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One of the comics I always read when I was a kid was Ripley's, Believe it or Not! Robert L. Ripley was born on Christmas Day, 1893 in Santa Rosa, California. He began his newspaper career as a sports cartoonist at the age of 16. As a reporter of the odd and unusual, Ripley traveled to the farthest corners of the globe, visiting over 200 countries, meeting with kings and queens, cannibal chieftains, and natives along the way. His extensive travels earned him the title "The Modern Day Marco Polo." In every Ripley picture we are forced to make a decision: do I believe this or not? Can I believe in the Fiji mermaid? Is it a tall tale or fish tale? We wondered. And what about the "Chinese Shrunken Head," the size of a lemon? Or "Wadlow the Giant" at 8'11" tall, the human high-rise? Either we believe or we don’t believe. Some of you are old enough to remember the 1960’s TV series, Get Smart. Played by Don Adams, Max Smart was a spy at the height of the Cold War working for a CIA clone organization called Control whose mission was to defeat the powers of evil as embodied in the sinister organization KAOS. He was a bumbling sort of an agent given to an odd grab bag of tricks to foil his enemies, be it the old secret-panel-in-the-bookcase trick, or the more popular bulletproof-cummerbund-in-the-tuxedo trick. He was given to exaggeration, however. Many of his descriptions were unbelievable. He continually had to revise his reports until his statements were believable. For example, "You better drop that gun because this yacht happens to be surrounded by the Seventh Fleet .... Would you believe the Sixth Fleet? ... How about a school of angry flounder?" Or, "As soon as you're gone, by the use of sheer brute strength I shall be able to rip these chains from the wall in one minute. Two minutes? How about a week from Tuesday?" When the disciples came to Thomas with the fantastic news of a risen Savior, they asked him, "Would you believe ... that Jesus is risen? Would you believe ... that Jesus who was crucified between two thieves is alive? Would you believe ... that he has appeared to Mary and to all of us?" Thomas' response is an emphatic, "No, I would not believe such an idle tale." Doubting Thomas. What comes to your mind when I say this? Do you see Thomas and his doubts in a positive or negative light? Most of us have grown up viewing Thomas as not a bad character, but somewhat flawed because he doubted Jesus was alive. I think Thomas has gotten a bad rap. Look at the other disciples. They needed proof. They doubted just as Thomas doubted and just as we would doubt if we were in their place. All of which leads to a more interesting question, which is, "Why has the Christian community developed such a negative attitude toward doubt?" We have been reared in a religious environment in which doubt is seen as the opposite of faith. And this story of Thomas is often used to reinforce that lesson. But isn't the "doubt vs. faith" question a false issue? Is not the real enemy of faith unbelief rather than doubt? I think so. And what is more, I think that doubt has a constructive and positive role to play in the exercise of faith. In his book on the Buster generation called Postmoderns, Craig Kennet Miller revisits an episode on the hit television show Friends. Two of the characters [are] having a debate about evolution. One of them seeks to prove that evolution is a fact by bringing in a box full of fossils to impress his friend. He tells her that years of scientific discovery and research show that, without a doubt, evolution is a fact. He asks her how she could disbelieve in the face of all the evidence. She replies that lately she didn't believe in gravity, either. It seemed like she was being pulled forward rather than down. He goes into hysterics, seriously doubting her sanity. She comes back with something like this, 'Okay, tell me this. Don't you have the tiniest little doubt that you could be wrong? After all, scientists used to believe the world was flat and they were wrong. Scientists used to believe the atom was the smallest thing in the universe until someone cracked it open. What makes you think that someone won't come along with another theory that will prove that evolution is wrong?' A long silence ensues. He replies, 'Maybe you're right.' She explodes, 'Is that all it takes? You've allowed me to crush your whole belief system? I thought you were stronger than that.' The church often dismisses doubts and questions as the products of an immature faith. Sometimes we simply repeat the same religious platitudes that we found unsatisfying in our own struggles of faith. Sometimes in our conviction that we possess some of the answers, we act as though we have all of the answers. The three least used words in our religious vocabulary are, "I don't know." And in our refusal to confess our doubts we rob faith of its humanity. Could we not, however, respond more positively to these questions and doubts by using them as teaching moments? This is where the example of Thomas can help us. We can learn from Thomas that even though we don't know where our journey may lead, it is enough that our Lord makes the journey with us. And in those times when our faith needs the reinforcement of tangible reality, it is good to know that our Lord does not meet our doubts with chastisement, but with an offer of grace. Churches are filled with persons who hold unresolved issues of faith and belief, but there is often no safety zone within our churches where these doubts can be raised and legitimized without the questioner being made to feel like a second-class Christian. Instead we hold before them the negative image of Thomas the Doubter. What are your questions? Do you feel the freedom to share them here at St. John without being ostracized? In seminary I remember telling a member of my family that I was questioning the virgin birth. Later I learned that it was being said in my family that I needed prayer because I was becoming a liberal! A Texas rancher bought 10 ranches and put them together to form one giant spread. His friend asked him the name of his new mega-ranch. He replied, "It's called The Circle Q, Rambling Brook, Double Bar, Broken Circle, Crooked Creek, Golden Horseshoe, Lazy B, Bent Arrow, Sleepy T, Triple O Ranch." "Wow," said his friend, "I bet you have a lot of cattle." "Not really," explained the rancher. "Not many survive the branding." In churches across this country there are people being branded as unbelievers because they still have doubts about Jesus. What if we rehabilitated the reputation of Thomas as one who had the courage to admit his lack of understanding? And what if we celebrated the willingness of Thomas to express his honest doubts? -- Would you believe ... we could help persons to see that faith is a belief held in the presence of doubts rather than a belief that removes all doubt? -- Would you believe ... that we might then discover persons empowered to openly discuss their doubts in their individual struggles of faith? -- Would you believe ... that we might be seen by unbelievers, not as folks who have all the answers, but as persons like themselves who hold a measure of faith despite our uncertainties? In his book, "Wishful Thinking," theologian and Christian leader, Frederick Buechner, writes, "Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don't have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving." As we confirm 17 of our youth today we do so with the desire that their doubts will not separate them from their God. In their baptisms and baptism renewals today they are acknowledging that God loves them, and they want to love God back! We will not naturally live with 100% assurance of God’s love for us. Nor will we love God perfectly for the rest of our lives. We will have doubts and questions. This is normal, natural, and okay. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. We need to embrace the truth learned from the example of Thomas that doubts may not always lead to answers, but they almost always lead to growth. And let us not forget where Thomas ended up. No where else in scripture does anyone make the claim that Thomas made when he said to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" Believe it or not! |
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05.16.04 - Believe It Or Not (John 20:19-31)
