One of my biggest surprises this year was looking at the program for the Desiring God Ministries National Conference and seeing Dan Taylor as one of the speakers.
I love Dan Taylor. His book The Myth of Certainty is in my top ten books that have been personally helpful. I’ve reviewed the book here at IM, but here’s the short version: Taylor uses a fictional narrative about a moderate and thoughtful Bible professor who finds himself teaching at a roaring fundamentalist Bible college (not Bethel!) where he’s daily confronted with the pressure to believe far more than he does about far more than he believes anyone should be deadly certain about. In between the fictional narrative, Taylor examines the mythology of certainty in evangelicalism, particularly as it relates to evangelical Christianity. He concludes that a lack of certainty is, in many cases, a needed and Biblical virtue and excessive certainty is often just another name for arrogance excusing sin.
It was a surprise to me that Taylor was on the program with Mark Driscoll and other reformed leaders who seldom say “I don’t know” about anything.
(Commendations to Dr. Piper for this kind of diversity and generosity.)
You see, there’s a lot of things about which I am not certain. Not certain, not absolutely certain, not certain enough to stand up and wave a Bible around and say this is what God thinks.
That makes me different from many evangelicals, especially in my denomination, where the “worldview” approach to Christianity assumes that anyone who believes in the inspiration of scripture can be Biblically, divinely certain about regulations on logging or who should be elected dog-catcher.
I’m not that certain. In fact, when it comes to certainty, I’m afraid of our fetish with it.
Earlier this year, I received a big criticism from a significant person. I was told that “you think you’re smarter than everyone else.” Combined with a few other similar criticisms, I was in a state of intense self-loathing for several weeks, mostly while I was on sabbatical.
My problem was more than just wanting to say “That’s simply not true.” I never think in categories of intelligence in dealing with people. There are so many different kinds of intelligence and so many different manifestations of it, that I’d be an idiot to assume I was smarter than anyone. My father had an 8th grade education and was brilliant in math and many other things. I have 37 hours past my Master’s degree, but I know almost nothing about anything except my own narrow areas of interest: Bible and religion. I’m deeply aware of the dangers of being intelligent (so called.)
Where did that criticism come from? I’m almost certain it comes from the fact that I think for myself and I regular encourage others to do so. For example, yesterday one of our seniors asked me and several other teachers what was wrong with living with a person of another gender if no sex occured. I immediately asked her how she made decisions of this kind? What was her process for deciding what is right and wrong? This frustrated her, because she wanted an answer. I told her that the process of making a decision is more important than getting answers from authority figures.
It’s this sort of thing that gets me in trouble as cited above. I’m not a young earth creationist. Most of my peers are. I’m not talking about the election. Everyone else is. I don’t buy into fads. I try to keep the Gospel central. I question most things from the point of view of Christian realism. I question myself and find myself and other authority figures imperfect all the time.
And I don’t buy into the certainties that others have. I don’t know all about the end times. I don’t automatically think all Christian music is good. I don’t believe what I hear from Dobson. I don’t read forwards in my email. I usually say there are two or more sides to an issue. I often say “I don’t know.” I say that God probably doesn’t care. I say I don’t have the mind of God. I don’t know exactly what the Bible’s teaching is on a lot of things. I believe many things, but I’m not certain about much about the things I believe. (I believe in heaven. I’m not certain about much that I believe, like streets of gold and endless CCM choruses.)
I’m not certain. Does that mean I “think I’m smarter?” I can’t say. I’m sure sometimes I’m guilty of that sin, but mostly I’m trying to think for myself; I’m trying to be authentic. I’m trying to set some limits on how far I go down roads that crowds are going down. I want to ask more questions. I want to learn more and give the other points of view room to say what they think as well.
I don’t like intellectual shorthand or easy answers. I don’t believe God is glorified by a mob mentality or Christians behaving like sheeple. Questioning authority is just as important to me as submitting to proper authority.
In The Myth of Certainty, Taylor says people like me are often miserable around other Christians because we are under suspicion for not being orthodox. When I said earlier this year that I was going to question everything I believed about God based on what I knew about the historical Jesus, some people around me began to treat me as if I had renounced Christ. They had no category between atheism and faith seeking understanding. The books of Job and Ecclesiastes weren’t on the menu.
What shook me up was my certainties about what God would and wouldn’t do. When I moved to a place of less certainty, things made a lot more sense. The journey continues, but my faith is more real when I don’t throw up the concrete pylons of certainty and stop the journey.
My journey leaves me with a big question: As my certainties decrease, my faith increases. Am I on the right road? Or should faith increase my certainties to the point that, like my friends, I can say what God thinks on just about anything?
So far, it feels to me like I was made to believe, not to be certain.
The Internet Monk Archives 
I think the danger of saying, “I don’t know” only comes when people use that as a reason to stop trying to find out. Ignorance need not be permanent.
I guess it’s an aspect of psychology – some people desire certainty to feel in control of their lives. That may be the main appeal of religion for them. To suggest (no doubt with some good arguments) that even religion is uncertain in places must be very unsettling for such people and will probably make you unpopular with them.
Then I have great respect for you. Please don’t stop thinking for yourself, asking questions and encouraging others to do so.
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terri, it should be obvious that we should not be exhausted. Jesus is our rest. The fruit of the Spirit is peace, joy, etc.
The fact that some Evangelicals are caught up in divining the “perfect will” is reflective of poor theology.
If we conform our thinking to God’s will (as revealed in the Bible), then God gives us the desires of our hearts. What we want is what God wants.
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Nedbreak and Terri>>concerning certainty: Biblical teachings reveal the will of God as….’none perishing but all coming to repentance.’ But the term ‘repentance’ is too broad for discussion here. A narrower point is to remind of the mostly common understanding of scripture related to the body as the Temple of God. If the true Christian is indeed indwelt by the Holy Spirit (God in form of the Third Person of the Trinity)…then He would care very much about how the body reflects Him. “1 Corinthians 6:15-17: “15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”
Love you both!
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nedbreak..
Your answer was brief and never really addressed the exhausting aspect of such a concept. When I read your reply, what I hear is, “Being exhausted by trying to figure “everything” out is normative for the christian life and par for the course.”
If that’s what you mean, I reject that. I don’t believe that God cares about everything–like what kind of job I have, what school my kids go to, whether the coffee I bought was Free Trade, or not. Yet, these are the types of things that many sincere Christians have true angst over. They believe that they can know the answer to these questions with a fair degree of certainty, and that if they make a “wrong” choice they’re somehow not in the “perfect will” of God.
The christian life is one definitely meant for transformation. However, that comes not from knowing all the answers to all the right questions, but from trusting Christ’s sufficiency for us.
After all, didn’t Jesus say: “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
I resist attempts to carry more than is necessary.
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terri, isn’t that what being a Christian means? Being conformed into the image of Christ. Having our minds transformed?
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Mike,
In reply to your comment, yes, I read the book you mentioned sometime back in the nineties. Other than remembering I liked it and read more Newbigin because of it, I can’t recall much else. I’ll now have to dig it out to see how much he may have influenced me. Thanks.
Michael
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nedbreak:I think God cares about everything, although, in some cases, “what God wants†is the sames as what we want (as long as we are acting and thinking Biblically).
I mean this in all seriousness..don’t you find the concept that God cares about “everything” exhausting? I mean if God cares about “everything” then it’s up to us to constantly be on the right side of what he cares about….something which is not always evident and clear.
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Michael,
I’d assume that you’re familiar with Newbigin’s book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. He provides an important discussion on knowing and believing (it runs through the entire book) that correlates well with your excellent and thoughtful post. Thanks for a fine discussion.
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Christopher Lake:
does the catechism quote I posted do anything for you? Is that statement not calling for absolute certainty? Is it not the most basic thing?
I like the analogy of the lamp. Some things are fully in the light and very clearly discernible on which a person should make his stand. Other things are farther and farther out of the light and more or less discernible. There needs to be distinction.
There are items we should confess clearly and firmly. Other things we can leave open to discussion.
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Christopher Lake: To ‘know’ in the Biblical sense is to possess ‘conceived’ knowledge. Job, Jonah, Moses, Joseph, Abraham, Daniel,David, Elias,..and so many other men and women of Bible history..had one to one personal experiences with God and “knew” that God is faithful. While ‘blessed is he who believes and hath no seen’ is reality, there also exists a faith that “knows!” Faith contains evidence and substance and is therefore….”knowing”. Faith + Knowing = Trust…..just as 2+2=4.
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One thing, “faith” is usually translated from the Greek word “pistis”. It is better translated “trust”.
I agree we can know nothing – using ourselves as a foundation. However, we can know what God has revealed to us (in the Bible, by trusting that God is true to His Word).
We can know all sorts of things with certainty (the Trinity, substitutionary atonement, our overwhelmingly sinful sinfulness, elements of the life of Jesus, etc.)
“I say that God probably doesn’t care” – I think God cares about everything, although, in some cases, “what God wants” is the sames as what we want (as long as we are acting and thinking Biblically).
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Christopher,
I will share my views, remembering that I am comfortable with the Catholic idea of mystery.
I checked out both verses that you quoted, and don’t have a problem with either one, especially since the Timothy passage “knowing” is more in knowing a person rather than a fact.
I have no problem with knowing and trusting God, and even trying to figure out what He is doing. (That includes getting mad at him, just as long as you still communicate. Yelling at the top of your spiritual voice is communicating)
But, I’m not sure that we can truly know (as in a hard and fast fact) much about God. If I, as a chemist, have major troubles with that at work, I’m sure not going to be able to do much with the Creator.
😉 Besides, I can give you some good examples of where 2+ 2 do NOT equal 4
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Christopher Lake,
I would say the difference is that there are certain beliefs that we “know” on a very primal level, which go beyond having an explanation.
I think certainty becomes dangerous when we try to implement it, in a specific way, in our daily lives….like “knowing” that God caused someone to have cancer so that he could be glorified through their process. Or like “knowing” that it’s God’s will to make decision A, B, or C. When we bring certainty to such constant decisions, it won’t be long before we’re scratching our heads and wondering why Decision A didn’t seem to work out in the way we “knew” God meant for it to.
It’s scary sometimes, because I often feel like I “know” God less than I used to, but I regard some of my former “knowing” as silliness.
How silly to think I had the inside scoop on the God of the Universe, enabling me to order every step of my day without doubt.
Perhaps “knowing” God is simply the contempt of the familiar.
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iMONK,
I think the two extreme positions are to condition people to think:
1. I’m [almost?] always wrong to come to a conclusion after thinking through something [as if one is to always be on a journey towards an answer without ever arriving at that answer].
2. I’m wrong to not have arrived at some answers immediately [as if one should not be allowed time on some issues to think through something towards an answer–if an answer is even available].
[Moderator edited]
Grace
Benji
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Well, as no one attempted to answer my question, I’ll ask it again! 🙂 Is the best that we should expect from Christianity a kind of “confidence” (confident faith), rather than *any* kind of certainty? Is there nothing in his/her faith about which a Christian should be *certain,* as much as he/she is certain about 2 + 2= 4?
I understand the wrongness and the danger of claiming certainty for anything and everything in the Christian life, but what do we do with verses such as Job 19:25 and 2 Timothy 1:12? These verses don’t *only* state, “I believe.” They say, “I know.” Thoughts, anyone?
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I’m a 57 year old guy that stumbled over you at Cornerstone this past year. Like you, I find my ignorance and loss of certainty increases almost daily. It is frightening at times. The wonder of it is that the space vacated by certainty is a near perfect one for faith. Conversely, the certainty that previously filled it left little room for faith at all. Apparently, Christ is to be our only certainty. Who knew?
I don’t know what is or is not appropriate in these discussions. What follows is something I wrote upon reading your post and some of the responses given to it. Do with this as you wish.
I have described myself as one who when younger, liked to go up to the very edge of a high cliff and lean over the precipice, sometimes even to hang horizontally out over the canyon below, all the while defying gravity by holding tightly to some poor bit of weed barely clinging to its own life through a few hairs of root twisted into the fissured and soilless rock. But while I took chances and was too often foolishly perilous, I was shocked when I saw other people run full speed over the edge and give themselves to the sharp and jagged rocks below. I was dumb, but I wasn’t stupid.
I’ve come to believe there are two primary principles operating in our life and the world around us. One is Life, the other is Death. Energy and meaning can be derived from either of them. What looks like “life†can in fact be getting all its energy from Death. What looks like “death†can be brimming over with Life. Confusion between these two is common and not always easily discerned.
Part of what drew me to Calvinistic Christianity for a time is that it made sense of something I had no way of explaining otherwise. Why are some people attracted to Life, and others Death? Why was I, even well before I was a conscious Christian attracted to Life, while other incredibly bright and vital people were seemingly only drawn toward Death? It was obviously not a matter of intelligence, cleverness, upbringing, moral goodness, or anything else I could imagine. Where I sensed Life and hungered for it, these others sensed nothing. I couldn’t understand it. It seemed to me as if they had no organ for Life detection. While I possessed a rather deep sensitivity to the sweetness of the aroma of Life, they smelled something like mold or nothing at all. On the other hand, these same people had well developed organs of Death detection, and could “smell†things I couldn’t. This made some of them deeply interesting to me. It was not clear at the time that it was Death they sensed and sought. As one who was on a search for Life, though often unconscious of the quest, I occasionally traveled a good distance with Death people thinking that what they were being drawn toward was the same as the Life that I was seeking. Maybe what they smelled would lead to what I was looking for. I learned later to more clearly differentiate between Life and Death, as well as Life and Death seekers.
I find that these principles continue to be operational and foundational, even and maybe especially within the church. In the very place that Life is celebrated and proclaimed, Death is not far away. In fact, church is often the place where Death is most at home. It was during our years at the little Calvinist church, a place I will forever thank God for, that I developed a simple test for deciding whether to accept or reject what I was being taught or pressured to receive. It is this. If it feels like Life, it is probably right. If it feels like Death, it is probably wrong.
Calvinistic churches attract overly bright and intelligent people. I still believe that no one does systematic theology better than the Reformed. They know what they believe, why they believe it, and are able to articulate with the utmost precision why no worthwhile conclusion is possible outside of the one they have arrived at. They are often even quite gracious in the legalisms that flow from their conclusions for it is next to impossible to disagree with the thoroughness of their process. And yet, young Christian though I was, I was not always convinced. As Biblical and powerfully reasoned as their arguments were, their answers and the result of them seemed at times to come out wrong. In spite of undeniably well intentioned concerns and reasoned thinking, their answers sometimes had the smell of Death. It was often no one but me who seemed concerned, but I felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room and that I was unable to fill my lungs. At other times it was not me but someone else who was affected. More than once I saw the innocent and weak nailed to the wall, gutted before my eyes, and their entrails poring out across the floor. From good hearts and brilliant minds, I saw Death portrayed and defended as Life.
And so my little test: If it feels like Life, it is probably right. If it feels like Death, it is probably wrong.
God create in us organs to discern Life and the wisdom to choose the Life in all things. Grant to us repentance and forgiveness for the times we chose Death in the name of your Life. Restore us to Yourself and one another. Help us to be bearers and givers of the Life. Be with us always. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And hallowed be Your Name, forever and ever. Amen.
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Not having read the book referred to here, I am a little lost as to what this thread is about. So forgive me, if I seem clueless.
When I hear the word “certainty”, I jump to Luther’s fighting the “monster of uncertainty”, i.e. not knowing if you have a merciful God. He did find him in scripture. He had tried everything else. Even in mysticism, if he felt great, he wondered if he heard the angels or the devils sing. You cannot rely on your experience.
One must know one’s foundation. And he is a person. Trust and certainty only in Christ’s doing.
When it comes to things like stay-at-home dad’s, we are in a totally different arena. Is there one of the ten commandments that forbids it? There is not. People should make sure they present their opinions as just opinions and not lead people into unnecessary vexations.
When it comes to basic doctrinal matters, it is important to be certain.
In the catechism for example after the explanations of the articles of the creed, there is: “This is most certainly true.”
For example: after the second article of the creed there is the explanation:
“What does this mean: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord,
who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver but with His holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death,
that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness,
just as he is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE.”
This is the kind of thing we need to know for certain.
Other human opinions will run away with people and we have to guard against them.
If the quoting of the catechism seems over the top for some, I have to say, it did me good to type it out. 🙂
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Michael, thank you for writing this.
People being so confident in their chosen systematic theology that they downplay, contextualize away, or otherwise ignore the parts of scripture that speak against their system (and whether we are Calvinist, Arminian, RC or other there are always those “problematic” passages, aren’t there?) to the point of absolute certainty strike me as arrogant and off-putting. In that context, the very breadth and depth of scripture seem to almost intentionally refuse to fit completely into anyone’s system, and thereby defeat theological certainty.
And definitely those who speak in certainty with the bible in one hand and their ideological, cultural and aesthetic assumptions in the other are engaging in the age-old tactic of invoking God to bless what they are going to do or think for non-theological reasons anyway. These are typically people who are more than willing to give a defense for the conclusions they have reached, and they usually eschew gentleness and reverence.
But I do think that on the essentials, the longer your faith walk proceeds the more certainty you can have in them. And I have found the more certainty you have in the essentials, the less need you have for certainty on the non-essentials. For example, like you I don’t know about streets of gold, or heavenly music styles, etc., and don’t pretend to be certain. But I am certain Christ will be there, and I will be with Him, so the rest is just details, yes?
I see what you are saying in this post as a call for genuine humility to make a comeback in our theology. The problem is that most people really do just want to be told the answer, and books full of “I am not certain about…” don’t exactly fly off the shelves at Family Christian Bookstore. Most people don’t want a question about a specific situation to turn into a discussion about critical thinking and worldview, they just want the answer. Your willingness to go there is very monk-like, indeed. Keep it up, and watch out for “the only thing I am certain about is that there are no certainties.” I think there are, though not nearly as many as most do.
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Imonk I do not understand how you got 37 hours past masters level without your brain exploding [or withering]. I have never found a school of theology that was not founded on one of two planks,1 We are right they are wrong, or 2 It doesn’t matter. It does matter and we may all be in error.
I just can’t swim in those pools. No offense, but too much denominational education can make you denominational, as opposed to Christian. [IMHO} And remember non-denominational is a denomination these days.
It is very possible that i did not find for I did not seek, enough, but I am getting along with God and teaching others about Christ without the burden of an M. Div. Wow , does that sound a little too jaded? if so sorry.
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Saw this the other day, lots of useful points in it.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-04-14-ceos-waiter-rule_x.htm
Picking through the ones that spoke to me.
1: Learn to say, “I don’t know.” If used when appropriate, it will be used often. This is one of the keys to my reputation at work. I add the word yet, when I know that I am going to be studying the question, or refining my estimate of the time needed.
…
14: Strive for brevity and clarity in oral and written reports.
15: Be extremely careful in the accuracy of your statements.
16: Don’t overlook the fact that you are working for a boss. Keep him or her informed. Whatever the boss wants, within the bounds of integrity, takes top priority.
…
24: Don’t ever lose your sense of humor.
25: Have fun at what you do. It will be reflected in you work. No one likes a grump except another grump!
26: Treat the name of your company as if it were your own.
…
32: A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person. (This rule never fails). This one is biblical – we’ve been told not to judge on outward appearances.
33: Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, an amateur built an ark that survived a flood while a large group of professionals built the Titanic!
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I appreciate your honesty in your blog. Question: Why are you surprised by that reaction?
You are a “highly differentiated” living/working in a “low dif'” world. Low differentiated people/groups feel dis-graced by perceived members who deviate from their norm and usually dis-grace shame the offenders.
You will get that kind of push-back as long as you chose and feel called to be a grace-witness in that low-dif culture.
Grace and Peace .
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Quote from Dr. Spaceman on “30 Rock” – “What can you do? Medicine is not a science!”
Adam – I appreciate your comment re: Boyd. I like Boyd and often use him as a litmus test when feeling out the theological boundaries of new church acquaintances. If they immediately react with the heresy charge, I know to be more circumspect.
iMonk – I ordered the book as soon as I read your post.
Sounds like Taylor is a soul-mate.
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Michael, welcome to the “road-less-travelled” club. I think I’ve been a lifelong member. As a child, I questioned my parents’ truisms, as a teenager I caused consternation in the youthgroup by saying their “quiet time” modsel didn’t work for me, as an adult I refused to participate in “outreach” activities that I thought were insensitive and inappropriate. My husband thinks I make life unneccessarily complicated, I only know the rules and presuppositions that work for other people are death to me. My faith is in God, as revealed in scripture, I just don’t get how people can be so adamant about things that scripture isn’t explicit about. I am tired of a million “Christian” books written by people who seem to exactly know God’s opinion on the minutiae of life (how to bring up children, what you should eat, what kind of musical sounds are godly, exactly when the world began/will end, the one right way to run a church) I am waiting for the tome on what the Bible says I should grow in my garden (with a revised edition for the southern hemisphere) or the biblical way to decorate my house (is my purple kitchen satanic?) excuse the sarcasm, sometimes it gets a bit tiring swimming against the tide. ..
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You say:
As my certainties decrease, my faith increases.
This seems to have the order of things backwards. Hebrews 11:1 says, “now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” The author is not arguing that certainty decreases faith, but instead that increasing in faith leads to an increase in surety and certainty. That doesn’t mean we can announce which city council candidate all Christians should vote for. However, where God has clearly revealed Himself to us we can have certainty. Therefore, we can say “I KNOW that Jesus is the Messiah” and “I THINK candidate X will be the best person for the job.”
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The more I learn…the less I know. I have seen a daytime physical manifestation of Jesus and of Satan. I have been taught the meaning of scriptures by way of night visions which are so numerous…it is difficult to count them. Not one has faded with time since hey are alive…burned into my soul. The visions revealed…but NEVER contradicted scriptures. Through visions I have seen things that were future. Not one of them has failed. Some are still future. I have experienced divine deliverance, twice seen my male guardian angel, heard the DAYTIME audible voice of Elias as he proclaimed to me, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make His path straight.” With all these high experiences…He has compelled me to live the rest of my life in service of those around me. Beyond these things, I am certain of little.
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Michael, thanks for the post. Once again, you’ve put into eloquent words what I thin many are experiencing. I’ve been on the road to less certainty and, I hope, more faith, for some time now (not uncertainty about Jesus or basic orthodoxy, but about having the answer to every theological question or current events issue).
The corrosive effects of excessive certainty don’t get a lot of press inside evangelicalism, but in my experience they are real and quite damaging. Specifically, certainty can lead to pride and a spiritual elitism that relegates to second class status anyone who doesn’t have that certainty or adhere to it, including seekers and anyone who admits of weakness (or who says, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief”). Certainty and the right answers can become more important than trusting Jesus with all our cares and doubts and insecurities and failings. (Interestingly, it seems that some view this as something a person does when they were “born again,” but see little need to repeat it during the walk of faith after that.)
Second, an excess of certainty is a mark of evangelicals with dominionist/theonomist tendencies who engage so vigorously in the political sphere and who sometimes wander so far from the presentation of the gospel or effective witness of a humble and faithful life that the fruits of the spirit and the love and grace and humility of our Lord become difficult, even impossible, to see.
Finally, a perhaps somewhat cynical and sad but I think very much related point: admitting uncertainty doesn’t do much to shore up the votes or bring in the dollars, and, though it’s sad beyond words, that’s a deal-breaker for some evangelicals.
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Thinking and evaluation of others’ thoughts is hard work. It involves analyzing and comparison to reality.
The “Dr. Dobson” reminded me of something. Sure, he is gifted and an advocate for family and moral issues but what if he deviates a little? I remember years ago of him talking doom of socialism if the ABC childcare would pass in Congress. The act passed and the bad effects never materialized.
Memory, like thinking, is also a dangerous thing. When the learned preacher/teacher contradicts something he said or predicted earlier, you get in big trouble pointing out the difference.
If you don’t say “I don’t know” , and then change your mind, then you’re flip-flopping, if anybody remembers.
We need a lot more noble Bereans.
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(add this to other)
The measure of a person’s courage is determined by how much fear must be overcome in order to display it. Big Fear is overcome by an even bigger Courage. It works the same way in regard to faith. Big Doubts must be overcome with even bigger Faith. If we eliminate the possibility of doubt (by becoming certain), then we also eliminate faith and, possibly without intention, we eliminate our need for Jesus.
Jesus himself, in some mystical way that cannot be fully understood, doubted. At the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of doubt stained blood, Jesus himself had a crisis of belief. I don’t pretend to even remotely get that. But it does validate the legitimate struggle of Faith overcoming doubt. It is the Christian’s trust in Jesus that gives us the ability to do the same.
Jesus, I believe! Help my unbelief!
By the way..
If you’re thinking through this biblically, the book of James tells us that we must not doubt. Understand that James is encouraging us to have a faith in Christ that overcomes doubt, not commanding that all doubt be eliminated.
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(“As an aside I do wonder if this kind of uncertainty belongs in the pulpit.”)
In regard to preaching and teaching, our surety and boldness should come out of a strong sense of belief, not a strong sense of certainty. We should assert orthodoxy out of a strong, faith-filled heart, not out of arrogant intellectual certainty. Doubt is not the enemy of faith; it is its bedfellow.
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Michael,
This book certainly sounds interesting; I’ll have to put it on my short (or not-so-short!) list of books to pick up in the near future, Lord willing!
A question– would you say, as some have here, that the best that we can have, in regard to our faith, is a “confidence” without certainty? I am wondering how you and others here understand verses such as Job 19:25 and 2 Timothy 1:12.
I understand the dangers of claiming complete certainty, regarding anything and everything in the Christian life, but shouldn’t Christians be certain about at least *some* things? The Biblical authors seem certain to me in the above verses. They don’t *just* say, “I believe.” They say, “I know.”
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>I do however wonder why Dan and you have not moved to a more moderate mainline denomination such as the ELC or PCUSA.
I haven’t moved because I am a credoBaptist, I have a job, and God hasn’t led me to move. And my wife is RC. For 8 years I’ve been saying that most of us need to stay right where we are.
>As an aside I do wonder if this kind of uncertainty belongs in the pulpit. After many years of having priests who reviled in a kind of carefully studied ambiguity I now have a young priest who is unashamedly orthodox and evangelical.
I didn’t find anything in Taylor’s book suggesting that it was commendable to preach one’s doubts, but it may be commendable to not be so certain about any number of things. See Mark Driscoll or John Macarthur for more information.
And I certainly believe in preaching and teaching complete orthodoxy. I don’t want doubt in the pulpit, but I don’t want to be told that stay at home dads are candidates for church discipline because God said so.
peace
MS
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I read Dan Taylors book last summer with some minor reservations would recommend it as well (I found the fictional interludes clunky and contrived and half way through the book I just started skipping them). I do however wonder why Dan and you have not moved to a more moderate mainline denomination such as the ELC or PCUSA. The evangelical churches of my youth completely failed to give me the tools I needed to cope with my own sometimes crippling doubts. Once I bit the bullet and became an Anglican I found a circle of christens who were much more comfortable with doubts and ambiguity (some times too comfortable I am sometimes forced to admit). In this environment I am learning to grow instead of constantly being knocked back to first principles. As an aside I do wonder if this kind of uncertainty belongs in the pulpit. After many years of having priests who reviled in a kind of carefully studied ambiguity I now have a young priest who is unashamedly orthodox and evangelical. I must say I look forward to Sunday worship more these days than I have in years.
God Bless
Steve in Toronto
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You speak of a lot of political issues in which certainity is not possible. I agree with you that on matters subject to reason no certainity is possible. On matters of Revelation God invites us to trust Him/His Word with certainity. No one should feel the need to doubt that their sins are forgiven and that they participate in God’s eternal life. No one needs to doubt that God has made them righteous in Christ. God has given us the Scriptures and the Sacraments so that we would be certain of these things. The Holy Spirit works this blessed certainty into our hearts through the Word of Christ.
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Well of course we can’t and I’d say shouldn’t be certain about everything else why would we need faith or even God? Has certainty of this sort become a present-day idol? If so, I won’t be bending my knee there. I will continue to bow before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ not because I’m smarter but because I know I’m not as I sense you know that your are not. Yes, it’s uncomfortable around the certain at times, but I believe that we’re better off without their “certainty.”
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“As my certainties decrease, my faith increases” pretty much nails it. You don’t need faith when you have certainty, and if you can reduce God to a series of definite-sounding systematic formulas and doctrines, you don’t need faith. You have your system to fall back upon.
Trouble is, that system isn’t God. It’s an idol.
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Mike,
Are you reading my mind? Ok, just kidding. As I have gotten a little older and have had the privilege of being exposed to many forms of Christian belief systems I have come to see the paucity of my own belief. I am trying to examine everything. I appreciate what you do, it certainly helps me.
Mike
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The best economics professor I ever had took over 3 large blackboards to plot a simple model of the US economy. When he was done, he dusted off his hands and said, “You know, we really don’t know how it all works.”
That, is wisdom.
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I am certain that The Myth of Certainty deserves its top ten rating.
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Sounds to me like you’re grasping what Paul meant by “If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know” (1 Cor 8:2).
As my certainties decrease, my faith increases.
Perhaps because the more you acknowledge you don’t know, the more you have to just trust the One who does?
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Even those who are certain – those who have already figured out everything there is to know about life – should extend some grace towards the rest of us, as in Jude 22:
“And have mercy on some, who are doubting.”
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Happened to me with that student yesterday. We kept talking and I gave her a hug. I show her how I reason it out, but she understands what I want for her.
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Has anybody ever felt guilty for not being patronizing? I feel that way all the time nowadays. Whenever I can’t come up with a pat answer that plays mainly on people’s regard for me and desire for simplicity, and instead invite them into an unutterably dense and unsolvable hedge-maze of moral and epistemic uncertainty from which, upon entering, there is no escape, I usually feel like a douchebag at the end of the day. I mean, I totally sidestepped their question and ended up changing the subject to something they don’t know ANYTHING about, and just started rattling off. And even worse, I made them feel like an idiot for asking the way they did. It was hard enough for ’em to sidle up and ask in the first place: they didn’t think they were going to have to take notes.
I’m an unhelpful ass sometimes. Can anybody else relate to that?
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I-Monk, good post. It seems that evangelicals are more accustomed to saying “I know” instead of “I believe”:
“I know I’m going to heaven. I know Jesus is the Messiah. I know who should be president. I know who is evil and I know who is good. I know that ‘these’ things are right and ‘those’ things are wrong.”
Yikes!
It is much more consistent to say “I believe”. Anything above a belief claim moves toward a claim of divine omniscience and should be viewed as idolatrous. The truth is, we humans cannot fully know anything. We will not truly “know” until our faith has become sight and we stand before God face to face. ‘Til then we see in a mirror dimly. We know in part. We trust in those things not seen. In short, we believe. This is the epistemological nature of the Christian Faith – Sola Fide not Sola Scio.
Of course, I’m not certain of this. It’s simply what I believe. Wink 🙂
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Yes, “wringer” is what I meant! And yes, I’m young enough that I’ve never had to wash my clothes with one! 😉
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To Jen E., re “put through the ringer”…
I think you mean wringer. If I were a betting person I’d bet you are too young to remember one. 🙂
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What a great post. And so timely! I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I need to think for myself when it comes to faith and politics (particularly if what I have been taught is “right”). And, the book you mentioned is SO interesting because my alma mater, a Baptist college (largely supported by fundamentalists) has been put through the ringer by supporters and alumni alike for its stance in the “truth vs. certainty” debate. I like the stance the college has taken, many of my more fundamental peers do not. Not only that, I remember a philosophy prof of mine who was fired when I was a student because he “thought outside the bible worldview box” and I find it ironic that today the college leans more towards the views he espoused to his students more than 10 years ago. I’d like to read that book.
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Thanks for this. Is it not strange that when we say, “I don’t know, and neither do you,” we are touted as thinking we are smarter than everyone else?
Did I not just say, “I DON’T KNOW!”?
Being able to admit this and continue the journey and trust in God, this is true faith. If we have it all figured out, why do we need to trust?
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Mark Lowry (singer, comedian and long time associate of Bill Gaither) has a great line in one of his videos. “Our Baptist preachers MAY be wrong, but they’re NEVER in DOUBT!”
Thanks for touching a chord close to my heart and experience. I regularly struggle with the dynamics you describe. The people I am called to serve want “30 second sound bite” answers from me to address the deepest issues in their lives and faith, just like secular people want the same from their politicians regarding the economy and foreign policy. The answers, if there are answers, are often far from accessible in 30 seconds.
And still, the journey remains before us.
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This was an incredible post. I think it takes a great deal of humility and honesty with yourself to admit you have questions, and to seek answers to them. I especially liked the part where you said, “I don’t like intellectual shorthand or easy answers. I don’t believe God is glorified by a mob mentality or Christians behaving like sheeple. Questioning authority is just as important to me as submitting to proper authority.”
I’m glad to know I am not the ony one who feels this way.
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[Moderator edited]
Reading Boyd and the reaction to him made me sensitive to what you are talking about. The carte blanch “he’s a heretic” response to his views that came from Piper in particular split the faculty at Bethel in a way that made the Pete Enns/WestPhilly debacle look like like a tea party with no sugar.
I’ve been in both the camps of emergent Open Theists and Truly Reformed Calvinists, and I have to say their claim to certainties were enough to make me skeptical of just about everything they said. Still an Arminian and proud of it.
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