Faith and Doubt

Article in Stretton Focus, November 2012

I usually listen to Thought for the Day on Radio 4 in the hope of picking up a few ideas for my own preaching. One day the speaker boldly said that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty! That set me thinking.
Faith is trusting and hoping that what you are committed to will finally be vindicated. If you knew it for certain, there would be no room for faith. Being certain cancels out the need for faith. Faith will always leave room for doubt, which can actually be an enhancement of faith
We live in an imperfect world, where faith is also never perfect. Our faith needs to grow and develop as we reach for perfection; and doubt can be an agent or catalyst for that purpose.
Those who claim to be certain about their religious beliefs are treading a dangerous path: they are already half way to fanaticism. If they are certain of what they believe, they can never change their minds: they are always right, and their only purpose in life is to convert others.
Billy Graham used to say that people who have that kind of certainty (which included himself) should be willing to crawl over broken glass to get their message across, in the hope of saving people from eternal damnation.
Sadly, the world knows to its cost, what other lengths some extremists are prepared to go to. A few doubts would help to keep us all more humble and tolerant of differing points of view.

Donald Horsfield

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