The other day a friend from seminary was asking about a post I wrote about doubt. He was teaching on the idea in his youth group and wanted the post to help frame some of his own ideas. I re-read the post and thought it was something I should bring out of my archives for people to re-engage.
What do you think about this trend to trumpet and champion doubt? Is this a good trend? Or do you agree with me that it is disturbing?
I saw a tweet yesterday from Steve Argue, a former professor at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and Pastor at Mars Hill church. Here it is:
Dear students: Doubt. But don’t doubt alone. Doubt within your faith community. If you can’t believe… we’ll believe for you. #RRYM
After seeing this on Facebook I thought: REALLY?! Since when is doubt a good thing? Since when are we called—make that encouraged—to deliberately encourage people to doubt, especially foster doubt in the Church.
While this tweet is contextless—coming from a youth ministry conference at Mars Hill called “Re-Imagining Relationships in Youth Ministry”—it does reflect a troubling trend in the church, a trend that encourages and supports and fosters doubt.
I am not talking about dismissing doubt or flippantly answering doubts pleadings. The example of Jesus Himself shows just the opposite.
In John 20 after the apostle Thomas declared “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” Jesus entered his story an challenged Thomas’ doubt by giving him the opportunity to experience the power of His resurrection himself. Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Put. See. Reach. Stop.
4 commands demanding 4 responses.
Through these imperatives Jesus actually challenged Thomas’ doubt, beginning with an existential confrontation. Jesus provided Thomas an experience through which he could believe. While Jesus acknowledged Thomas’ doubt, he neither affirmed it nor encouraged it. In fact, He commanded Thomas to “Stop it! Stop doubting and believe.”
I would imagine if Jesus retweeted the tweet of @stevenargue he might respond quite the opposite of what Steve encourages. Perhaps he’d respond with what we find in John 20:29:
“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
In the face of doubt those who believe are “blessed.” Those who doubt are not blessed, but those who believe.
Again, I am not dismissing the reality of doubt or the necessity of sitting with people in their doubt. Jesus Himself in some way entered into Thomas’ doubt, but along the way challenged it existentially and commanded him to believe. Why would we not do the same?
I get the reality of doubt, especially in our hyper-doubting, all scepticizing postmodern condition. I understand it’s potency in our post-Christian culture. Shoot, I’ve wrestled with doubt myself for these very reasons. I’ve also had the privilege of walking through valleys of Doubt’s shadow with several friends. As leaders in the church—let alone Christians in culture—however, I find it incredibly odd to command doubt in the way Steve tweeted. “Dear Students: Doubt.” Perhaps I’m missing something—again, I certainly acknowledge the contextless 140 character quotation—but wouldn’t it be better to encourage belief? Acknowledge doubt, yes. Enter into someone’s doubt, for sure, especially in the way Jesus did…existentially. But for goodness sake don’t encourage, advocate or foster it.
Jesus certainly didn’t. Why on earth would we?
This is why Twitter and Facebook updates are antithetical to living a Christian life. They're ok for "Join us today at 5!", but for discipleship?
"Dear Students: Doubt." doesn't seem like a real problem to me.. except 'cool' pastors are using 'cool' technology to teach 'cool' kids 'cool' theology. The 'cool' coming from saying "Doubt!" instead of "it's okay to doubt…"
The real problem is this: are other teachings going to be conveyed in 140 words?
"Dear Students: Repent!"
Yeah… the next Sunday would likely be a quiet one at that church…..
Ultimately, these new ways of microcommunicating just allow 'cool' churches to skim the surface, ruffle no feathers, and keep people coming. Unfortunately that's not what Christ calls us to.
But I think Jesus does encourage doubt, not as an opposing force to faith in God, but rather as an opposing force to the worldviews generated by the powers and principalities of the age. I think Jesus wants the pharaisees to rethink their legalism. I think Jesus wants the rich to question the worth of their possessions. I think Jesus wants those of tribal disposition to move beyond the tribe towards a common humanity.
There is no doubt that in our day, the church has its issues with legalism, with tribalism, and with a spiritualism that justifies material greed, because the church is filled with flawed people. But where a community covers over and condones these attitudes rather than challenging them and seeking growth, then something ought to be questioned.
The funny thing to me about the twitter statement you quoted is that I really believe the guy is being disingenuous about his call to doubt. First, he's not stating exactly what he wants you to doubt – it's left implied, and while you might say it's obvious, I think the ambiguity rather makes his call to doubt somewhat like a theological Rorschach test. But secondly, as the statement advances, the call to doubt is replaced by this assumption of the impossibility of the individual superseding the collective will to believe. Go ahead and try to doubt, the statement tells me, but you won't get beyond us. In a way, I think this is actually a call to an erasure of a skepticism that allows for individual doubt in the first place. Mr. Argue's doubt, I would argue, does not go all the way down.
I will openly admit to my own struggles and reconciliation with my own doubt. I can explain my own position through reference to the Rob Bell slogan that "all truth is God's truth". I find this rather backwards, especially in light of a reading of Ecclesiastes. As a fan of negative theology, I instead believe that no truth is God's truth, that God's truth far exceeds our understanding, that all attempts to rationalize God in man's history have failed, and will fail in the future, in bringing God down to our level. Because God's descent into the realm of humanity is not an effort of mankind, but a gift that God himself offered us, ending in the cross. Through this mindset, I embrace my doubt, not as something that is cool or contrary, but as a humble admission of my own fallibility, of the church's imperfection, and I let it sit in my gut as a pregnant pause that causes my to mourn for the world and to seek the return with desire and yearning and agony. Such a doubt causes me to question the logical positivist attitude of the modernist theologians, but to also challenge the notion that liberal theologians are really doing anything better either.
Dear Ben,
Steve has studied more about youth and religion than most. Not sure if you looked at any stats on youth in the Church lately, but for the most part they are not present after high school. This is most likely because they doubted all along and learned to make sense of things better outside the church. So Steve telling students to doubt, but do it within thier faith community is more about affirming where they already are. I think you are trying a little too hard with this stuff. Maybe if students actually questioned thier beliefs before going out into the world they would have a leg to stand on instead of withdrawing. I will not be visiting your blog after this. I thought you might have something to say that would challenge me and where I am at, but I lost all respect for you when you decided to write this blog. Not sure where you are coming from, Cedarville roots regrowing or just someone scared you about something? The people scared of doubt are usually the ones that have nothing else to hold onto-namely a community that would still embrace them. No need to reply as I won't see it.
Well I'm not as angry as Ben obviously is above, but I do personally think we need desperately to be creating environments where it's OK (or even encouraged) for our young people (and perhaps even older ones) to articulate doubt. And I'd optimistically suggest this was the thought the tweet was hoping to get to. But maybe that's a touch optimistic. If our young people are worried about how articulating doubts might be received (usually quite accurately worried) then they'll hold onto those doubts until breaking point. Church, youth group, any Christian community has to be a safe place about expressing doubt. That hasn't been the case in my experience, but it needs to be.
What if we read the story like this: “Unless I feel, touch, and see the wounds of Jesus healed, I will not believe.” Jesus responds by inviting Thomas into the story. “Touch, see, believe.” As you wrote: Jesus provided Thomas an experience through which he could believe.
Leslie Newbigin, missionary, theologian, and missiologist, advocated that “the church is the hermeneutic of the gospel.” In other words, it is within the context of the church that we come to an understanding of the gospel message.
If Newbigin is correct, if it is within the faith community that our struggles of life can be lived, our pains and joys can be felt, we can be understood, and life can be lived deeply. If we believe the church to be such, then it makes sense that we invite people to ‘doubt’, as well as experience other emotions, within the fellowship of God’s people.
While we don’t want people to stop having faith, for us to doubt is human. We doubt how high we can jump, how fast we can run, the ability of our faith to hold up under trial, and how far we can love another.
When we look at the biblical text and the stories of doubt, we find the doubt of Abraham having a child at a very old age. We find the laments of David. We find Peter doubting Jesus hours before the crucifixion. Yet, Abraham was blessed beyond his dreams. David is said to be ‘a man after God’s own heart.” Peter is the person on whom Christ proclaims that he will build his church. Thomas was known to have much doubt, and he continues to be invited into the story of Jesus. Church historians say it is Thomas who took the gospel to Africa and India where groups of Christians have lived faithfully for two thousand years.
If doubt within the context of the church leads to the kind of faith stories told in the biblical text, may God let our doubt be great and our faith grow strong.
I believe that doubt can be complimentary to faith. When we do look at the biblical text, many of the great doubters found great faith and did amazing things within the kingdom. As I stated in the previous post, Abraham, David, Peter, and Thomas were some of the greatest doubters within the biblical text. Their doubt led to greater faith. The laments of David found their way into the biblical text, and I can't help but believe that David's doubt led to greater faith.
I'm not convinced the John 16:9 verse equates doubt with sin. It is referencing believers treatment of other believers and the coming of the Spirit upon the disciples after Jesus leaves them. While it mentions faith, it doesn't explicitly state that doubt is sinful.
If we can't say "Where are you God?" within the church, we will do it outside of the context of the church. Then there will be no echos of the saints to lead the way… only echos of other gods. Why exactly the protestant tradition in 2010 has not embraced the laments is absurd to me since we hold so tightly to the Psalms? In turn, we have been unwilling to push against God and ask, "So, where are you in my pain? Where are you in my life story?"
We've learned from our leaders to say such things as "It's in God's plan" when in reality pain and death was never part of God's plan for his creation. Again, I find it absurd and counter to the biblical text.
Perhaps my questions back to you would be:
~ How has the church dared to call itself faithful while not practicing the lament?
~ How does theology move itself forward if we don't doubt the premises of the theologians who have gone before us?
[i.e. We're still stuck with interpreting Calvin and Luther because we somehow believe they had divine inspiration, and we don't really dare to question some of their main premises even though some of their theology and life actions run contrary to the gospel?]
Hi Randy. I think we're confusing terms.Since when did lament equate to doubt or unbelief?
In David specifically, we find great belief, powerful belief and faith in God YHWH in the midst of lament and heartache (see Ps 42 and 83). Where exactly did David no longer believe in YHWH?
Abraham was credited righteousness precisely because of his faith and belief in YHWH, not doubt/unbelief. Where did Abraham no longer believe in God YHWH? From Gen 12 all the way through 25 we see pretty much everything but doubt/unbelief in YHWH!
Peter himself declared Jesus to be the Messiah, though he was perhaps confused about who that Messiah would be. While of course he denied any association with Jesus after His arrest (that doesn't equate to disbelief or doubt) he broke down and wept, a sign of contrition and repentance. Again, where did he doubt or disbelieve who Jesus said he was as Lord and Messiah?
Your comments about lament are entirely valid. We have bled the possibility of lament from any Christian or even non-Christian expression of faith because "It wasn't meant to be" is somehow more appropriate than "God where are you?" Case in point: the lovely praise chorus "As the Deer". We've transformed a lamentation Psalm (42) into a praise chorus because we're so uncomfortable with the types of confrontational laments of David or others.
Anyway, again I would say lament does not equate to doubt/unbelief but instead extends and strengthens a relationship with God built belief and faith in Him as it moves one deeper into relationship through interaction.
Also, perhaps when you or others say 'doubt' you really mean a lack of understanding? As in: "God what are you doing here? I don't understand why this is happening or what you are doing here in my story…" or an expression of a lack of understanding God and his mystery? Is that it? Because I wouldn't term that doubt or unbelief, but instead confusion or lack of understanding/certainty…
One phrase caught my eye in this snippet. I absolutely believe in the living God. What I doubt is "Christian leadership". What I hunger for is leadership that asks me to doubt them rather than telling me what to think, while maintaining a relationship of respect and mutuality that still allows for gentle correctives where I am seen potentially slipping into error. By dividing the laity too strictly into a leader/follower scheme, I'd argue that the church has actually made its members weaker as individuals even as they believe they are being edified, it has made them more prone to collectivist thought even as they believe they are being individuals, it has made them less attentive readers of the text even as they believe they have digested the text in its entireity, it has made them believe they are fundamental practictioners of the faith even as they stumble into neo-paganist reformulations of faith in which nothing more then a lexical label remain intact.
In the days of Luther, the Pope was often accused of being the antichrist. Without using such labels, I'm afraid that today I have much reason to doubt the people that constitute "church leadership". Because what I see absent from that leadership is Christ. As such, I doubt what they produce, and affirm those who share my doubts.
I have some further thoughts that I don't need to share with the entire interwebs…
And no, this wasn't meant to attack you at all, Jeremy (or is it Ben?) but just a statement on why I think doubt, in a broad sense, is important and not a threat to a Christ-centered faith.
When I was in Middle School, at youth group one Sunday night I asked the question, "Can God make a rock so big that he can't pick it up?" The answer from the teacher that night was, in an angry tone, "Those kinds of questions are designed by Satan to make you doubt your faith!" and then he moved on. In that moment I was taught that you are not allowed to ask difficult questions about your faith in church, you must simply believe what you're told without question. Unfortunately I don't think I was alone in this type of experience at a youth group in the 90's (and probably 80's and before as well).
In response to that type of attitude toward questioning or doubt, I completely understand where Steve was coming from. Rather than telling students, "Don't ask questions. If you doubt things, suppress it. Just don't go there." He's saying to them, "If you have doubts, it's okay, we'll help you." At least that's how I took it.
Granted, as you pointed out, you can't address all those nuances in the few characters Twitter allows. So my next question, then, is how many of his teenage students follow him on Twitter? Was the question intended to be heard by students or by youth pastors, particularly those who were at the conference and understood the context?
By the way, Jeremy, I really do appreciate the dialog you've had on your blog. I check it from time to time. I feel I'm in a very similar place as you and I love reading your thoughts on E.C. and all that goes along with it. So if I sound critical at all in this response, just know that's not the intention and that more often than not I tend to agree with you.
Hi Steve! No criticism taken. I totally get and respect and appreciate your heart for creating space for students—not to mention adults—to explore faith in Jesus Christ. That space certainly needs to be safe space to voice questions and doubts and conflicts and more questions. All I'm asking (and I know you agree) is that we also encouraging students/adults to FIND faith in Jesus Christ.
I'm not saying Steve doesn't also want his students to find faith in Jesus. My problem is that in general nowadays doubt is considered a virtue. It's virtuous to struggle in faith, rather than actually have it and cling to it. I want to ask: since when has doubt ever been a virtue?
Anyway, you're probably right in how he meant it…it's just seeing what's happening in the Church in general I want to say, "hold the phone!"
Thanks for your thoughts, bro. Blessings on your own ministry in creating safe, holy place for students!
I get that. And that's the tension I'm dealing with too. How do you go about creating a safe place to ask questions while still encouraging a fairly specific answer? It's really hard to encourage questions without simultaneously saying (or at least implying), "and whatever answer you come to, that's great!" Because ultimately, as you point out, we want to point students to Jesus.
So… if you figure out how to do it, let me know 🙂
TOTALLY! I think that's exactly where I'm at with trying to create a new expression of the church in GR. Let's make a deal: which ever one of us cracks the code we must promise to share the secret with the other. Deal? Deal. Good!
You're on! 🙂
And if I ever get a Sunday off, I'd love to see what you've got going on up there. Do you post sermons on-line or anything?
I have become a proponent of encouraging doubt but I would place it within the context of doubt which prompts us to seek and exercise additional faith. For many years, I thought doubt was the antithesis of faith but now I see it as its important companion. Faith that has not survived a challenge – better yet, multiple challenges – by doubt is suspect and may not stand other, more serious tests that could come n the future. Doubting within community is is a good thing if that community is a faithful one.