Faith and Doubt: Finding Authentic Faith

Last month, I was at the Centre Christian Fellowship weekly meeting and as we finished our time of song, praise, fellowship, and instruction a freshman stepped up to the microphone to close us all in prayer. She closed her eyes and fervently prayed. Her words were genuine, her voice was steady, and her mind was determined. She asked God to bring the students of Centre College an unshakable faith; a faith that outlasts the skepticism and attacks of Religion professors; a faith that is strong and persevering; a faith that is sure and certain. Now this may seem fine and well, a needed heart-felt prayer, and I admit it was delivered passionately and with authentic words, thoughts, and feelings. However, I winced. I struggled to listen to a prayer that was filled with insecurity yet utterly incapable of admitting it. It was a prayer that held fast and true to a version of faith that tempts us all: faith as prideful certitude.

“Prideful certitude?” you might ask. Well before we go headlong into this false understanding of faith, we must first ask ourselves a question about our own Faiths. What is Faith to us? I have spoken, read, written, and heard “faith” in many different ways. I might imagine the same could be said of you. There is a lot of ambiguity or a lack of clarity concerning how we use “faith” and to what we are referring. There is the faith of commitment, the faith of trust, the faith of religion, the faith of practice, and many other “versions” of faith. Faith is a term frequently used, but seldom is it understood in its most comprehensive sense. Today, let us pause and reflect on our Faith, on the comprehensive Faith that underlies our Christian Identity. May we look beyond the surface of our every-day experience to locate the essential nature of Faith, so that we may embrace it with an understanding that deepens our spiritual lives.

Last week we saw that the very foundation of faith is not the unwavering trust of a child, but the unmerited favor that brings us into communion with God. Faith is rooted in accepting Grace. Without a receptive heart, there is no Faith. Thus, Faith is not founded in Trust, but in the realization of the Gift found in Christ's actions on the Cross. Faith is first receptivity: a receiving of Grace as a Gift; the Greatest Gift.

Thus, in examining Faith, we discovered from last week's text that Grace and receptivity are at the starting point. But then what? For we have only begun and there seems so much more left unanswered. What about trust and faith? What about unwavering dedication and commitment, perseverance and courage? Aren't these terms (trust, commitment, courage, etc) synonymous with Faith? I submit to you this morning that we cannot think of Faith simply as trust, or simply as commitment. But many have, and many do. Many have diluted our concept of faith, they have watered it down for us to make it simple. But not just Faith, much else is diluted in our world for ease and simplicity. And unfortunately, churches fall prey to this dilution.
We can see this most readily in Protestant America's “seeker sensitive” church movement. This particular evangelical perspective presents people with a simple world, simple situation, and simple solution. There is Evil and Good. People are Evil, God is Good, and God uses Christ to make us Good again. The message of the cross is made simple by making it distinctly personal: its just you, God, and a decision about getting something from God. The whole presentation is directed primarily toward an isolated few sitting in the pews. Its about getting those non-believers to become believers. Its about conversions and the conversion experience, leaving all else to be had as “details”. Ultimately we are left with a message centered around what Christ did for us, and leave out what it is that we are to do for God. The watered-down church is centered on the watered-down Gospel. The watered-down Gospel revolves around US and what we get out of the deal. Thus, we are provided a place to make simple decisions.

With everything so simple and watered-down, Faith becomes simple and diluted. After all, simple decisions require simple Faith, right? What makes this all so attractive and acceptable is the ease of simplicity. Simpler is easier. If I only see the world as Good or Evil, if I only see people as Good or Evil, if decisions are either Good or Evil, then there is no ambiguity... nothing to sort out. Everything is clear and simple, it's easy to see what to do and how to respond. Simpler is easier, and easier is better... right? No. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7: 13-14).

So what then is Faith? If faith is not a simple concept, then how is it complex? First, let me say this: Faith is complex, not complicated. In other words, Faith is not an exclusive concept available only to those with the most astute minds, rather the concept is available to all who would consider the depth and breadth of Faith. Faith is not one element, it is all elements. Faith is not an aspect of life, it is all aspects of life. Faith is receptivity, but it is also marked as a KIND of receptivity. Faith is a receptivity not in part, but in whole. Faith is receiving God's Grace in totality, with the entire being: in intent, emotion, and action. It is received with the heart, the mind, and the soul. It is an orientation of our complete self, there is nothing absent from its saturation into our existence. Thus, Faith becomes a perspective, an identity, an organic reality within the believer.

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus gives us insight into the meaning of "entirety of existence." A certain “lawyer” from the ranks of the pharisees questioned Jesus about the commandments and Jesus answered him quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5. He echoed Jewish thought in loving God with the entire self. Here is what he said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” (Matthew 22: 37).

Thus, Faith is Trust. Faith is trusting in the object of Faith: God. Faith is trusting in the reality of God as a God who gives Grace. This is the Faith of the “Heart.” Faith is also commitment. It is a commitment to God and God's Love. Faith is the willing response to God's Gift of Grace. This is the Faith of the “Soul.” Faith is also humility. Faith is recognizing our finite wretchedness before the infinite Goodness of God. And this humility requires courage; the courage to admit finitude despite our longing to be infinite; the courage to admit that we are human and that we are not and cannot be God. This realization and admission is the Faith of the “Mind.”

So what is the simple faith that is so dangerous to authentic, real Faith? As I mentioned before it is prideful certitude. It is the reduction of Faith to trust and trust alone, and then mixed with selfishness. How does this happen, how do we take Faith and dilute it into something that then gets so distorted?

The first mistake we can make is isolating scriptural references. Turn with me to Hebrews 11:1.
Here we have a reference to Faith, one that is often quoted as being the definition of Faith. But this is not the complete definition of Faith, rather a mention of one aspect of Faith. Here we witness the Faith of the “Heart”-- the Trust in God as our object of Faith. This conviction leads us to Hope in the Grace of God. But this is not all that Faith is. This is a part of Faith. An element of Faith.

This passage is a famous description and depiction of many Hebrew Bible people of Faith. It highlights Faith as Trust in the promises of God, as obedience to God in responding to his commands, and as service to God in sacrifice. All of these elements of Faith constitute some of Faith, but are not representative of the entirety of Faith. For Faith is of the whole being, an orientation that requires all of the person of Faith.

The second cause of the distortion of true Faith comes from a misunderstanding of Doubt. People often forget the role doubt plays in some very important passages of the Bible.

Was Job without Faith in his suffering when he questioned God and said: “Why did you [God] bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been carried from the womb to the grave.” (Job 10:18-19). Job, a questioner of God and seeker after Truth would not simply accept his circumstances or what his friends were telling him (namely that he had transgressed in some capacity). Instead Job wanted God to answer his questions, for Job felt that God's Justice was incorrect. But through all this, Job was Faithful to God. At the end of the account, the Lord maintains that Job is God's servant (42:7).
Then there is the Faith of the Disciples. Not only did the Disciples not believe the women's report of his Resurrection (Luke 24:11), but in the room where Jesus appeared to them all after his Death, the Disciples still “disbelieved for joy and were marveling” (24:40).

It seems that doubt is inevitable, for even the Disciples and a blameless, upright man of the Hebrew Bible experienced it. Thus, we must ask ourselves what place doubt holds in Faith. Is doubt to be resisted, overcome, or embraced? Too many times I have felt guilty for doubting, thinking I should not. Too many times I have felt guilty for unanswerable (or unknowable) questions that I have entertained. Too little have I recognized the power and importance of Doubt. Too little have I realized that Doubt is a necessary element of Faith. Let me repeat that Doubt is a necessary element of Faith.

Doubt is an element of the human condition. To be human means to doubt. Why is this? Humans are not God. God, as traditionally understood, is omni-scient (or all-knowing). Thus, only God can be said to be doubtless, for doubt stems from not knowing; from lacking information and from entertaining possibility. Doubt derives from the process of moving back and forth between two options (Doubt and Double have the same root). It is a process of evaluation. Doubt is not rejection, and it is not acceptance. It is the peculiar human predicament of limbo between explanations for an unknown proposition. Doubt is simply admitting that we don't know.

So how is Doubt necessary to Faith? The Faith of the “Mind” recognizes that humanity and God are different. This Faith affirms human finitude and God's infinite nature. Thus, possessing doubt affirms that humans are not God. Doubt reminds us that we are not God. Doubt keeps us real. It prevents us from accepting notions of grandeur that somehow we are God. Thus, Doubt is the preservative of humility. It keeps us humble.

Doubt also makes courage possible. For with Faith there is great risk that our Faith is misplaced. Courage affirms this risk and proceeds anyway. Courage does not deny possibility, but courage does make a choice. Faith is a choice, a humble choice to trust in God and commit to sacrifice and service. Faith is not certainty. It is not the un-questioning, un-wavering Trust that is doubtless, but is rather a choice of the entire being. Faith is a human choice. A total choice.

Have you made that choice this morning? Have you courageously affirmed your doubts, realizing that your human-nature limits your ability to be certain? Have you put your trust and hope in a God who loves you beyond measure? Have you dedicated yourself to this God? Have you become humbled by the reality of your insufficiency before the Almighty One?
If this is a new commitment you are making, a new life of Faith that you want to be a part of, please talk to me after the service or sometime this week. I would love to speak to you about the reality of God's Love and what you can do to embrace that Gift. This is an exciting and challenging choice, but one that is truly trans-formative. I pray that as we sing this morning that you would be thinking about the comprehensive reality of Faith, and the dedication is requires from your whole self.

Let us sing. Hymn.

Benediction:

My prayer this morning is that you leave here with a deeper sense of Faith. I hope and pray that you would be open and aware to the comprehensive nature of your Faith, to the necessary element of Doubt that must be present to keep you in appropriate relationship with the Most High God. Do not be fooled into the watered-down Faith of unquestioning trust, but be uplifted by the courageous choice to love, sacrifice, and serve a Gracious God. May professors of religion always challenge you, may you continually be shaken, and may we all realize that we are in need of a Loving God. May that need be made real, may that Grace be made real, may your Faith be made real.

Let me leave you this morning with a message from an article I read in Time magazine by Andrew Sullivan. In it, Sullivan outlines his perspective on the conflicts in the Middle East and the core issues that feed both the disputes and bloodshed. He ultimately concludes that unwavering certainty about religious perspectives is preventing any type of peace from occurring, and possibly from ever occurring. He says: “...doubt is not a threat. If we have never doubted, how can we say we have really believed? True belief is not about blind submission. It is about open-eyed acceptance, and acceptance requires persistent distance from the truth, and that distance is doubt. Doubt, in other words, can feed faith, rather than destroy it. And it forces us, even while believing, to recognize our fundamental duty with respect to God's truth: humility. We do not know. Which is why we believe.” He goes on to say “The 18th century German playwright Gotthold Lessing said it best. He prayed a simple prayer: 'If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left hand only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and to offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand, and say, Father, I will take this--the pure Truth is for You alone.' That sentiment is as true now as it was more than two centuries ago when Lessing wrote it.” (“When Not Seeing is Believing” www.time.com)

Amen.