It is only by seeking the path of radical doubt that we can arrive at a genuine appreciation of our faith in God. We need to be enthusiastic sceptics challenged to explore, and reason the imponderables of our trust in God.
By appealing to the notion of radical doubt I am not suggesting that we should trust nothing that cannot be verified by sense experience. Nor am I advocating an overly rationalist or minimalist approach to faith; which would be another form of blind faith — that is, rejecting any notion of a priori revelation per se and blindly assuming that truth can only be realised, and understood by rationalistic means, or that the phenomenal world is the only reality. Rather I am suggesting that genuine faith in God has to be lived through a rational engagement with revealed truth...understood through ones life experiences communing with the Spirit of God alive in every human person.
In the story of the Apostle Thomas in John 20:24-29 Thomas demands evidence of Jesus' resurrection only to be confronted, and reprimanded by the risen Jesus for his failure to "believe without seeing" (John 20:29).
None of Jesus' disciples has captured the popular imagination like that of Thomas the doubter whose rational response voicing questions about Jesus' resurrection has won him the title of "Doubting Thomas" (John 20:19-21).
(Here I respond to Pete's comments on the American author Baird T. Spalding) It has been argued that the Thomas story made a significant contribution to the development of the Christian religion. For Gnostic Christians of the second century Thomas represented both a model of faith and a bastion for their mystical traditions. Many Gnostics believed Thomas to be the twin brother of Jesus privy to secret knowledge - gnosis - that could lead to enlightenment and salvation. A recently discovered Gospel of Thomas (1) has even reached near canonical status in the eyes of the Jesus Seminar (1993) that number it as "the fifth Gospel" after Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.
Some people are comfortable in a blind faith, or simple faith that does not seek to question and de-construct the apparently improbable, or to probe implausible ideas for deeper meanings. This is their choice, and I make no criticism of their position knowing that each of us journeys through life with a willingness to learn from all that life teaches us each, and every day.
The Johannine Thomas was of a different mind; he doubted the proclamation of the improbable resurrection of Jesus. However his doubt was turned to virtue. He alone of all the disciples is the first to see (to know, or understand) that Jesus is true God, and true Man.
Knowledge, without understanding, reduces the believer to robotic status, devoid of reason...reminding me of my early days in secondary school when sitting general knowledge questions...100 questions to be answered in one hour. Example: what is the capital city of Japan?
Thomas is reprimanded for demanding a sign before he will believe (John 20:25), as others had before him (John 4:48). It is suggested that he should believe on the basis of the word spoken to him by others (e.g.John 17:20). But if he had simply accepted the (albeit) incredible proclamation of Jesus' resurrection, would he have sought to inquire (seek) further?
Like the other disciples Thomas would have simply been caught up in the miraculous without understanding the import of that encounter. Only by demanding further proof by seeking to analyse, de-construct, and demythologise the proclamation could Thomas arrive at his extraordinary insight — Jesus is Lord and God.
The lesson of the Johannine Thomas is that doubt is a virtue, and that there is nothing blissful about continuing to be blindly ignorant of the deeper meanings of our received belief in God.
I am not advocating a trust nothing stance; rather a test everything approach. I am suggesting that to really live our faith in God, we should daily test our faith through our living experiences that will reveal there is a reason to believe that each of us is being inspired by our inner life to follow the call of The Saviour.
Don't just be content to be a member of the blissfully blind; the Fourth Evangelist would say that there is no virtue in that position. Like his Doubting Thomas we must seek to know more; to see more;...to understand that our relationship with The Risen Christ, is to discover who we are, by listening to The Christ, and doing all that He asks of us.
end
(1) http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/thomas.htm
Responses