Many Christians think that doubting is a bad thing. Is this right? Does finding ourselves in a place of doubt have value? Now no one thinks that doubting is altogether enjoyable and no one thinks one’s goal in life should be to be a big doubter! But as the name of the blog should suggest I think there is benefit when it comes to doubt and I think that having faith and having doubts are perfectly consistent states. And I have been known to encourage folks to embrace and investigate their doubts. So why do many Christians think doubting is a bad thing? One reason is there are a few passages of Scripture that seem to take, let’s call it, a low view of doubt and the suggestion is that doubting is contrary to faith.
The go to passage on this is in the first chapter of James. James tells us that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God. He goes on:
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:6-8).
The first point to make is James has a particular context here. He is not talking about all situations of doubt. It doesn’t seem like he has in mind the perhaps more typical experience of doubt where the doubts just creep in beyond our control. People don’t typically set out to doubt their worldviews, but simply find themselves with questions they can’t fully answer.
But notice for James to say that we shouldn’t doubt, suggests that the doubt in view is under our control. As a general matter of principle, if it makes sense to say “don’t x,” then x is something we can do or can refrain from doing. It makes no sense to go to my one of my kids and say “don’t be human” or “stop thinking…about anything.” These are things that are beyond their control and I’ll likely only get strange looks from them. By contrast, it makes a lot of sense to say “stop taking your brother’s toy without asking” or “don’t light the house on fire” since it is entirely possible for them to refrain from doing this.
If James has in view a person who shouldn’t doubt, then it seems that James has in view a Christian who is already completely confident in his or her faith. That is, it is in the ideal, a Christian person should not doubt God’s willingness to provide wisdom. His point is it is very inconsistent for a person who has every reason in the world to trust God to provide wisdom to simultaneously doubt that God will provide it when needed. This is being double-minded and those who are fully mature should, well, knock it off.
What James is not addressing is how one comes to a place of full confidence. It is here, I’d like to suggest, that doubting is (or at least can be) a good thing. Again, it is not good in the sense that we want to remain at a place of doubt (see James 1:6-8). But it is beneficial for a greater good—growing in our confidence. The good of doubting, I’d like to suggest, is instrumental. That is, doubt when handled properly leads to truth and knowledge (and, since I think Christianity is true, it can and should lead to a more confident Christian faith!).
Tim Keller has said that doubts function for faith in a way similar to antibodies in the human body. When we ignore our doubts or just simply try to stop doubting, this doesn’t typically go well for us. Faith without some doubts is not a healthy faith. The doubts may go away for a time but they tend to come back, and they often come with friends! By investigating our doubts, we press in more deeply to our faith. We are forced to ask deep and difficult questions we have been too afraid to ask. This can of course be a bit scary and intimidating. But if the Christian faith is true and reasonable (as I think it is), then we will find answers to these questions. This isn’t to say that we will resolve all issues and we often have to live with some tensions. There are quite a few deep and difficult questions for which I have overall satisfying answers but not knock down drag out answers. There are many things that I still think about and consider whether there are perhaps better answers. This can also take a significant amount of time. This is hard work, but it is very satisfying work since we are coming to a place of truth and knowledge about the deepest and most important issues.
And here is the beautiful thing. It is because of the doubt that we come to a place of confidence and greater faith in these truths upon which we settle. Once one can see one’s way clear of some doubt, one comes to a place of confidence. We not only find truth and confidence for ourselves, but we are now equipped to help others walk through similar quandaries or thoughtfully answer the objection from a hostile inquisitor. We do this with confidence.
And here comes the teaching in James. If you need wisdom confident Christian, ask God without being double-minded since it would be silly to doubt God when we are rationally confident that God has the ability and promises to provide wisdom and guidance when we ask.
Jonathan Reibsamen
Hi Travis,
I wonder if you might address how this would apply to teachers. Is it, or can it be, a pedagogically good thing to encourage doubting in your students? I think that this is particularly pertinent to those who, like yourself, teach philosophy in a Christian setting. One way to teach philosophy in such a setting is to give the students the “right answer” to the various philosophical objections posed to various Christian beliefs. Another way is to make the students wrestle with the questions, and don’t provide the answers–at least, don’t attempt to do so until after letting the students struggle. But to provoke questions in this way will almost certainly provoke doubts. Some see this method, then, as fraught with spiritual danger, and best avoided. What do you think?
I have enjoyed reading you blog; keep up the good work!
tdickinson@swbts.edu
Hey, thanks Jonathan! That means a lot. Yes, I think about this a lot for teaching. I guess I’m not sure it is really teaching if all that I do provide the “right” answer. I always want students wrestling with somewhat plausible versions of views they may not ultimately believe. However, I think that many philosophy professors leave it there. They do a bang up job of stirring the paint and then leave their students in that place. I think it is important, especially in a Christian environment, to offer a clear presentation of what I take to be the right answer or perhaps a few versions of “orthodox” alternatives. But I would do the same if it was a group of like-minded individuals on any topic. Challenge with opposing views and then offer reasons to think that the shared view is the right one. Thanks again.
Jonathan Reibsamen
If I can summarize your thought, then, it goes like this: good philosophical pedagogy requires at least risking provoking doubts in your students, since such doubts are almost inevitable when facing the strongest versions of the best objections (to, e.g., Christian belief) out there; however, it would be a mistake to leave those students in such a state, expecting them to work it all out for themselves–they still need guidance, and so it should be given, once some struggle has been allowed to happen. Is that right?
Seems plausible to me 🙂