Thomas’ reaction to the report of Jesus’ resurrection seems so very modern. Like Thomas, we too want empirical evidence, verification from our own first-hand observation.
Human beings today so often want a scientific explanation for anything that seems miraculous. But when we talk about doubt in regard to Christian faith, we often make the mistake of confusing doubt and mystery. One can have doubts about whether God in the presence of Moses on Mount Sinai actually inscribed stone tablets with 10 commands. But one can accept as mystery that God did somehow bestow humankind with principles that have become the gold standard for moral living.
Writer Lauren Winner comes from a Jewish and now Anglican background. She confesses, “Some days I am not sure if my faith is riddled with doubt, or whether, graciously, my doubt is riddled with faith…I doubt; I am uncertain; I am restless, prone to wander. And yet glimmers of the holy keep interrupting my gaze” (Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, HarperOne, 2012).
This message is excerpted from the Bible study “Inspired by the risen Lord” by Carol Schersten LaHurd in the April 2015 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Thomas, apostle.
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