I Doubt It

Perhaps you know this card game by a different name.  But I was told it was called "I doubt it."  The idea is that you have a handful of cards you have to get rid of by claiming how many of a particular numerical value you have.  Play begins with Aces, moves to Twos, and so forth.  You keep going around the circle until all the cards are gone.  If you think someone isn't telling the truth, you say, "I doubt it."

There are many reasons you might doubt what someone claims.  Obviously, if you have four Jacks, if someone puts a card down and says "one Jack," you're safe doubting him.  But there are other reasons you might doubt.  Perhaps she looks like she's lying, maybe you remember who else has the cards, or perhaps you just want to be difficult.  Whatever the reason, doubting is the way to get ahead.

The way people seem to revel in doubting Christianity, you'd think there was a prize being awarded for it.  Certainly, there is a point at which doubt can be healthy.  Author Timothy Keller suggests in The Reason for God that a Christian without any doubt is like a body without antibodies.  It will get along just fine until there is tragedy or an articulate skeptic.  Then an untested faith quickly crumbles under the untested weight of doubts.

As I thought about this, I couldn't help but think of Luke 1, where twice the angel Gabriel tells unlikely candidates they will be having children.  First Zechariah, and then Mary are both told they will soon have a child.  Both express concern about their life situation hindering that possibility.  But Gabriel appears angry at Zechariah for his doubts, and seems quite compassionate toward Mary.  Why the difference?  Although there are other nuances in the text, I suspect the heart of the answer lay in the motives of the questioner.

Doubts that are spoken in the midst of faith and trust are not received in the same way as faithless doubt.  Again, Keller suggests that deep doubt stems not merely from incredulity, but from a greater trust in an alternative belief system than in God.  And that is where doubt departs the realm of helpfully stretching us and solidly into an area where it is displeasing to the Lord.  So doubt away, but also be willing to critique your doubts.  Make sure you scrutinize the alternate beliefs underlying  your doubts with as much vigor as you scrutinize the truth you find difficult to believe.