Faith; Destroyer Of Doubt

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cert.jpg

This is a cartoon by a guy writes a website called ASBO Jesus. Some of cartoons are spot on and hard to fault, some are not so much. This cartoon comes to my attention in part because Marko (chief head person of Youth Specialities no less) links to it, and in part because having doubts is a hip idea at the minute, but mostly because on the surface at least it seems completely and utterly wrong. After all, is the faith that certainty tries to kill the same one mentioned in Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen"?

Here are some thoughts on the matter.

  • The certainty that this cartoon is trying to rail against is probably the cocky "I know I"m right all the type faith". I'm not sure that exists as much as people make out.
  • What are we meant to be certain about?
  • Trying to say "hey uncertainty is good" is stupid generally. There are some things we don't know (more on that in a moment) and rightly so, and we are uncertain all the time, but to say that uncertainty helps faith growth, or even is the grounds for faith, is silly.
  • I am not as certain about stuff as I should be.
  • I think this attitude probably comes around from seeing faith as something we do, not a gift. If faith in God is a gift that is given to us from God, we're insulting God's gift when we say "I'm uncertain and I'm valuing that".

On the whole "what are the limits to our certainty?" question, I have nothing wise to say other than to quote (a slightly paraphrased) John Owen.

Herein [he is talking about Jesus' emptying of Himself to come down to earth], then, I say, we may by faith behold the glory of Christ, as we shall do it by sight hereafter. If we see no glory in it, if we do not understand that this is a matter of eternal admiration, we walk in darkness. It is the most ineffable effect of divine wisdom and grace. Where are our hearts and minds, if we can see no glory in it? I know in the contemplation of it, it will quickly overwhelm our reason, and bring our understanding into a loss: but unto this loss do I desire to be brought every day; for when faith can no more act itself in comprehension, when it finds the object it is fixed on too great and glorious to be brought into our minds and capacities, it will issue (as we said before) in holy admiration, humble adoration, and joyful thanksgiving. In and by its acting in them does it fill the soul with "joy unspeakable, and full of glory.
John Owen - The Glory Of Christ in His Office and Grace

There are 3 expressions of opinion about what was written.
Mark wrote this at 00:01, Wed, 04/06/08, Link
Filed in
It is tagged by with these tags: asbojesus, blockquote, cartoon, criticism, faith, hebrews, image, john owen, list, theology, thoughts, uncertainty

Your Comments

Eponymous

Think you're spot on with this. In fact in Holiness by J C Ryle, there's a whole chapter on Assurance which is all based on the fact that we can have certainty. He has about 4 pages of quotes from Puritans/ reformers to support this, and my favourite is from Samuel Rutherford:

"Our hope is not hung upon such an untwisted thread as "I imagine so" or "it is likely"; but the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of him who is eternal verity. Our salvation is fastened with God's own hand, and Christ's own strength, to the strong stake of God's unchangable nature"

Surely that kind of certainty is the root of faith.

Written by Eponymous at 08:53, Fri, 06/06/08

random passerby

Sorry to stick my oar in uninvited, but... i think this is important so please humour me...

Eponymous, i disagree - that's the kind of certainty that is (or at least may be) the result of faith. You need to already have the faith - the belief in God, the belief the Bible has some kind of authority - in order to have certainty.

The root of faith, on the other hand, is evidence for and experience of the reality of God.

I don't think an expectation or requirement for certainty is a good environment to grow or nurture faith, especially in young people... often these kind of demands can indeed destroy a person's baby faith, or a person's faith that has been weakened by struggle or doubts, because it puts heavy burdens on that faith to be more than it can presently be, and shuts down the growing process whereby doubts and hopes and fears can be expressed and addressed.

"faith a small as a mustard seed"...

..."Lord i believe, help me in my unbelief"

i'll check back here - let me know what you think.

Written by random passerby at 14:06, Sun, 08/06/08

Mark

I'm not sure there is too much disagreement here:

Faith is grounded in God, not in ourselves, that we can agree on I think. So when we doubt we shouldn't think "I am sure I'm right?" but "I am sure God has me safe". I think that the above random passerby has something right when they say that it's a hard thing to say to young christians "yes, you must be certain" at least, it's hard unless we say it to them as something to aim for like "be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect".

Surely the expectation is to grow in the certainty of Christ, as opposed to what is sometimes presented and what I was slating above, this idea that almost we grow in doubt of Christ.

Written by Mark at 17:30, Sun, 08/06/08

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