Doubt Is Overrated

 Seventeenth Wednesday after Pentecost

Wednesday is theology day on the blog.

Over the last fifty years it has become almost a cliche for mainline Christians that that we gain as much by our doubts as by our faith. Our doubts make our faith stronger. Etc., Etc., Etc. Four or five years ago I heard a whole sermon series on "Doubt"--extolling the virtues of doubt (if preachers would preach from the lectionary, we would not have this sort of thing). As the sentiment goes, people who doubt are smart. People who don't doubt, don't think. Question everything, even if you don't know enough to ask an intelligent question. 

Today I'm here to debunk this cliche. My slogan for today is: DON'T DOUBT, LEARN! 

In 25 years of teaching introductory New Testament to college students (mostly freshmen), I've heard not only every conceivable bit of flawed fundamentalist thinking but also all of the opposite and equally ignorant anti-Christian thinking. Almost all of it is informed, or perhaps I should say uninformed, by ignorance. It has almost become a right of passage for college students to quit church, lose faith, and live hedonistically. 

Christianity is an exceedingly complex religion, rich in thought, rich in all the arts, complex in its history, full of brilliant theologians and deeply spiritual mystics. It is not just a religion. It's a way of life. It's a world view. It's a world wide network of churches and communities. It is rich in variation. It is more cross-cultural than any movement in history. It is all connected by one thing, a genuine belief in Jesus Christ as the incarnation of the true and real God. 

So here are a couple of things we can do: 

1. Educate our children in the faith. There is no faith education in public schools. Most "Christian" schools provide a narrow and rigid understanding of the faith that has to be largely un-learned later. Both church and home need to be involved in children and youth learning. Parents these days (especially these days) are involved in their kids homework for school. How about parental involvement in faith learning too.

2. Quit thinking that: we've been through confirmation; we know enough now. We don't. Keep learning. Keep studying your Bible. Our twice a week Bible study on this blog is bare minimum. Read books. Next week I'll come out with an annotated reading list to get us going. University UMC and I suspect the other churches that some of you are members of have educational opportunities on Zoom, even in this time of Coronavirus. Get involved. 

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral is a good guideline for us: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience. At least the first three of these involve learning. United Methodist ministers used to receive from Cokesbury every year what we called the "little black book." It was a shirt pocket size appointment book (in the days before smart phones). On the cover was a representation of on of the standard portraits of John Wesley. He is riding a horse, the reins in one hand, and open book in the other. 

Faithfully,

Christian