Reflections

Finding Faith

What would it be like to have an unerring and unshakeable faith? What would it be like to have a faith driven not by proof but by an inner voice? Most likely it would be life changing. When we truly believe something in our hearts, we begin to act it out in our lives. An unerring faith would enable us to enjoy peace in the darkest corners of our lives, but is there a real danger that our thirst for that life changing faith could lead us to ‘leave our brains at the church door’?

Faith and doubt are the flipside of the same coin. In our hurry for faith we can quietly bury any doubts leaving them to fester. On the other hand, we can give so much weight to our doubts that faith eludes us altogether. Doubt isn’t necessarily a bad thing, after all, the disciples needed signs, and Thomas in particular needed concrete evidence. Doubt can be a good thing even, if it leads us to answer the questions that will eventually help us to develop a mature faith. Doubt becomes a bad thing when it builds an insurmountable barrier. Thomas believed that it was foolish to believe something without proof, but if we are so afraid of being foolish or fear to believe without scientific evidence, our doubts will never lead us to ask the right questions. Our doubts will only spur us to pick holes.

So how can we use doubt as a positive tool rather than a negative force? Perhaps there’s been a time when you’ve followed a court case where nearly all the evidence has been circumstantial. The jury have the uncomfortable task of reaching a certain belief without all the evidence they would like. Significantly, barristers don’t confront jurors with the hardest parts of the case first. Barristers begin by building a picture based on certainties. Only when the case seems overwhelmingly watertight do they introduce points that are more circumstantial. Perhaps this is the way to approach our religious doubts.