about doubt

Many calling themselves Christian fail to remember we have a new nature. They look at attributes of our old nature, call them natural, and rather than teaching the eradication of these, they promote them as normal or even healthy. This happens often with sin. Example: I get angry with a neighbor. Someone in my community of faith tells me that's "human nature". Another adds, "yeah, I would have killed the guy." And so on. This is not the truth and freedom we get from God. We need to do better than this.

The same thing happens in the area of doubt. These days it seems vogue to encourage believers to question and to doubt. This is wrong. Conversely, it is not right to condemn those with questions and doubt. It is not right to say we never doubt. But the response is not to say, "that's good" or "that's healthy." The response is to wrestle with truth and come to a place of confidence and complete faith. John Calvin writes:

Unbelief is so deeply rooted in our hearts, and we are so inclined to it, that not without hard struggle is each one able to persuade himself of what all confess with the mouth: namely, that God is faithful.

While we teach that faith ought to be certain and assured, we cannot imagine any certainty that is not tinged with doubt, or any assurance that is not assailed by some anxiety. On the other hand, we say that believers are in perpetual conflict with their own unbelief. • Inst. III.ii.15, 17.

The key point here is that we want to struggle to experience what we confess, not that we relish in the doubt. We do not desire doubt, we wrestle (in a healthy way) against it.

Here are some balanced words from Michael Patton.

Technorati Tags: faith