Doubt
Verse of the Day
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."- Matthew 28:17-20
Voice of the Day
Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.- Paul Tillich
These verses from Matthew’s Gospel keep emerging in my life. “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.”
In her book Amazing Grace, Annie Dillard writes, “…doubt is merely the seed of faith, a sign that faith is alive & ready to grow.” The story of Abraham & Sarah is a prime example of this. Their faith grew through many seasons of trials & doubts & hardships. Obviously, Jesus’ disciples experienced the same.
On Christmas Eve, CBS aired the documentary “In God’s Name,” which featured faith leaders from around the world (& from various faith backgrounds). I think our ELCA Presiding Bishop, Mark Hanson, did a wonderful job throughout; but I was most impressed by his statements reflecting his own continuing journey of doubt & faith.
By contrast, the current President of the Southern Baptist Convention claims to have had absolutely no doubts at all since he “gave his life to Jesus” at the age of 9. If that is true (which I seriously doubt), then this Baptist leader has a very shallow & undeveloped faith indeed.
Doubt is natural. Doubt is healthy. Doubt truly is “the seed of faith.”
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."- Matthew 28:17-20
Voice of the Day
Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.- Paul Tillich
These verses from Matthew’s Gospel keep emerging in my life. “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.”
In her book Amazing Grace, Annie Dillard writes, “…doubt is merely the seed of faith, a sign that faith is alive & ready to grow.” The story of Abraham & Sarah is a prime example of this. Their faith grew through many seasons of trials & doubts & hardships. Obviously, Jesus’ disciples experienced the same.
On Christmas Eve, CBS aired the documentary “In God’s Name,” which featured faith leaders from around the world (& from various faith backgrounds). I think our ELCA Presiding Bishop, Mark Hanson, did a wonderful job throughout; but I was most impressed by his statements reflecting his own continuing journey of doubt & faith.
By contrast, the current President of the Southern Baptist Convention claims to have had absolutely no doubts at all since he “gave his life to Jesus” at the age of 9. If that is true (which I seriously doubt), then this Baptist leader has a very shallow & undeveloped faith indeed.
Doubt is natural. Doubt is healthy. Doubt truly is “the seed of faith.”
posted by Rev. Rick Mason @ 9:47 AM
4 Comments:
At 7:18 PM,
Mama C said…
do you ever wonder if He's up there just having one big laugh at you? not you in particular,just at someone. Like "HA! You thought life was going fine, and now you've gone a messed it all up!" Is this where faith comes from? Is this how is grows? Because I wonder all the time. And I want to know how I can get Him to stop laughing at me.
At 9:33 AM,
Rev. Rick Mason said…
Yeah. God must really have a great sense of human, or He'd have blown it all up millenia ago.
I just finished reading an interesting book, "A Man without a Country" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He writes about needing humor to get thru life--esp. the tough parts; & he also writes some very pessimistic stuff about the future of this planet. It's a good, & easy, read.
At 1:26 PM,
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
At 1:59 PM,
ExistentialRabbit said…
You have an interesting and insightful view on the Southern Baptist's testimony of faith. I like it. Having been raised in church and struggling through my own crisis of faith, I find the notion that anyone goes through life with their faith unexamined to be absurd. If you haven't questioned your beliefs, well then, you're probably a low functioning autistic. No offense intended toward the autistic.
I look forward to your sermon on Sunday.
Post a Comment
<< Home