Doubt

I'm an admirer of Thomas, the apostle, after whom I may have been named, because he refused to believe without seeing the evidence. Even though he's a character out of the gospels, written by the newly-hatched Christian community some 1,900 years ago, Thomas was, in this sense, a "modern" man.

Some religious people may criticize him, but I believe Thomas' skeptical reaction to the news that Jesus had risen from the dead is the only rational one.

Told by the other apostles they had seen the risen Lord, Thomas replies: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe."

The gory crucifixion
Thomas may have gone a bit overboard in making his point by saying he had to experience the results of Jesus' gory crucifixion to make sure his friends weren't seeing things, or that somebody wasn't impersonating Jesus. He obviously understood human beings' capacity for self-deception.

Eight days later, according to John's gospel, Thomas got his chance. Jesus appeared to the scared, frustrated group of apostles and addressed Thomas: "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Then, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

In that last sentence, Jesus is talking about me, and about millions of others who, like me, believe even though they may have grave doubts and are skeptical, and also about the other millions who can't bring themselves to believe. So, I'm writing this blog for them, hoping I can help a small number of them in their faith. I certainly don't have all the answers - or even a lot of them - but I might be able to offer some insights based on my background and experience and my empathy for people who have a hard time believing.

A 70-something is a contemporary of a 20-something
As surprising at it may seem, given my age (you can tell by my picture), I want to address young people particularly - people between the ages of 20 and 40. You may already be thinking, "What can this geezer possibly have to say to me?" "How can he relate to me and my experiences, which have undoubtedly been entirely different from his?"

Good question, and its context - that our experiences are different - are on target. The only word I would quarrel with is "entirely." There are things I'll never understand about the current culture, things like rap music, shoe and clothes styles, body jewelry and tattoos - and the need to incessantly say "like" and "awesome." But something as basic as doubt, faith, disinterest, irrelevancy? Those subjects are timeless.

After all, you 20s, 30s and 40s are my contemporaries. Think about it. Though we may seem we have little in common, we are sharing the same decades out of millions of decades since humans began to walk the earth.

Doubt part of faith
Anyway, the bottom line here is that doubt is part of faith. People who have no doubt either have a direct line to God, and that isn't faith, or lack self-awareness. People who doubt are using the brains God gave them. Accepting irrational views, including religious ones, without testing them doesn't make sense to me.

Huh? you may say. Is there anything less rational than faith? In my view, there are lots of less rational things, and one of them is thinking the only way of knowing is through the scientific method. Faith may not be scientific, but it's rational. There are good reasons for believing, and this blog will explore them.

So, God invites, but to answer we have to be open, despite our doubt. The doubter, Thomas the Apostle, showed us the way.

Please pass along the address of this blog to your friends and family. Thanks.

TC