Believe Your Beliefs; Doubt Your Doubts

Via YouTube I watched a debate of a Christian with an atheist. The atheist was brilliant. Perhaps, the most brilliant atheist ever to debate. In his closing statement he said something that has haunted me ever since I listened to it. Part of the reason it so disturbs me is that the atheist was dying at the time. He knew it. Any could see it. It showed in the countenance of his face and the loss of hair from treatment. What he said, as I recall it, was, “Some like me are not constituted to believe. I cannot believe.” Hearing that, I felt a tremendous sadness. It seems to me that if the predestinationists, secular or Christian, are correct, then his statement is very well accurate. He is just one of those who were not meant to believe. Sad, but, that’s just the way things must be. The secularists would use the atheist’s word, “constituted,” and the predestinationist Christians would use “created,” or “destined.” However, something Jesus said stands all that on its head. Twice Jesus told people, “You WILL not believe.” Jesus never said that they COULD not believe, were not CONSTITUTED to believe, or not DESTINED to believe. There is no hint at not being chosen or elected to believe; just, simply, WILL not believe. Some would argue that Jesus was saying “You WILL not believe” because as God He knew it was not ordained that they would be enabled to believe. I think not. The double negative construction implies that under no circumstances, by no means, would they believe. If it was meant that these should not believe, then why would Jesus rebuke them for simply doing what they were destined to do—refusing to believe. No, it appears that this reveals that belief is a choice, self-determined and self-expressed. That belief is a choice also seems illustrated and confirmed when people are commanded to repent or to believe. Paul told the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” That is an appeal to the will, an appeal to choice. Now, I am not just trying to haggle over a theological point. To me this is an encouraging note—that belief is a choice: Very often even Christians live in a miserable conundrum because they doubt their beliefs. Worse, they even believe their doubts. Instead of doubting our beliefs and believing our doubts, we could choose to believe our beliefs and doubt our doubts. By default from my fallenness I can doubt my beliefs. By choice I can doubt my doubts. I confess that God must enable my belief. I also am aware that Satan assists and encourages my doubts. But, to be held morally responsible for whether I believe, in the end belief must be my choice—and doubt too. The distressed father of the demon-possessed child implored Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.” This appeal can only be taken that the father was experiencing both belief and unbelief. He makes evident which he chooses by his appeal to Jesus to help his belief. He wanted to believe. He could have chosen his unbelief. You and I may be assailed by all kinds of doubts that arise from our flesh, our fallen minds, the world around us, the whisperings from the realm of darkness. We can choose to listen to, give credence to, and entertain those doubts—believe them. Or, we can doubt those doubts and believe our beliefs. Interestingly, when the atheist declared that he was not constituted to believe, he evidently had chosen to believe that. Accustomed to doubting things, he could have doubted that.

Believe Your Beliefs; Doubt Your Doubts

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