Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking the Idol of Certainty by Gregory A. Boyd

Author:Gregory A. Boyd
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Faith, REL067030, Certainty, Belief and doubt, REL012070, Theory of Knowledge (Religion)
ISBN: 9781441244543
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2013-09-14T23:00:00+00:00

With our confidence in the loving, self-sacrificial character God displays on the cross, exploring doubts can free us to honestly explore our map of ourselves. Knowing how easy it is to be self-deceived, this kind of doubt creates a space that allows us to examine—or to ask others to examine—the extent to which our faith is visible. It thereby allows us to explore whether we really believe what we say we believe. So too, by freeing us to question our own perspectives, getting honest about our doubts makes us more adept at communicating with others whose perspectives differ significantly from our own.

Finally, and most importantly for our purposes, this kind of doubt empowers us to better relate to God, whose perspective is always further beyond our own than the stars are beyond us. As Shelley and I learned as we embraced the scary truth of the gulf that separated us while committing to work together to bridge it, doubts that we explored within a covenant commitment allowed us to wrestle toward an ever-deepening, increasingly intimate relationship with another. Doubt isn’t an enemy of covenantal faith. It’s a much-needed companion.

If you’re among those who have felt the need to try to avoid doubt and strive for certainty, if you are among those whose security has been wrapped up in a commitment you made at some point in the past that you thought “sealed the deal” between you and God, or if you are one of those many who embraced the idea that faith is an invisible thing that has no necessary connection to how you live, day in and day out, maybe it’s time you consider a reframe. Maybe it’s time to let go of the legal deal and embrace the covenantal relationship. Maybe it’s time to get married.

This commitment requires your all, and it requires it every day. But it offers you everything, and you will enjoy it throughout eternity.

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