Faith and Doubt

Tuesday night I caught a few minutes of the Dennis Miller show. I love it when I get a few minutes to listen to his show, not only is it funny, but he usually has some interesting takes on politics that don’t fit neatly into the typical “conservative” opinions. On this particular episode, Dennis had a great guest, the actor Orson Bean. The segment I heard featured Mr. Bean (he he) telling his story of how he turned from alcoholism and wild living to faith in Christ.

I’ve heard Dennis comment on other people’s faith before; not in a negative light, but in a somewhat skeptical manner. On this occasion, Dennis interrupted Orson’s story with a question about doubt. As Orson was describing how much richer and fuller his life has become in Christ, Dennis asked if it was possible once you have found God to revert back to doubting God’s existence.

Orson’s answer to the question was great, and it reminded me of one of the greatest misconceptions about faith in Christ. So many people think that having faith means that Christians believe something based upon their emotions and feelings, in defiance of their reason. This could not be further from the truth.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis described faith as holding to a belief that your reason has once determined to be true, in spite of your changing emotions and feelings about that particular belief. Think of a parachute, when a potential skydiver is on the ground, his reason tells him that the combination of silk and nylon will cause enough friction in the air to slow his descent and allow him to land safely. When the skydiver reaches the door of the airplane, it is his emotions that tell him to turn back and cause him to doubt his parachute, not his reason.

The same is true for me as a Christian, even as a Pastor. My faith in Christ cannot be a slave to my emotions and feelings. There will be times when I don’t feel like believing. Standing at the door of the plane and looking down can be terrifying. I jump because I remember the sensibility of my faith. I remember the testimony of the early church martyrs. I remember the undeniable fulfillment of prophecy in Scripture. Then I also remember the track record of my faith. I’ve jumped before and Christ caught me, surely he can catch me again.

I think it would benefit us as a church to admit our struggle, and triumph over doubt. Rather than acting as though doubt is never a serious contender to our faith.