Doubt

Sometimes people think that the opposite of believe or belief is doubt. That is not the case, in fact. The opposite of belief is unbelief or more completely, rebellion. When people refused to believe Jesus, they, in fact were rebelling against the truth and the facts that they had been given.

So what is doubt? Selwyn Hughes says, "Doubt can be used to detect error." He went on to quote an unknown author, but one who was prescient with regards to the 21st century. "The inescapable presence of doubt is a constant reminder of our responsibility to truth in a twilight world of truth and half truth."

Hughes sums doubt like this. "It acts like a spur to challenge us to find out the truth about a situation. It is precisely because all is not certain that we have to make certain."

Francis Bacon opined, "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will begin with doubts he will end with certainties."

Hughes concludes, "Doubt can act as a sparring partner both to truth and error. It keeps faith trim and assists us in shedding the paunchiness of false ideas."

I didn't have to write much for this lesson. Doubt is not an enemy, it is a friend, a tool. In a world of "fake news," a world that has seemingly abandoned absolute truth, doubt is a torch to guide through the morass of prevarication and fabrication.

(Aside: It is almost humorous how, once confronted with the reality of a relativistic world our unbelieving friends recoil in shock and horror. Yet for years we have been bombarded with the claims that everything is relative. "There are no absolutes." And several commentators add, "There are absolutely no absolutes, including this statement.")

We cannot live in a world without absolutes. We absolutely cannot live in a world without absolutes. And unbelievers have not done so. They simply chose which absolutes they will accept and which they will ignore or deny.

Our present situation would be funny if it weren't so sad. The Bible uses a phrase, "sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind." And when faced with a real life example of "fake news" or relational logic, they are very uncomfortable, as all of us are.

You may have heard that trouble follows when we doubt our beliefs and believe our doubts. Now we must also beware of enshrining "doubt" once the question is verified. If we continue to doubt after having the doubt answered, we are heading for trouble. "Is the Bible reliable?"is a common question. Once that has been answered, to continue to ask and doubt is not a legitimate use of "doubt."

Once a question has been addressed, we "doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." Man is built for certainty. Doubt does not undermine certainty. It illuminates uncertainty. Don't doubt it. It keeps us intellectually trim.