men
A for-men-only feature dealing with basic Christianity/by Lloyd Hamill
A man and his doubts
I recently got a letter from a man who was extremely worried because he had doubts about the Christian faith. He des perately wanted a right relationship with God but he openly admitted his doubts were preventing such a relationship. When I read this man’s letter I immediately felt an in stinctive like for him. He was honest. To have doubts is the most normal thing in the world. Not to have doubts about the great issues of life simply shows a lack of thinking. It shows a withdrawal from reality. With stinging bitterness Bertrand Russell said, "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the in telligent full of doubt.” You recall the great philosopher Descartes built his philos ophy upon doubts. He systematically doubted everything right down to his own existence. At this point his system produced the kernel of truth he was seeking. He found that the very fact that he could doubt his own existence proved to him that he did exist. Most of us won’t care to go to the philosophical lengths of Descartes, but nevertheless if we are honest with ourselves we will have our doubts. Especially in religion. On another page in this issue Calvin Chambers says, "What the Christian faith fears more than anything else is that kind of unbelief that knows not, that cares not and that will not even take the trouble to be skeptical.” A lot of us somehow have the idea that in the realm of religion we must obediently accept what we are told or what we read. If we question religion then we are either great sinners or, at best, agnostics. This idea is utterly untrue. It is good to have doubts. It is right that we should be skeptical about a thing before we accept it. And the more important the issue, the more important it is to question it. And I cannot think of anything more im portant to a man than his relationship with God. But in my experience I’ve found it almost always true that men apart from a right relationship with God do not take time to doubt the Christian faith. You cannot honestly doubt the Christian faith unless you have tested it. Recently a Southern California theologian wrote a letter to some 500 scientists listed in Who’s Who. He asked each if he believed
that Jesus Christ lived and died and arose again from the dead. Nineteen (including a Nobel Prize winner) said they did. Some 120 said they didn’t. The others did not answer. Many of those who said they didn’t believe that Jesus Christ lived and died and arose from the dead took time to write rather detailed reasons for their belief. But not a one o f them said he had studied the historical proofs pertaining to the subject. This is nothing short of amazing. Brilliant men in one field rejecting the Christian record without ever examining the facts. Would it not be better for each man to first ex amine the records of the Christian faith and then state his doubts? I think so. And each of us can examine the record. It’s written in the Bible, the best established historical document possessed by man. You may not agree with what the Bible says but you rfmnot disagree with its being a genuine historical document. No man’s education is complete until he has thoughtfully and honestly read what Christianity claims for itself. Start with the New Testament. Or if you like to dig into such things on a smaller scale, start with the little book of St. John in the New Testament. Read it through four or five times. As you read, forget all your preconceived ideas. As best you can, approach it as something you never thought about before. See firsthand what the record says. And as you read, keep paper and pencil handy. Write down all your doubts. Question anything that doesn’t make sense. Note the things that do make sense. Each time, as you start reading, say a word or two to God something along this line: "God, I’m not sure o f my rela tionship with you. I have some doubts. 1 sincerely want to know the truth, if there indeed is such a thing. I f you show me the way I am willing to follow .” The Bible says (the Book of John, Berkeley Version), " If anyone wills to do His will he shall understand the teaching . . . .” It also says (Jesus Christ speaking), "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father ex cept through Me.” These words somehow are not easy to dismiss. And they are part of the record of the Christian faith. END.
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The King's Business/June 1957
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