Doubts, Faith, & Belief

The Barna Group, an evangelical research organization has yielded some surprising findings about America’s Christian and spiritual beliefs:

• Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.

• Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective.

• Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.

• A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.

• Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction.

If the majority of Americans claim to be Christian, then this study brings to light about the faith of most Christians in America.  In our Gospel text for this Sunday, we will examine the faith in the disciples who saw Jesus.

We find our disciples, who are living in fear of the Jews coming to finish off Jesus’ followers, living in a house on a Sunday. The doors are locked and as they are living in a cowardly state Jesus appears in the house.

Jesus, by his presence, naturally bestows peace among his followers by saying, “Peace be with you.” Other than being startled by a resurrected Jesus the disciples need the peace of assurance that everything is going to be alright. Their world has been crushed and they left Jesus on the cross to die. They are sulking in defeat thinking that Jesus failed.

Enter Thomas. With all of this divine appearing that is going on, Thomas is left out in the cold. We do not know much about Thomas because he is not mentioned that often in the Gospels. Most Christians know Thomas as “doubting Thomas” because almost every preacher that has walked this earth has sighted Thomas as someone who was weak. Often, Thomas serves an example of someone who doubts and how doubt is dangerous.

I would like to believe that Thomas has gotten the short end of the stick. The guy is not around for one of the most amazing and inspiring events of Christianity and we shun him for not believing? If anything, Thomas was the only one to have the guts to say what he was thinking. When Thomas was at the last supper with Jesus, he was the only one to speak up when Jesus cryptically tells the disciples that they know where Jesus is going. Thomas says, “We do not know where we are going. How do we know the way?” Now, we find Thomas giving conditional statements about his faith system: unless I see the marks of Jesus and put my finger in the side of Jesus, I will not believe.” When someone uses “unless” in a sentence, they are leaving a possibility open. Thus, Thomas is not a doubter, but a believer who is struggling with reality.

Think about it, if someone told you that a loved one of yours, who just died, was walking around wouldn’t you be struggling with the idea? Thomas was in grief. Sometimes we picture an angry Thomas saying these words as if Thomas is being difficult or skeptical. What if Thomas was weepy when he said these words? What if his doubts were because he was being presented with horrific news of a dead person walking among the living? Think about Thomas in this way lets us be a little more sympathetic towards him. Somewhere in the last 2000 years, Thomas has been turned into the archetype backslider Christian.

The marks of faith are sometimes accompanied by doubt. At some point in our lives, we can be like Thomas.  We demand proof or ask for more.  That is part of our struggles with doubt, faith, and belief.  Even the disciples struggle with believing!  Thomas’ faith system is an honest faith system. He is struggling to believe in something that he cannot see. That is the essence of faith: believing in something we cannot see. At some point, we are going to have difficulties with our faith.

Let us be honest with our struggles of faith and let us seek out our community of believers to strengthen our belief in God.  This Sunday in worship, we are going to examine the marks of faith that exist in Christian life.

What do you need in order to believe in God?  What kinds of proof do you ask of God?  How has God asnwered your requests?