Developing a Confident Faith

In my book “This Changes Everything” I begin Chapter One with a story of the country minister and the hearse. Check it out in the book- it creates quite a funny word picture! The “punch line” is, when people see life where theyʼre expecting death, there is a reaction! Exhibit A: Thomas. Exhibit A-1: me. Exhibit A-2: perhaps you?

Thomas has gotten a bad rap in the church. We call him “Doubting Thomas” and mock his lack of faith. But I, having grown up in a “show-me- the-evidence” family, respect Thomas for his honesty. Letʼs give the guy a break… he wasnʼt with the other disciples when Jesus first appeared to them in Easter. So when he said “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands… I will not believe.”, he was really saying, “I saw Him die. And I WANT to believe Heʼs alive, but I canʼt settle for a secondhand faith. I need to see Jesus alive to confirm my faith!” Thomas was saying he would follow Jesus if, and only if, he was convinced Jesus was alive.

For Thomas, and those of us like him, proof of the resurrection is essential. After all, who needs a dead Savior? Of course, John 20:27 confirms that Thomas did in fact see the risen Jesus. Thomas then knew that his faith in Christ was not in vain. That “Proof Faith” is what motivated all the disciples to travel the world, testifying that Jesus had risen from the grave.

However, a “different route to the same destination” is the story of the famed playwright George Bernard Shaw. In his play “Too True To Be Good”, one characterʼs lines parroted what many believe to be Shawʼs own view: “The science I pinned my faith to is bankrupt… and I who believed in it as no religious fanatic has ever believed in his superstition! For its sake I helped to destroy the faith of millions of (God) worshippers… And now look at me and behold the supreme tragedy of the atheist who has lost his faith in atheism, for which more martyrs have perished than for all the creeds put together.”

Shaw came to the same conclusion that Thomas did- the proof of the resurrection was too consistent, to compelling, too complete, to doubt any more. Stop doubting and believe.