Science, scepticism, doubts and beliefs

Can a Christian have doubts?

Answered by Luke Buckler 

“Doubts”, Henrietta Rae, 1886 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When we think of doubt and scepticism, we often think of something that is incompatible with faith. However, the Bible has a positive attitude towards being sceptical — in fact, it commands us to be! For example, in 1Thess. 5:21 (NIV) Paul says:

Test everything. Hold on to the good.

God knows there are a lot of false ideas in the world, so he wants us to test the concepts that present themselves to us to see if they are good or not, reject the bad and hold on to the good stuff. John has similar advice in his first letter:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. [1John 4:1]

When it comes to the arena of ideas and beliefs, scepticism is to be part of the characteristics of a Christian. We can often be afraid of doubt, seeing it as always the antithesis of belief, but it is, in fact, as an element in the process of scepticism that leads us to test everything, a necessary component of a Christian’s life. If we don’t have some level of scepticism we will end up believing all sorts of rubbish, things that are false and incompatible with Christian faith.

A Christian faith is a faith that requires evidence; based on a sceptical review of the evidence, it sorts out the good from the bad and holds onto the good.

The limits of scepticism

What we’ve seen of scepticism so far implies that we needn’t continue to be sceptical about something that we have verified to our satisfaction. Once we have verified something, we can trust it. This is what Paul is talking about when he says,

‘Test everything. Hold on to the good’

(i.e. when we have found something to be good we no longer need too test it but can rather trust it), and it is true in everyday life, as well as in science. So, once we have verified the evidence for faith in God, we can release our doubt and trust the evidence.

When doubt turns bad

Science & Faith (song) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

However much faith we have, there will probably be time when we still doubt, doubting, perhaps, even the existence of God. This is pretty natural and usual. All sorts of people often have irrational doubts about all sorts of thing, be it their upcoming performance in a job interview, or the ability of a plane to stay airborne. These doubts are irrational because they go against the evidence: you’ve interviewed fine in the past; thousands of planes fly everyday without major problem. Likewise with belief in God: after we’ve weighed the evidence and found it affirming in favour of belief in God, our subsequent doubts are irrational. In the words of Paul, we are no longer ‘hold[ing] on to’ what we have previously verified. When this happens, we need to remind ourselves of the basis of our faith, the evidence that brings us to belief, be that the witness of the Jews, the evidence of the empty tomb, etc.

For some people, their main struggle as a Christian could be over a specific moral issue. For others, this may not be a problem but, rather, their Christian fight could be over faith at its basic level. Neither is unusual, and both require the effort of reminding yourself of the truth of the matter and holding on to it. Mentally walking through this process is commendable.

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Preceding:

Some one or something to fear #5 Not afraid

Where is the edge

Caricaturing and disapproving sceptics, religious critics and figured out ethics

Science & Faith (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Please do find also to read:

1. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
2. To mean, to think, outing your opinion, conviction, belief – Menen, mening, overtuiging, opinie, geloof
3. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
4. Control your destiny or somebody else will
5. Answering a fool according to his folly
6. Faith, things a person believes
7. Belief of the things that God has promised
8. Faith is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook.
9. Faith antithesis of rationality
10. Concerning Gospelfaith
11. Uncovering the Foundations of Faith
12. Life and attitude of a Christian
13. Walking in love by faith, not by sight
14. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #1 Kings Faith
15. Faith and trial
16. Being Justified by faith
17. A Living Faith #1 Substance of things hoped for
18. A Living Faith #2 State of your faith
19. A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
20. A Living Faith #4 Effort
21. A Living Faith #5 Perseverance
22. A Living Faith #6 Sacrifice
23. A Living Faith #7 Prayer
24. A Living Faith #8 Change
25. A Living Faith #10: Our manner of Life #2
26. Faith is a pipeline
27. Faith and trial
28. 1 Corinthians 15 Hope in action
29. Living in faith
30. The professor, God, Faith and the student
31. Everything that is done in the world is done by hope
32. Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark
33. Wondering
34. Earnestly Contending for the Faith
35. A Jewish Woman and a Test of Faith
36. What’s church for, anyway?
37. Don’t let anyone move you off the foundation of your faith
38. God receives us on the basis of our faith
39. Feed Your Faith Daily
40. Remember there’s a light in the next day
41. It is a free will choice
42. Irrationalism and irrationality
43. Let me keep to “first importance” things

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