The sermon yesterday on "Faithful Doubt" explored the notion that John's account of "doubting Thomas" has something to teach disciples of Jesus about faith - and faith's relation to doubt.
I love the doubting Thomas story because it gives us all a chance to relax a little bit and realize that doubt is okay. Thomas doubts, he's blunt about it, and Jesus meets his doubt and unbelief with just the thing he needs. The story gives us permission to voice our doubts and questions to God, and gives us reason to believe that God will, in some way, in some time, answer our doubts and questions - either with evidence (the marks of the nails in Jesus hands) or by simply strengthening our faith in such a way that we trust God's wisdom and goodness even if we cannot understand God's ways (for example, Hurricane Katrina or the earthquake in Haiti).
Key Quotes:
"Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving."
- Frederick Buechner, "Beyond Words"
"Faith has reasons that reason does not know."
- Heard it before but cannot find the source. The point is that faith is not unreasonable or irrational, but that faith is deeper than reason - meaning that it is not just a matter of the mind but of the heart and the soul as well.
Good Songs about Doubt:
"Doubting Thomas" by Nickel Creek on album "This Side."
"In My Bones" by Andy Gullahorn on "The Law of Gravity."
Some lyrics from "In My Bones":
I was serious as a heart attack
when I came to you with the doubts I had
I never heard an answer back,
but I feel it in my bones.
When my mind wants to see some proof
My heart knows its no use
when I feel it in my bones...
A great, theologically astute and honest album. I highly recommend.
Check it out here.
Proofs of God
As promised, here is a link to more arguments for the existence of God.I did not mean to dismiss these arguments - as arguments they are pretty good. My point was that our belief in God, or our faith, is not based on arguments and logic and reason the kind of mathematical thinking that these proofs consist of. Our faith consists in following Christ - as whole people, and loving God with heart, mind, soul, and strength.
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