Tuesday, April 10

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Tuesday

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”  But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

 - John 20:24-25

Every thinking person sometimes wrestles with doubt.  That is true not only for thinking Christians, but also for atheists and agnostics.  We all wonder, “What if I’m wrong?  The atheist wonders, “What if there really is a God?  What if there is life after death and I have to stand before God?”  And every thinking Christian sometimes wonders, “What if Christianity is not true?”  For some, the doubts are relatively minor and fleeting.  For others, the doubts are deep and disturbing.  But wherever you’re at on the spectrum, if you’ve been a Christian for very long, you have gone through times when you struggled with doubt.

Thomas was what I would call a sincere doubter. Not all doubters are sincere. Some use their doubts as a smoke screen to hide behind their sin and rebellion, which are their real issue. If one area of doubt is cleared up, they will quickly duck behind another, because they don’t really want to submit to the Lord.  These people do not need more evidence to believe.  They need to turn from their sin and humble their hearts before God.  But some doubters are sincere. They truly believe in Christ, but they are plagued by honest questions. They are submissive to God and want to do His will, but they can’t just close their eyes and take a leap of faith. They need some help to overcome their doubts and to step out in faith.

I recall several years ago meeting with a young man who was (as he put it) investigating the truth Christianity.  We had several different meetings together, and each time we met, he would bring up some theological issue or philosophical objection to the Christian faith.  We talked about creation & evolution, pagan mythologies, the problem of evil & suffering, etc.  But in the end, I challenged him to consider Jesus.  I asked him to read, study and think deeply about Jesus and the significance of His resurrection.  The question of Jesus and His resurrection is the most important question of all.  

While there are many different causes of doubt, there is really only one answer.  I have often come back to it when I am working through my own doubts.  The apostle Paul said that the entire Christian faith rests on this single foundation, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  - 1 Cor. 15:13-19

If that fact of history is true, then our faith has a solid footing in spite of difficult questions that we may never understand fully in this life.  But, if Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead, then the strongest faith in the world is useless, because it rests on a faulty foundation.  In other words, my faith does not depend on how much I believe, but in the reality of His resurrection!  Even a weak faith in the risen Christ is better that a strong faith in a false god. 

Jeff Frazier