Items related to Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking The Idol Of Certainty

Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking The Idol Of Certainty - Softcover

Boyd, Gregory A.

 
9780801014925: Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking The Idol Of Certainty
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0801014921 ISBN 13: 9780801014925
Publisher: Baker Books, 2013

Synopsis

Bestselling author counters the unbiblical notion that faith means lack of doubt, offering practical ways to live as disciples in a world of uncertainty.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Gregory A. Boyd (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the senior pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the founder of ReKnew. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Letters from a Skeptic, Is God to Blame?, Repenting of Religion, and Across the Spectrum.

From the Back Cover

Let your questions lead you to a stronger faith

Have you ever struggled with doubts about your faith? Has the Bible sometimes felt like a shaky foundation? Are you afraid to talk about it for fear of judgment from those who seem to have it all figured out?

Gregory Boyd knows how you feel. For him, faith has been anything but certain. In Benefit of the Doubt, he invites you to embrace a faith that doesn't strive for certainty but rather for commitment to Christ in the midst of uncertainty. Join him as he shares with poignant honesty his own inspirational journey, offering reassurance that you can experience a life-transforming relationship with Christ, even with unresolved questions about the Bible, theology, and ethics.

"Even when certainty is inaccessible, commitment remains an option. Greg Boyd is incapable of uninteresting thoughts. And this book is not merely thoughtful; it will be a tremendous help to doubters (and non-doubters) everywhere."--John Ortberg, author of Who Is This Man?; pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

"Boyd has gotten used to exploring new territory, and in this book he dives into the issue of doubt and certainty--and recovers the lost treasure of Christlike humility and childlike wonder. Enjoy."--Shane Claiborne, author, activist, and lover of Jesus; www.thesimpleway.org

"Benefit of the Doubt is a deeply personal yet profoundly theological look at the important role of doubt in the Christian faith. Prepare to feel a little less crazy, a little less alone, and a lot more challenged to take the risk of following Jesus with your head and heart engaged. Boyd is the best sort of company for the journey."--Rachel Held Evans, blogger at www.rachelheldevans.com; author of Evolving in Monkey Town and A Year of Biblical Womanhood

"If you're a Christian who wrestles with doubt or you know someone who does, Benefit of the Doubt is one of the best books ever written on the subject."--Frank Viola, author of God's Favorite Place on Earth; www.frankviola.org

Gregory A. Boyd (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the senior pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the founder of ReKnew. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Letters from a Skeptic, Is God to Blame?, Repenting of Religion, and Across the Spectrum.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

BENEFIT of the DOUBT

BREAKING the IDOL of CERTAINTY

By Gregory A. Boyd

Baker Books

Copyright © 2013 Gregory A. Boyd
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8010-1492-5

Contents

Abbreviations..............................................................9
Introduction...............................................................11
Part 1 False Faith.........................................................
1. Embracing the Pain......................................................23
2. Hooked on a Feeling.....................................................33
3. The Idol of Certainty...................................................54
Part 2 True Faith..........................................................
4. Wrestling with God......................................................75
5. Screaming at the Sky....................................................91
6. From Legal Deals to Binding Love........................................112
7. Embodied Faith..........................................................128
Part 3 Exercising Faith....................................................
8. A Solid Center..........................................................155
9. The Center of Scripture.................................................174
10. Substantial Hope.......................................................194
11. Stumbling on the Promises of God.......................................218
12. The Promise of the Cross...............................................231
Concluding Word: How I Live by Faith.......................................253
Acknowledgments............................................................259
Notes......................................................................261


CHAPTER 1

Embracing the Pain


Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twinbrother.

—Khalil Gibran

Be merciful to those who doubt.

—Jude 22


Certainty-Seeking Faith

Jacobson-Sized Faith

In the Pentecostal church I served while in seminary, Sunday nightservices always included a time for testimonies. No one was moreconsistent in sharing than an eighty-some-year-old saint I'll refer toas "Brother Jacobson" (everyone was referred to as "brother" and"sister" in this church). The trouble was that Brother Jacobsonalmost always gave a version of the same testimony. Standing withhis Bible raised in his right hand, he'd typically begin by sayingsomething like, "I've walked with my Lord for over eighty years, andI thank God that, by his grace, my faith in God's Word has never forone moment wavered, never!" "Amen!" the church would respond,though I never knew if this meant that their faith also had never wavered,or if it rather meant something like, "Yes, Brother, we've heardthat before."

Either way, this church often talked about how strong Brother Jacobson'sfaith was. Every now and then I'd hear someone encouragingsomebody by saying something like, "You need a Jacobson-sizedfaith!" The assumption of this church—and I've found it's sharedby most Christians—is that the more psychologically certain youare, the stronger your faith is. In this conception of faith, therefore,doubt is an enemy.

Despite its popularity, and despite the fact that there are a dozenor so verses that can be marshaled in its support (the most importantof which I'll address in chap. 10), this is the conception of faith I willbe arguing against in this book. It's not just that I think this modelof faith is mistaken. As will become clear over the next two chapters,I believe this model is gravely mistaken inasmuch as it can havenegative consequences in the lives of believers and for the kingdommovement as a whole.


How Much Faith Is "Enough"?

Not too long ago a middle-aged lady who looked rather distressedapproached me after a church service. She explained to me that, whileshe sincerely tried to believe in the Bible, she struggled with some ofits stories. With a worried tone in her voice, she asked, "Why on earthwould God include in his Holy Word a story about a poor young girlgetting gang-raped, murdered, and dismembered?" She was referringto a story in Judges 19, and it is indeed a truly horrible account. "It'snot exactly the kind of story you'd want to read in children's church,is it?" I replied. "And pastor," she continued,

I have a degree in ancient literature, and if I'm honest with myself, Ijust can't deny that some Bible stories sound like folklore, not history.Like the one about Lot's wife turning to a pillar of salt, just becauseshe was curious! Would God really do such a thing? Do we have tobelieve these stories are all literal?

I thought she wanted me to respond, but before I could open mymouth she jumped back in.

And the stories of Samson getting strong when his hair grew long,killing a lion with his bare hands, slaying one thousand Philistineswith the jawbone of an ass, and sending two hundred foxes into somefields with their tails tied together around a torch? Come on! I'm sorry,pastor, but I just can't keep myself from doubting stories like this. IfGod knows I'm sincerely trying to believe, do you think that is enoughfor me to still be saved?


My heart went out to this dear woman. I reassured her that Godknows her heart and that she needn't worry about her salvation. Andas it concerns her questions about various Bible stories, I shared withher some of the things I'll be sharing with you later on in this book(especially chap. 9). My reason for mentioning her now, however, isbecause she illustrates the conception of faith I'm going to be talkingabout. Her question was basically about whether she had enough faithto be "saved." For her, this was really a question of whether her levelof certainty was adequate to be saved.

As I suspect is true of most pastors, I get questions along theselines quite often.

• Do my doubts disqualify me from "salvation"?

• If I'm fairly sure that Jesus is the Son of God—but not 100 percentcertain—am I still "saved"?

• Are my doubts about God's willingness to heal my child thereason she is not healed?

• How much faith do I need to get God to change the heart ofmy husband?

• I struggle with the idea that God really cares about my familyand me. Do you think this is why I can't find a job?


Questions such as these are predicated on the assumption that one'sfaith is as strong as it is certain. And they each assume that, whetherwe're talking about salvation, getting healed, or keeping a job, themore certain we are, the more God will be involved in our lives.


Slamming for the Certainty Bell

If you've ever gone to a carnival or fair, I'm sure you've seen thatgame where people test their strength by trying to ring a bell at thetop of a pole with a metal puck by striking a lever with a mallet ashard as they can. It's sometimes called the "Strength Tester." I believeit provides a fair analogy of what goes on inside people's heads whenthey assume that their faith is as strong as they are psychologicallycertain.

Think about it. If the strength of your faith is measured by theintensity of your psychological certainty, then the way to increaseyour faith is to try to push doubt aside in order to make yourselfcertain. And in this sense, exercising faith is something like a psychologicalversion of the Strength Tester game. You are, in essence,trying to hit a faith mallet as hard as you can in order to send thefaith puck up the faith pole to get as close to the certainty bell asyou possibly can.

In this certainty-seeking model, when Jesus said, "according toyour faith let it be done to you" (Matt. 9:29), he was saying, "the morecertain you are that God will do things, the more you'll see God dothose things." So too, when the man said to Jesus, "I do believe; helpme overcome my unbelief" (Mark 9:24), within this paradigm, theman was asking, "Lord, I can only hit the faith puck a little way upthe faith pole, but please help me to ring the certainty bell."

Along the same lines, when Jesus praised the centurion for having"great faith" (Matt. 8:10), the certainty-seeking model would have usunderstand that Jesus was praising his psychological certainty thatJesus could and would do what he needed him to do. By contrast,when Jesus reprimanded his disciples for having "little faith" (Matt.14:31), he was, according to this model, expressing his anger thatthey wavered in their certainty about what he could and would do.


The Level of Required Certainty

With this interpretation of these verses, it's no wonder pastorsregularly get the sort of questions I mentioned above. Related to this,it's also no wonder that Christians often instinctively rank things interms of how much faith they will require. It's like this lady who spokewith me recently about her troubled marriage. In the course of sharingher problems, she mentioned that she was a heavy smoker whowanted to quit. But, she said, "I'm afraid I don't have nearly enoughfaith for that one yet." Quitting smoking would require a greateract of faith than healing her marriage, she assumed, and this meantshe would need a Jacobson-sized faith, which she was convinced shelacked. (Truth be told, once this lady told me about the full extent ofher marital problems, it seemed to me her ranking system was upsidedown—assuming faith worked that way.)

The closer to the certainty bell you send your faith puck, the prevailingassumption goes, the greater the blessing you'll receive fromGod. I suspect most Christians would agree that you only need aminimally acceptable level of faith to be "saved." We might say thatto get "saved," you only need enough psychological certainty to getthe faith puck 25 percent of the way up the faith pole. If you're able tomuster up more certainty and slam the faith puck (say) 50 percent ofthe way up the faith pole, then we might say you've entered the "basicblessing" zone. Here God may grant you success in your relationshipsor finances, and you may experience small supernatural interventionslike having a headache or toothache disappear or gaining the strengthto quit smoking.

If you are able to push doubts away further, however, therebymustering up the psychological certainty to get the faith puck (say)three-quarters of the way toward the certainty bell, well, then you'veentered what we might call the "super-blessed" zone. God will nowanswer your prayers in rather spectacular ways, and you just mightexperience more impressive, Jesus-type miracles. But if anyone is everable to vanquish all doubt, become completely certain, and therebyactually ring the certainty bell with that faith puck, then they presumablycould have "whatever they ask for," which is how peoplewho hold to this certainty-seeking understanding of faith interpretpassages such as Matthew 21:22: "If you believe, you will receivewhatever you ask for in prayer."

The fact that we still don't have peace in the Middle East can onlymean that either no one has yet rung that bell or, if they have, theywere too self-centered to think about this ongoing atrocious conflictand chose instead to acquire a Mercedes for themselves.

In the next chapter I'm going to offer eight arguments as to why Ibelieve certainty-seeking faith is misguided, unhealthy, and dangerous. Iwill follow this in chapter 3 with a discussion of the ninth, and the mostserious, objection to this model, for I'll contend that this conceptionof faith tends to make an idol out of certainty. And then, throughoutthe three chapters that comprise part 2 of this work, I'll argue thatthis psychological conception of faith contrasts with the covenantalconcept of faith found in Scripture. In part 3 we'll flesh out some morepractical and helpful ways of thinking about and living out our faith.

Before we turn to this, however, I'd like to say something aboutone of the most common and powerful motivators for this popularconception of faith. It is, in a word, the desire to avoid the pain ofcognitive dissonance. To get at this, I'd like to share a little bit of thestory of how I found, and lost, my faith.


From Blissful Certainty to Excruciating Doubt

A Lost Certainty and Purpose

As I mentioned in the introduction, I came to Christ at the age ofseventeen after having spent several years in the "drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll"culture of the early '70s. While I had a lot of fun, I also felta painful emptiness that intensified over the two years leading up tomy conversion. Despite the fact that the Pentecostal church in whichI met Christ was legalistic to the extreme and theologically aberrantin a number of ways, my encounter with Jesus was undeniably realand powerfully life changing. Words can't describe how good it feltto have the gnawing ache of emptiness in my soul replaced with asense of joy and purpose.

For a little more than a year I enjoyed the bliss of feeling absolutelycertain my newfound faith was true. I felt like I knew what life wasabout, was sure about where I was going when I died (or when I was"raptured"), and had a strong sense of mission and purpose to motivateme to live passionately in the meantime.

Then I enrolled in the University of Minnesota.

Perhaps it was because I felt I had a duty to save people, or maybeit was to impress my atheistic father, whom I'd been debating sincemy conversion (he couldn't believe his own son had become one ofthose "born-again nitwits"), but for whatever reason, I decided tojump-start my university career by taking a summer school coursetitled Introduction to Evolutionary Biology. I didn't tell any of myChristian friends about my decision because I knew they'd try to talkme out of it. (They'd already tried to talk me out of going to a secularuniversity in the first place.)

As you probably could guess, the Pentecostal church I was saved inbelieved in "young-earth creationism," which means they interpretedGenesis 1 literally and held that the earth was less than ten thousandyears old. In fact, I recall our pastor teaching that, if Genesis 1 wasn'tliterally true, then "the whole Bible is a book of lies!" So, as far as Iwas concerned, my entire faith was leveraged on my ability to survivethis class with my faith in young-earth creationism intact. To preparemyself, and with rather megalomaniacal dreams of converting theentire class, I read three whole books (yes, three!) defending creationismand refuting evolution. I'd never before read so much on a singlesubject. I felt like a bona fide expert.

Things didn't go quite as I had planned. From the start I tookevery opportunity to interrupt the lecture, raise objections, and offercounterinterpretations. The professor, who was always very graciousand seemed to welcome my enthusiastic pushbacks, would gentlyproceed to show how my objections and counterinterpretations weremisinformed and/or wildly implausible. This clearly was not his firstrun-in with a young-earth creationist. When the class would chuckleafter I'd been once again silenced, the professor would quickly cometo my defense and praise my willingness to question things. It almostbothered me that this pagan opponent of Christ (so I viewed him)was so nice to me, even as he diced me up!

I'd come home discouraged after each class and would spend theremainder of the day poring over the notes I'd taken from my threebooks, trying to find better lines of attack. After this arsenal wasdepleted, I went to several libraries and Christian bookstores to findbetter material, once even gaining some hope from a book I found(called Fish to Gish, by Duane Gish) that anticipated one of the professor'scounterpoints. But without fail, the patient professor managedto gently expose the weakness of my objections.

By the time we had reached the midterm, I had begun to doubtmy one-year-old faith.

The pain of the cognitive dissonance this doubt created in me waslike nothing I'd ever experienced before. I wanted so desperately tobelieve my experience with Christ wasn't an illusion and my senseof purpose a false dream. I desperately wanted to reexperience thatdelightful feeling of certainty I'd enjoyed throughout the previous year.

I eventually shared my pain with some of my Pentecostal friendswho, after chastising me for "playing the devil's poker" by taking thisclass, would tell me that my doubt was from Satan and that I neededto let it go and "just believe." I so badly wanted to return to the joyof feeling certain that I actually tried this several times, but it franklyfelt artificial. For a while I even tried to rationalize suppressing doubtby appealing to (and, I now see, grossly misapplying) an idea I'dgotten from Søren Kierkegaard, whom I'd been reading and whomI'd come to deeply respect. In several books he talks about faith asa "leap" that involves passionately grabbing hold of something thatis absurd to our reason—namely, the incarnation and crucifixion. Irecall thinking to myself that, if taking an absurd leap of faith wasgood enough for a guy as smart as Kierkegaard, it should be goodenough for me.

It didn't work. My brain would not let me forget the troublingquestions evolution posed.

By the end of the summer school course on evolution, I was atormented young man who was being slowly ripped in two, with mylonging for faith and the evidence for evolution pulling me in oppositedirections. Within another half semester—one that included acourse that examined the Bible from a historical-critical perspective—Iconcluded my fight was hopeless. The obstacles to my faith were tooformidable, and I could not, for the life of me, find an intelligent andinformed Christian to help me work through them. I finally concludedthat evolution was true and that the Bible was no different from otherancient works. As real as my experience with Christ had seemed, Iconcluded that it must have been some sort of strange psychologicalphenomenon I didn't yet understand. And this, in turn, meant thatthe joyful sense of purpose I had experienced for a year was nothingmore than an illusory oasis in the desert of a meaningless world.

I returned to the atheism I'd embraced in the four years leadingup to my conversion. My father was overjoyed. But I had just enteredwhat proved to be the most depressing year of my life.


(Continues...)
Excerpted from BENEFIT of the DOUBT by Gregory A. Boyd. Copyright © 2013 Gregory A. Boyd. Excerpted by permission of Baker Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Baker Books
Publication date
2013
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0801014921
ISBN 13 
9780801014925
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
272