One of my obstacles to becoming a Christian was
unbelief, or “doubting”. I thought that before I became a Christian I had to
have all of my questions answered and all of my doubt removed. I was told that
I was a “Doubting Thomas” because I didn’t believe.
“Doubting Thomas” is a term that is used to describe someone
who will refuse to believe something without direct, physical, personal
evidence; a skeptic.
The
term is based on the Biblical
account of Thomas the Apostle
(You can read about the story in John 20:24-29 in the Bible).Thomas was one of
the 12 disciples of Jesus in the Bible. He was given the nickname
"Doubting Thomas” because he simply did not believe that Jesus had risen
from the dead and demanded proof before believing.
I
want to point out that Thomas DID have some very good qualities. One time the
other disciples tried to stop Jesus from going to Bethany. They were afraid of
the danger from those in the area who had tried to kill Jesus. Thomas said to
them, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him". He displayed great
courage and loyalty to Jesus.
Not
all of Thomas’s doubting was unfounded. Some of his doubt was based upon facts,
and some of his doubt was based upon his emotions. In fact, Thomas had very
emotional week when Jesus was crucified
On Thursday Thomas sees Jesus
arrested by an angry crowd and he flees for his life and runs away from his
Master.
On Good Friday Thomas watches at a
distance as they nail his friend Jesus to a cross as Jesus' life drains away on
the cross, so does Thomas's hope.
On
Saturday
Thomas is in shock; His friend Jesus is dead and is buried in a tomb.
On
Sunday
Thomas doesn't gather with his fellow disciples for an evening meal.
On
Monday
the disciples go looking for Thomas and tell him what has happened; “ Thomas,
we were in that upper room where we'd been meeting. We locked the doors for
protection. Yet, all of a sudden, Jesus appears. 'Peace, Shalom,' He says. Then
He shows us His hands. There are jagged holes where the nails had been. He
pulled back his tunic and shows us where the spear penetrated His chest. But he
isn't weak or sick or dying. He is alive, raised from the dead!"
Thomas responded; "I don't believe
it," barks Thomas. "I don't believe a word of it. You're seeing what
you want to see. Jesus is dead!
--- I saw Him die and He's dead, and the sooner you accept that fact, the
better off you'll be.
Peter pleads with him. "Thomas, I saw Him myself,
I tell you, and He was as real as you are!"
Thomas expresses his doubts; "Unless I
see the nail marks in His hands And put
my hand into His side, I will not believe it."
On the
Follow Sunday,
Thomas is eating with his fellow disciples in the same locked room. Jesus
stands among them once again and says: "Shalom, peace be with you." Jesus
turns to him and speaks plainly to Thomas; "Put your finger here, see my
hands." Jesus holds out His scarred hands for Thomas to examine.
Jesus begins to open his outer garment and
says; "Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and
believe."
Thomas is weeping now and then begins to sob
out loud. Jesus reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder. Then Thomas slips
to his knees and says:"My Lord and
my God!" Thomas is the first disciple to put into words the truth that
Jesus is both Lord and God.
Jesus replies; "Because you have seen
me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed." Jesus was saying that believing isn’t always based upon seeing proof;
sometimes it is based upon simply faith and believing God without proof
Even
as a Christian I have times of acting like a “Doubting Thomas”. There have been
times when I have questions and doubts, times when I don’t understand God, times
when I simply need to walk in faith.
Jesus
has made me very much aware that He does exist. No,
He didn't appear to me and show me His hands and His side. But He has showed
Himself to me in many other ways and helped me to simply believe Him by faith through
answered prayers and through times when I read the Bible
And
Jesus continues to be there taking me deeper in faith in Him. Even in the times
where my faith is the weakest I still turn to Him with what little I have. And
the experiences make me a better person and made my faith so much stronger.
The Bible tells us
that that: “Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and
that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He
was seen by over five hundred brethren at once” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)
It takes faith to believe this
passage, not academic knowledge. Becoming a Christian is not an
academic thing; it is a moral decision. You don’t have to have iron clad faith
before you are “ready to believe”. Wondering how religion and science could
agree.
You simply need to step out and
apply faith to what you already know. And He will take care of the rest.
Eventually, after all the study and
pondering and calculations are done. An engineer has to build the bridge and
THEN send the car across. A medical doctor has to pick up the scalpel and THEN make
the incision. A chemist has to mix the two chemicals together and watch what
happens. Two people can study and study about marriage, but eventually they
have to walk it out.
The
Bible tells us that the early church had a whole group like Thomas: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble
character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great
eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was
true.” (Acts 17:11 NIV)
Faith is an act of obedience,
walking in a way pleasing to God. It doesn’t matter how much we probe, and ponder, and question. Eventually
we simply step out using what we know. That is faith. The formula
is this: Doubting + Faith = BELIEF
That is true for spiritual things
as well as Medical, Scientific, Engineering, Chemists, and yes, even marriage.
You take what you know and put it to the test. That is faith
I love the story about “Doubting
Thomas”. Here is a man who had been with Jesus for over 3 years. As a student
and disciple of Jesus, he saw with his own eyes Jesus performing miracles. Jesus
told Thomas that he would die and then be raised from the dead multiple times! And
still Thomas had doubts that Jesus was raised from the dead. He was a man who
is just like us! Thomas expressed his unwillingness to just accept other
people’s word that Jesus was truly raised from the dead. Thomas asked God for
proof that Jesus was raised from the dead and he was given the proof.
In other words it is OK to still have questions and
be a “Christian”; that is “a follower of Christ
It’s OK if we still have some doubts from time to
time and study to find out answers and ask questions to find answers and read
the Bible to find answers and pray to find answers.
How does God respond when we doubt Him? Jesus said,
“You’ve seen Me you seen the Father” (John 14:19). In other words, we can look at
how Jesus responded to Thomas’s doubting, and then understand how God responds
when we doubt Him
You too can come to God with your
doubts and your questions and ask Him to show you the proof. God is not going to push us away. God wants you to know and to believe Him and
He will help you to do it!
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