But we make the choice, like Billy Graham, that we are not going to try to put our minds on the level of God and that we will in faith give our doubts back to God.
For instance, I don't have any idea how my car starts and gets me to work every morning. All I know is that I need my key to start the engine and push the accelerator and use the brakes and steering wheel on occasion. But if I were asked to give you an intricate, detailed map of how the car actually works, I would be at a loss. Every morning I go out to my car, and I have the faith that the engine will crank and that I will be at work in no time.
It’s the same way with my computer. I push the button and I expect the computer to come on and after warming up, I am a click away from the World Wide Web. But I couldn’t give an explanation for exactly how it connects me. I turn my computer on and, by faith, hope it brings up a document I have saved.
To have questions about the faith is a given. I worry about someone who has no doubts or questions. Lynn Anderson, Grammy-winning country music star, says, “I always get a little nervous at what I call the ‘true believer’ mentality—people with bright smiles and glassy eyes, who never have a doubt in the world, who always think everything's wonderful, everything's great. I don't think they run in the same world I do. I'm afraid of what's going to happen to them when something bad occurs.” (3)
Lee Strobel also writes, “Many spiritual seekers have legitimate questions concerning Christianity and need to pursue answers that will satisfy their heart and soul. Yet I think some seekers get to the point where they are subconsciously raising smoke screens to mask their deep-seated motivations for rejecting the faith. The same can be said for Christians who fall prey to doubts about their beliefs. Often, they're having a bout of sincere misgivings about some aspect of their faith; other times, however, their professed doubts may actually be a defense mechanism. They may think they're hung up over an objection to some part of Christianity, when the reality is they're actually just around for some excuse—any excuse not to take Jesus more seriously.” (4)
We may never have the firsthand experience that Thomas had. So what will we do with our doubt? “Faith is a verb.” In other words, we can live the faith and still have questions. And maybe the Christian life is not so much asserting a set of theological treatises as much as it is a way of living.
Many people cannot live with questions. They have to have every question answered before they can “sign on the dotted line.” But what if Christ just asks us to follow him even with all the questions we have? He never gave the disciples a written quiz on their beliefs or disqualified them for the doubts they expressed. He just asked them to follow him.
I suppose Jesus thought that many of their questions might be settled in the very act of experience. And so it is for us. Everything may not be settled intellectually for us. But what will we do with our doubt? Will it paralyze us into inaction, or can we move forward, questions in hand, to an experience of the living Christ where faith moves from our head to our heart?
Sources Consulted:
1. Faith is a Verb. Ken Stokes. Page 30.
2. The Case for Faith. Lee Strobel. Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.
3. The Case for Faith, Chapter 8.
4. Ibid.
