There is a growing camp among irked evangelicals that loves to promote the "humble doubter" label. A friend posted a link to a CNN article on Facebook recently, and here I provide a sort of half-response/ pondering..
Here is the article: Why I Believe in God by LZ Granderson
Here is my response:
" the claim of having definitive answers about an infinite being. But true faith does not require us to have all of the answers."
-CORRECT..
"Faith, as it relates to spirituality, isn't knowing something others don't know -- we call that a secret -- but rather belief in something that can't be empirically proven or disproven." ..OK...
"To truly be a person of faith one must accept the fact there is no tangible evidence there is a God. If such evidence existed, we wouldn't need faith."
No tangible evidence? What about Jesus Christ? THE WORLD? The universe? Humanity? The drive that humans have to worship something greater?
The discussion of doubt emanates from God himself? That what is basically being said here:
"I believe the discussion itself is divine."
That's a little chincy and unbiblical to me. God calls us to have faith, not to dabble in doubt.
"To admit doubt removes the arrogance of certainty prevalent in so many evangelical Christians and atheists alike and replaces it with the humility"
I think there is a big mistake in the doubt / humility argument, and a big misinterpretation. Doubt does not equal humility. Saying that you do not know something when you don't, or making it clear that you do not have every single answer is humble. I would even possibly say that doubt is a perverted or twisted humility to fellow man. We need to be humble before the Lord (James 4:9-11), and he has told us to be faithful and persevere.
When you just look through the Bible, we see Jesus acknowledging doubt. That is a lesson for us: it is unhelpful to just cast a deaf ear to someone's legitimate concerns. But he always responds this way:
"If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen." Matthew 21:21
"O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Mark 14:31
"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:6-8
With this in mind, there are many other concerning things about this article. Many, many other concerning things, so much so I am terrified that this person has been going to "church" for years and has no idea about his theology- his being a pick and choose mushy one.
We must remember the call of Titus to have mercy on those who doubt, while also holding to solid Biblical teachings.
What do you think?
Here is the article: Why I Believe in God by LZ Granderson
Here is my response:
" the claim of having definitive answers about an infinite being. But true faith does not require us to have all of the answers."
-CORRECT..
"Faith, as it relates to spirituality, isn't knowing something others don't know -- we call that a secret -- but rather belief in something that can't be empirically proven or disproven." ..OK...
"To truly be a person of faith one must accept the fact there is no tangible evidence there is a God. If such evidence existed, we wouldn't need faith."
No tangible evidence? What about Jesus Christ? THE WORLD? The universe? Humanity? The drive that humans have to worship something greater?
The discussion of doubt emanates from God himself? That what is basically being said here:
"I believe the discussion itself is divine."
That's a little chincy and unbiblical to me. God calls us to have faith, not to dabble in doubt.
"To admit doubt removes the arrogance of certainty prevalent in so many evangelical Christians and atheists alike and replaces it with the humility"
I think there is a big mistake in the doubt / humility argument, and a big misinterpretation. Doubt does not equal humility. Saying that you do not know something when you don't, or making it clear that you do not have every single answer is humble. I would even possibly say that doubt is a perverted or twisted humility to fellow man. We need to be humble before the Lord (James 4:9-11), and he has told us to be faithful and persevere.
When you just look through the Bible, we see Jesus acknowledging doubt. That is a lesson for us: it is unhelpful to just cast a deaf ear to someone's legitimate concerns. But he always responds this way:
"If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen." Matthew 21:21
"O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Mark 14:31
"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:6-8
With this in mind, there are many other concerning things about this article. Many, many other concerning things, so much so I am terrified that this person has been going to "church" for years and has no idea about his theology- his being a pick and choose mushy one.
We must remember the call of Titus to have mercy on those who doubt, while also holding to solid Biblical teachings.
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment