Editor’s note: Every Friday a question is printed at the end of this column inviting a response. If you are a religious leader on Kaua‘i please send in your thoughts or suggestions for future topics. Next week’s subject is on
Editor’s note: Every Friday a question is printed at the end of this column inviting a response. If you are a religious leader on Kaua‘i please send in your thoughts or suggestions for future topics. Next week’s subject is on flexibility. The suggested topic at the end of the column is for the following week.
by Pam Woolway – The Garden Island
Due to the generous number and length of responses to this week’s subject on doubt, not all were printed and those present may have been shortened considerably. The requested length requirements are listed below.
Rev. Jim Brooking
West Kauai United
Methodist Church
I think that if we are completely honest with ourselves we would have to admit that we all have had doubts regardless of what faith tradition we come from. Faith is generally the belief in that which is unseen and that which is hoped for.
For those in the Christian tradition there is no greater story of doubt than that of the disciple Thomas. On the evening of the first Easter, the disciples were hidden away in a shuttered and locked room. All were there except for Thomas. The scriptures record that even though the doors were locked Jesus appeared to them. When the other disciples told Thomas that Jesus was alive, Thomas refused to believe them. Thomas said, “unless I see the mark of the nail in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe”. (John 20: 25 NRSV)
The scripture records that a week later the disciples were again locked in that same room. This time Thomas was with them. Again Jesus appeared to them. It is interesting that Jesus did not scold Thomas or ridicule him. Instead, Jesus offered to give Thomas what Thomas needed in order to help him believe; the opportunity to touch his wounds and see for himself that indeed, Jesus was real and alive.
Perhaps it is fair to say that we all have a bit of “Doubting Thomas” in us. Doubts can, I believe, strengthen our faith if we allow them to. We can emerge from our doubts reconfirmed and stronger in our belief. In the gospel of Mark, a father came to Jesus seeking help for his son, who had terrible convulsions which sometimes caused him to fall into the fire. Jesus said, “If you are able — all things can be done for the one who believes.” The father then cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24).
Perhaps like the father in Mark’s story who asked for help for his unbelief, it would be a good practice if, in those moments of doubt, we reached out to a spiritual mentor to help with our doubts and unbelief.
Pastor Mark Randolph
Gateway Ministries at Aloha Beach Hotel
Maybe it’s just me, I know it’s not a popular sentiment for someone in my profession, but I think doubt can be a very healthy trait. Of course too much may be an indication of deeper seated issues; but, some doubt in a person’s life is a sign of intelligence and strength, not weakness.
If doubt mingles with your faith, I say welcome to humanity. Jesus gave his great commission (Go into all the world….) to his followers, and the scriptures state that there were those present who “doubted” (Matthew 28:17). Jesus didn’t say, “Hey guys, if there are any of you who are doubting, could you please leave now; this next part is only for those who have total faith”. Thank God for God, because He understands that just as we are a work in progress, so is our faith.
The question is, what do you do with doubt? First off, don’t be afraid of it. If you don’t allow doubt in your life, or if you disqualify something because you have doubt, then you’ll never break through into faith. Secondly, get your gym clothes on and go into a wrestling match. Grapple with your questions, seek wise counsel, study, explore, be open, and most importantly with issues of faith, go to God. Why not, it’s God who has the answers so take your questions directly to Him.
Doubt can certainly be, and often is, the impetus for newfound faith; everyone has it, just not everyone admits it. So, go to God and remember that He’s not disappointed with you because you have doubts but rather He anticipates aiding you in your wrestling match. Love God. Live aloha.
The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’i’s of Koloa
The Baha’i Faith has no formal clergy or individual leaders
All the great divine luminaries faced a doubting humanity. Personal investigation of truth helps move us from doubt to certainty. By investigating the truth, by examining the “behavior” of the luminaries, one can find “the nest of faith and certainty.”
An early leader in the Baha’i Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, said, “Some souls were lovers of the name Abraham, loving the lantern instead of the light, and when they saw this same light shining from another lantern, they were so attached to the former lantern that they did not recognize its later appearance and illumination . . . If we are lovers of the light, we adore it in whatever lamp it may become manifest, but if we love the lamp itself and the light is transferred to another lamp, we will neither accept nor sanction it. Therefore, we must follow and adore the virtues revealed in the messengers of God …”
Baha’u’llah calls to us: “O fleeting shadow. Pass beyond the baser stages of doubt and rise to the exalted heights of certainty. Open the eye of truth, that thou mayest behold the veilless beauty and exclaim: Hallowed be the Lord, the most excellent of all creators.”
Next week’s question:
• Will you speak to us on justice?
• Spiritual leaders are invited to e-mail responses of three to five paragraphs to pwoolway@kauaipubco.com.
• Deadline each week is Tuesday, by 5 p.m.