Thinking about Faith and Doubt in a New Way

I just watched a video titled "A Question that evolutionists can't Answer" (link is below) - Here is my response:

This is a thinking post about DOUBT and FAITH and the importance of each in any worldview – I am not advocating for or against evolution here nor do I want to talk about evolution at all.  Instead I want to talk seriously about the idea that we are ALL a people of FAITH and DOUBT regardless of worldview.

So I am asking you as you watch this video hold this in your mind:

First – as far as I can tell the interviewer in the video is not trying to disprove anything – instead he is trying to point out the existence of FAITH and DOUBT in every worldview – especially scientific ones.  He is drawing parallels between religious belief and scientific belief in the context of FAITH – not arguing against evidence like the fossil record etc…  but using the lack of observable evidence for "change of kinds" to point out the common ground on which all people ultimately hold their beliefs – FAITH and DOUBT

Second - If you are a person who does not believe in evolution, please don’t watch this video and think to yourself “Those foolish people who believe this stuff” consider your own FAITH and DOUBTS and in humility see your similarity to your neighbor and fellow human being who is not an enemy!

Third, if you are a person who does believe in evolution, please don’t watch this video and check out, dismissing your “religious friends” as foolish to believe what they believe – consider the importance of faith and doubt even in scientific discussions – and in humility see your similarity to your neighbor and fellow human being who is not an enemy!

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r83ROf8coSU

To preface the conversation here and my thoughts below – read this incredible passage about DOUBT and FAITH from the introduction of Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God – it is well worth the read (but if you are short on time my thoughts are at the bottom):

“Because doubt and belief are each on the rise, our political and public discourse on matters of faith and morality has become deadlocked and deeply divided.  The culture wars are taking a toll…  Those who believe in God and Christianity are out to ‘impose their beliefs on the rest of us’ and ‘turn back the clock’ to a less enlightened time.  Those who don’t believe are ‘enemies of truth’ and ‘purveyors of relativism and permissiveness.’ We don’t reason with the other side; we only denounce…[So] how can we find a way forward?  First, each side should accept that both religious belief and skepticism are on the rise… this would eliminate the self-talk that is rampant in each camp, namely that it will soon be extinct, overrun by the opposition.  Nothing like that is imminently possible.  If we stopped saying such things to ourselves it might make everyone more civil and generous toward opposing views…I want to make a proposal that I have seen bear much fruit in the lives of young New Yorkers over the years.  I recommend that each side look at doubt in a radically new way.Let’s begin with believers.  A faith without doubts is like a human body without antibodies in it.  People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic…  Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts – not only their own but their friends’ and neighbors’…  Such a process will lead you, even after you come to a position of strong faith, to respect and understand those who doubt.But even as believers should learn to look for reasons behind their faith, skeptics must learn to look for a type of faith hidden within their reasoning.  All doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs.  You cannot doubt Belief A except from a position of faith in Belief B.  For example, if you doubt Christianity because ‘there can’t be just one true religion,’ you must recognize that this statement itself is an act of faith.  No one can prove it empirically, and it is not a universal truth that everyone accepts…  The reason you doubt Christianity’s Belief A is because you hold unprovable Belief B.  Every doubt, therefore, is based on a leap of faith.Some will respond to this, ‘My doubts are not based on a leap of faith.  I have no beliefs about God one way or another.  I simply feel no need for God and I am not interested in thinking about it.’  But hidden beneath this feeling is the very modern American belief that the existence of God is a matter of indifference unless it intersects with my emotional needs.  The speaker is betting his or her life that no God exists who would hold you accountable for your beliefs and behavior if you don’t feel that need for him.  That may be true or may not be true, but, again, it is quite a leap of faith.The only way to doubt Christianity rightly and fairly is to discern the alternate belief under each of your doubts and then to ask yourself what reasons you have for believing it.  How do you know your belief is true?  It would be inconsistent to require more justification for Christian belief than you do for your own, but that is frequently what happens.  In fairness you must doubt your doubts.  My thesis is that if you come to recognize the beliefs on which your doubts about Christianity are based, and if you seek as much proof for those beliefs as you seek from Christians for theirs – you will discover that your doubts are not as solid as they first appeared.I commend two processes to my readers.  I urge skeptics to wrestle with the unexamined ‘blind faith’ on which skepticism is based, and to see how hard it is to justify those beliefs to those who do not share them.  I also urge believers to wrestle with their personal and culture’s objections to the faith.  At the end of each process, if you remain the skeptic or believer you have been, you will hold your own position with both greater clarity and greater humility.  Then there will be an understanding, sympathy, and respect for the other side that did not exist before.  Believers and non-believers will rise to the level of disagreement rather than simply denouncing one another.”

All this to say - we need a lot more DOUBT in our lives - because frankly we all hold our beliefs on FAITH.  The way that we interact with one another and the way that we have discussion with people who disagree with us changes drastically when we recognize that we all have a common starting place.  

I recently took a group of 40 students down to Tampa for a week long service trip - and the make up of the group was a mix of Christians and NonChristians - including a few students who would self identify as skeptics or skeptical of Christianity.  One of those skeptical students explained to me after the trip that before the experience he used to look at Christians with contempt and that he and his friends would make fun of people for holding religious beliefs - but that through the trip his perspective about Christians had completely changed.  I asked him to write up his story and here is a excerpt from what he wrote that he titled "An Experience of a Lifetime":

"Normally I was turned off by the thought of religion, especially Christianity. I had subconsciously grouped all Christians together with the stereotype that they are very hypocritical with their beliefs in desiring to help others, but really just desire to help themselves… My initial thoughts when embarking on this 24 hour bus ride was, ‘What did I get myself into?’ ‘Why did I come?’ ‘I don’t belong with this group of people.’ As the week progressed, my initial thoughts slowly dissolved and I was quickly realizing how amazing of an experience this was going to be... I learned and realized more in that one week than I have in many of my previous years of life. There were concepts I was aware of, but never actually believed. When in Tampa with the ServeUP team, I learned to believe in God. I learned that every sinner has a future, and every good person has a past that they may not be too proud of. I learned that I shouldn’t “judge a book by its cover”, especially if that book has a cross on it… Although I still wouldn’t consider myself a Christian, I have a new found respect for those who do and not only just Christians…but everyone. We all have our ups and we all have our downs, but you can really learn something from every person you interact with.” 

And I have to say personally that I admire this individual for his willingness to engage across disagreement.  His willingness to engage with DOUBT and FAITH in his own life and the lives of the people around him led to deeper discussion and relationship.  It is never easy to be a part of a community that largely adheres to a belief system that is different than your own (my previous post about my experience in a collegiate philosophy class shows what that was like for me personally).  But,  if we are willing to engage instead of denounce, and investigate instead of slough off our doubts, I agree with Keller that we will come to a place of understanding, sympathy, and respect - that will lead to deeper relationship instead of a deeper divide.  

We are all people of faith, so the real questions are -- "Will you Doubt your beliefs?" "Will you doubt your doubts?"  

God's Not Dead Response - My Story

Check out this review of the movie "God's Not Dead":  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/filmchat/2014/04/review-gods-not-dead-dir-harold-cronk-2014.html

I just read the above article.  I haven't seen the movie yet, though I am sure I will at some point - I am glad to have read at least one critical review before seeing it.  While to me this review seems like it might be overly harsh, it does bring up some things that I am sure will bother me – one thing in particular that I am writing this to address is that the main character Josh is not shown getting involved with any sort of Christian community.  Working with InterVarsity on a college campus I know that one of the biggest "faith killers" for freshmen in college is not getting plugged into a good community (doesn't have to be IV).  Those who try to “go it alone” tend to not fare well – community is so essential to the life of a Christian at any stage, but perhaps even more so in their years in college.  But I digress.  

The reason I am writing this out is because I had a seemingly very relatable experience to Josh while I was in college in a philosophy class on world religions.  There were some important and distinct differences, but the meta-theme of a direct challenge to philosophically defend my beliefs in a collegiate philosophy class is the same.  

It is important for me to note here that unlike the movie my professor (who was himself an atheist) helped me and encouraged me to share about my faith in the class.  As a good philosopher and an older man (77 at the time) he made it very clear that he had little time for “bulls**t arguments,” as he said, but would respect any belief presented as long as we remained logically consistent and defensible – basically he encouraged us to not to participate for participation sake, but to engage in deep and thoughtful discussions about our varying beliefs and the ideas and beliefs we would discuss in the class.  Looking back, I can honestly say that he was one of my favorite teachers I have ever had, in his personality and teaching methods.  I can also say that his class was one of the highlights of my college experience.  He was a hard teacher, not afraid to challenge anyone, but he was fair and challenged us all equally. 

Side note: interestingly enough, (in another connection to the movie) one of our books in the spectrum of our course reading was Dawkin's "The God Delusion" – but unlike the movie it was introduced to help us learn to identify philosophical flaws.  My professor pointed out to us that Dawkin’s was not a philosopher, and I have vivid memories of my atheist professor tearing apart pieces of the book for its philosophical weaknesses.  

And now for the story...

Within the first few classes it became clear to me and to my classmates that I was the only Christian in the class (or at least the only one willing to admit it).  This meant for the rest of the semester I had to defend my faith philosophically every class.  This happened to the extent that I would literally get called out by name at least once every class by a student or the professor to defend my beliefs – something akin to the professor saying, "VanEtten - what do you have to say about that," or a classmate pondering, "Kyle how can Christians believe x..." For obvious reasons this was intimidating at times, especially when we covered the big questions like, God and Evil/suffering, Hell, Abortion and other political issues etc… but it also presented me with a unique challenge to make a case for my faith in a room full of skeptics.  Having to defend my faith that semester was very hard.  At times classmates nearly cursed me out for defending beliefs that I held, and I distinctly remember feeling the glares from around the room.  But my experience wasn’t without highlights – I also have great memories of classmates who were initially skeptical changing their posture and responding to me with curiosity and openness.  Not to mention personally the class helped me to grow tremendously and to think deeply about many hard topics in the Christian faith I had often skirted around.  For that I am incredibly thankful.

However, this brings me to the primary dissimilarity in my experience that I believe made all the difference.  Outside of my schoolwork I was very involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship while I was in college.  Having that community of support and challenge was the reason I spoke up about my faith at all in those first few classes.  And, it was that community that gave me the encouragement and resources I needed to feel prepared for the class, and to persevere in the harder times. After most classes I would meet with my InterVarsity staffworker to talk about the in class discussion, to pray for my professor and classmates, and prepare to share in the next class.  For me, I believe it was primarily my involvement in Christian community that gave me integrity in my sharing and allowed me to have a positive witness over the course of the semester.  I could not have done it without that community.

To end the story, thankfully my professor did not die (although I did attend a concert around that time), but something remarkable did happen.  Our final segment of the class was on religious experience.  After one particular class I mentioned to my professor that I had a friend who had just become a Christian through a religious experience who I thought would gladly share in the class and take questions and that my staffworker (who is a campus minister of sorts) would be willing to do the same.  To my surprise, my professor thought it was a great idea and scheduled to have them come in for the final 2 classes of the semester.  And so they did.  My philosophy class on religion ended with two testimonies of Jesus’ redemptive work - my friend came in the penultimate class and shared his testimony and took questions, and my staffworker came for the final class of the semester and shared his testimony and fielded questions from my classmates.  It was really remarkable!

After the class had finished I even got some very encouraging feedback and messages from my professor and my fellow classmates – I share one of those messages here, not to boost my own ego (I was very humbled and challenged to receive this praise and believe still that this classmate was seeing Jesus in us though he did not recognize it) but because I think it puts the significance of the experience that I had in perspective:

I just wanted to let you know that you have had a large effect on my life, whether you know it or not.  I have always been a cynical and cold person. It has long been my philosophy that people can’t be trusted, and always have their own agenda.  This has changed for me this semester, and I’ve become a far more compassionate person.  Both from my own experiences and from seeing people like you and Ben. It initially confounded me that anyone could love everyone unconditionally and truly, as you and those who follow your faith do, just for being fellow man; a fellow human being.  It struck me profoundly.  I used to despise Christians and Catholics, as I’m sure you noticed throughout the class.  I’m sure you caught one of my glares.  My apologies, but it was because all I have been exposed to is the hypocrites of faith who suffuse most of the world, as opposed to what I now call true Christians, such as you two, for example.  You have a very hefty portion of my respect… for being able to love others as you do.  I’m very jealous of it.  Thank you

I had not noticed this particular classmate’s stares, and I had very little obvious outward indications that I was impacting anyone, but notes like this one were a reminder that God surely is not dead.  He was even working in my class.  College philosophy classes can be a place of trial, but are also a place of opportunity for personal growth and public witness.  

Anyway, while I haven’t yet seen the movie, I offer my criticism here if the above article’s comments are true, don’t go it alone – get plugged in to a Christian community on campus and do it right away – for me that is what made all the difference!