Evidence-Based Faith – Ben Hyrne

Did you know that John the Baptist had doubts about Jesus?  I know it seems unlikely.  But it's true.  Read how Luke describes this low point in the prophet's life: 

John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.  And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 

Luke 7:19-23 (ESV)

John was in prison (cf. Lu. 3:29-19), so his unfavorable circumstances likely had something to do with his wavering faith.  But what I like about this passage is that it shows us that even heroes of the faith can have their doubts.  When we look back on history, we often paint such figures as John the Baptist as being larger than life.  But, in reality, they were people too.  They were just like us.  They have their bad days.  And when they were at their lowest point, they, like us, wondered if the things they thought about God were true. 

But this should not discourage us.  If you're a skeptic, you should realize you're in good company when you read the Scriptures.  The Bible is full of people who were skeptical, inquisitive, and suspicious.  You see, it's not wrong to have doubts.  It's not wrong to ask questions.  These are good things.  Read the gospels.  Every time Jesus got done teaching, the disciples were bursting with questions. 

Sadly, Christianity is mischaracterized as a belief system that isn't based on facts, that it's all about blind faith.  But anyone with the patience to engage in a good-faith argument will realize this isn't true.  Say what you will about Christianity, but you cannot deny that its adherents have an evidence-based faith.  Critics may take issue with the proofs that Christians point to—i.e., the Bible, creation, reason, mathematics, chemistry, etc.—but only a fool would propose that Christianity has no factual basis.

In fact, as we saw in our passage, Christianity has a long history of honest skeptics and explorers looking for truth.  Rather than keep his doubts to himself, John the Baptist went to the source of his doubt (Jesus) and asked some hard questions.  Though he saw, with his own two eyes, the Holy Spirit descend like a dove and rest on Jesus (cf. Lu. 3:22) and though he heard, with his own two ears, God’s voice from heaven say, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17), the Baptizer still had his doubts.  But this did not discourage him, far from it.  His doubts prompted him to look closer, get more answers, and find out if what he once thought was still valid.

Likewise, we, too, ought to be asking hard questions of God.  He can handle it.  He knows the answers.  But we often turn our backs on God without ever really engaging Him. Maybe we're scared that He won't answer back.  Or, perhaps we're afraid that he actually will.  Maybe we're scared of the sort of answers He'll give us.  Whatever keeps you from asking the hard questions, do yourself a favor, and ask anyways.

John asked Jesus if he was "the One," which is another way of asking, "Are you the Messiah?" In response, Jesus performs many miracles in front of John's disciples and then commands them to go back and tell John what they saw.  The same way John's questions were answered is the same way our doubt can be answered: believing the testimony of Jesus.  John did not see Jesus' ministry firsthand.  He got his news from his disciples.  The only question is, would he believe the testimony? 

Like John, we aren’t capable of actually seeing Jesus.  But like John, we have firsthand testimony written down for us so that we might discover the truth for ourselves: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  The question is, will you believe the testimony of Scripture?