The Doubters' Club: Good-Faith Conversations with Skeptics, Atheists, and the Spiritually Wounded by Preston Ulmer

Author:Preston Ulmer [Ulmer, Preston]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Theology / Apologetics, RELIGION / Christian Ministry / Evangelism
Publisher: The Navigators
Published: 2021-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

Something feels toxic when our moral convictions can be boiled down to red or blue. If you are going to be red, let it be because you have bled for your enemies. And if you are going to be blue, let it be because you have sat in sorrow with people who are experiencing pain. The Kingdom of God is holy. Meaning, it is set apart. It is other.

Thanks for asking.

Everyone knows someone who knows everything. At least, they think they know everything. One of the most annoying features about a know-it-all is the certainty by which they give answers to someone else’s existential questions. Believe it or not, there are people out there who claim to know the answers to someone else’s deepest questions about life. A Danish scientist by the name of Piet Hein put it like this: “Those who always know what’s best are a universal pest.”[6] And if you read that quote and are thinking, What makes Pete the expert? I know better than that guy!, chances are, you are that guy. Don’t worry; this section should be helpful.

Why should uncertainty make us uncomfortable? The Bible frequently uses words like mysteries and faith. It is a conviction of Scripture that God’s people would commit to a course of action in the face of uncertainty. We don’t skirt around it, we run straight into it. Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (NIV). Faith is anchored in confidence, not certainty. From all the criticism I have received over the years for hosting and training Doubters’ Clubs, it is my belief that the opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty. And we have a steady diet of certainty-seeking faith that others find repulsive.

In the introduction to his book Jesus Is the Question, Martin Copenhaver cites two published studies that point out Jesus’ answer-to-question ratio is 1:100.[7] For every answer Jesus gives, the Gospels record that he asks a hundred questions. Whatever his reasons were, it was not for a lack of knowledge. At age twelve, Jesus was keeping up with the Pharisees of his day. When Jesus chose to answer a question with a question, he modeled lovely responses of gentleness and concern for the questioner. Acting like Christ means there is no room to act like a know-it-all, even if you have the answer. By our own undoing, we will become saints of certainty that love giving simplistic, or reductionistic, answers to the mysteries of God—not only toward people but toward God himself. Let curiosity lead the way. Most people pursue what they are curious about. That’s why they are entertaining questions in the first place.

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