"the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty."
My friend and intellectual sparring partner, Pepperdeaf, wrote this in a comment. It is poetic and made me muse for a moment. This statement sums up much of the sentiment du jour going around Emergent and Mainline congregations. I myself find a wellspring of worship in certain mysteries we have in Jesus, such as how He chose the elect. But does enjoying mystery mean rejecting certainty?
Last weekend, I was studying a thrilling Book of the Bible, 2 Kings, and I came across this in chapter 7:
"Behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?"
Besides supplying an enchantingly vivid phrase to me, the context of this quotation reveals that God punishes those who doubt. I immediately recalled Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, who was struck dumb for doubting.
Then there's this:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
As a matter of fact, if you replace all the occurrences in the Bible of the word "faith" with the word "certainty", I find congruence. The word "doubt"? No way.
Finally, certainty, absolute truth, propositional truth, etc. cannot be avoided. Everyone believes in these things, and no one is outside of them. The next time someone says something like "The opposite of faith is certainty" to me, I will reply, "Are you certain?"
Hit up what Ariel found his theology professor posted regarding C.S. Lewis, doubt, Mark Driscoll, and felt-relevance, among other things. It's dope.
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11 comments:
I really like your thoughts on this. I agree that faith and hope (Biblically) carry with them the feeling of certainty. It's sad that we have redefined these terms to mean less than they should.
In the Bible hope means eagerly looking forward to something that you are sure will come to pass, like looking forward to going to heaven when we die. But today, if people hope something will happen like they hope to win the lottery. It's not gonna happen, but they sure wish it would. It's sad really.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, I like your blog, if you want to check mine out you can go to www.askingY.com.
I like the solid biblical exposition, man. Personally, I have postmodern sympathies and a love for the "mysterious," but to make "doubt" a synonym for "faith" is ridiculous.
John Piper had some good things to say on this topic. Quick summary:
God-glorifying joy flows from true knowledge of God—not a hazy, general idea of Godness. God has gone to great lengths to reveal himself to us through the Bible. Therefore, the only God-honoring joy that flows from “mystery” stems from a projection of what we do know about God...
By the way, what was this, two posts in two days? I like it.
I am with you also, but I am not sure about the extent of generalizing doubt as much. I always try to see things in a covenantal way as much as possible and I see a few issues with using old covenant language to condemn doubt.
We hosted a month of doubt on PlanetPreterist and exchanging my doubts with so many others helped me tremendously with my own faith and my understanding that I am not the only one struggling.
I also notice that throughout the scripture doubt progressed from a big "no no" to a more acceptable emotion, so much so that Thomas' doubt in fact brought him closer to Christ rather than farther away. Granted Jesus asks rhetorically "why" - the emotion is now justified and apparently acceptable before God.
In Jude 1:22 we read that Jude even encourages believers to "be merciful to those who doubt" (I agree with the NASB translation in this instance).
Also regarding Ariel's comment, I am not sure who is equating doubt with faith - that is kinda whacked in my opinion; all I am advocating here is using doubt in a constructive way as the next stop towards faith mostly because I have seen too many people allowing their doubts to become a foundation for a wall between God and them, thinking that everyone else lives doubt-free lives while they alone are imperfect and corrupt doubters.
"...hope means eagerly looking forward to something that you are sure will come to pass"
Word. I'll check out your blog adam j.
"Therefore, the only God-honoring joy that flows from “mystery” stems from a projection of what we do know about God..."
A lucid summary, thanks Ariel.
Virgil, it's good to be reminded that we should take care not to condemn those who doubt. But (borrowing heavily from C.S. Lewis), we must not mistake the medicine for the cure. Faith will burn away when we stand in glorification before the Father.
"to make "doubt" a synonym for "faith" is ridiculous"
not sure who does this. if i say that "the opposite of white is not red, but black," i am clearly not saying that red and white are synonyms.
if you are looking for a synonym for faith i think a much more accurate one would be "believe." sure certainty makes things a lot easier because you don't have to deal with tough issues. . . you simply stubbornly stay the course. the problem is that certainty breeds arrogance and arrogance leads to a self-guided life and not a God-guided life. only a God-guided life acknowledges our sinfulness and our incessant need to be reformed/changed into closer depictions of Christ.
"the only God-honoring joy that flows from “mystery” stems from a projection of what we do know about God"
agreed. this is true of any mystery. we deal with all mystery based upon what we know. after all that is all we have to work with.
"Are you certain?"
no, and i never claimed to be. my finiteness and sinfulness does not lend itself well to certainty. it is similar to humility. the moment that you believe that you have it, you have lost it. when faith or belief becomes certainty it generally becomes something too simple and too easy. truth is always there for us to reach out towards, but we are always letting it slide from our finger tips. we are imperfect folk trying to jump into perfect understanding. don't worry, one day you will have all the certainty you need. for now have faith and live in the tension. live in the tension. live in the tension.
Pep, I cannot understand what you are saying. Please help me.
Which of these statements are you certain about, and which ones do you doubt?
"my finiteness and sinfulness does not lend itself well to certainty."
"truth is always there for us to reach out towards, but we are always letting it slide from our finger tips."
"one day you will have all the certainty you need."
oneway: "Are you certain?"
me: "no"
not sure why the above, which was previously posted, does not answer your question.
i think what you are trying to do is take the common evangelistic retort to people who do not believe in any absolute truth ("are you absolutely sure there is no absolute truth") and apply it to personal certainty in all your understandings of christian faith. the fact that absolute truth exists does not lead to a conclusion that particular people have exhaustive possession of it and are therefore certain.
maybe THIS will help you understand. it is an article called "Doubt and the Vain Search for Certainty." it appears on the ravi zacharias international ministries page. not sure what you think of him, but i have a great deal of respect for his work and the work of those he works with.
"to make "doubt" a synonym for "faith" is ridiculous"
not sure who does this.
Mea culpa. I used overstatement pretty freely to make my point. However... If you suggest that certainty, not doubt, is the opposite of belief, verbal implications are present. If you picture these words each linked to their antonyms (say, like the two weights on a barbell), then putting "certainty" opposite faith would position "doubt" in pretty close proximity. Doubt and faith would need to be, at the very least, on good speaking terms, if not intimate.
That poses a problem, because Jesus never really praised people for their "persistent doubts that lead to salvation."
Intellectual "certainty" may be elusive where faith is concerned because God isn't interested in proving his existence via theorems or formulas. That doesn't mean that certainty is out of bounds, though, because the Spirit is in the picture as well. The experiential witness of the Spirit + God's word frees us up, in Augustine's words, for "faith searching for reason." And this is a happy pursuit, not a panicky one.
I have a hard time believing that Stephen, Peter, Paul, were all waiting until they died to see if this stuff about Christ was really legit.
"pretty close proximity"
i am fine with that. if certainty were closer to faith than doubt then we wouldn't call it "faith" or "belief," but knowledge.
"Jesus never really praised people for their "persistent doubts that lead to salvation."
i agree, but i am not sure who said that jesus did praise people for persistent doubts.
"this is a happy pursuit, not a panicky one"
agreed.
"all waiting until they died to see if this stuff about Christ was really legit"
they were not waiting for anything. having faith in Christ is not some sort of gamble where you are simply choosing at random amongst the religions of the world. . . we believe it is true based upon the evidence and our experience.
i don't know if you read the article i linked to in my last comment, but it explains this understanding more clearly than i can. read it HERE.
That's a great article.
Pointing to McGrath and Zacharias on this issue is commendable. Good theologists both.
If you're saying you agree w/ what he wrote, I think y'all were talking past each other. I would add, I don't think doubt is the same as mystery.
Pepperdeaf,
let me explain: the reason I asked which of your statements you were certain of is because I find your position, well, unbelievable. Are you really saying that the only thing you are certain of is your doubt?
That McGrath essay does not address the issue. Indeed, in the first paragraph, McGrath steers it towards the issue of proof. I never claimed I have absolute proof. I smell a post coming...
Westy, I will "ditto" your comment.
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