Do You Struggle With Doubt?
The wonder of Christ is that he meets doubters where they are at. He looks at the totality of who they are and the insecurities they possess and invites them to experience a deeper union with him. And he expects us to do the same.
After looking at how we invest in God, family, close friendships, disciples and the overlooked, we turn to the sixth of seven relational groups to which Jesus cast his bread–skeptics, or doubters.
My favorite course in undergrad was my second year of Greek. To this day, I have a Koine Greek Bible on my nightstand and use it for my personal time with God. I’m what you might call a dabbler. I know just enough to recognize my limitations.
The reason I enjoyed Greek II was not because I love learning new languages but because this class forever changed the way I asked questions. I had a wonderful professor named Phil Brown (author of A Reader’s Hebrew Bible), and he taught me to channel my inner skeptic and not assume the obvious.
He taught me that just because I thought something was right didn’t make it necessarily so. Whenever I’m asked to review an author's manuscript, I always put on my skeptical hat, and one of the first things I look for are spots where the author overreaches with an argument.
Often, the overreach is subtle. 95% of their argument is sound, but then they’ll throw in one statement that is more opinion than fact. One of the telltale signs of overreach is general statements like “studies now say…”, “everyone agrees that…” or “we now know this is not the case.”
Really? What studies? Everyone agrees? We know this is not the case? These assumptions might be accurate. But the way they present their argument undercuts their credibility. This is where being a skeptic can prove beneficial.
