Acknowledging Doubt

Faith cannot block out darkness, or doubt.  When on the cross, Jesus did not cry out “Here I come!” but “My God, why have you forsaken me?”  His disciples brimmed with doubts and misgivings.
Just as courage is persisting in the face of fear, so faith is persisting in the presence of doubt.  Faith becomes then a commitment, a practice and a pact that is usually sustained by belief.  But doubt is not just a roiling, or a vulnerability;  it can also be a strength.  Doubt acknowledges our own limitations and confirms — or challenges — fundamental beliefs, and is not a detractor of belief but a crucial part of it.
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If we don’t accept both the commonality and importance of doubt, we don’t allow for the possibility of mistakes or misjudgments.  While certainty frequently calcifies into rigidity, intolerance and self-righteousness, doubt can deepen, clarify and explain.  This is, of course, a subject far broader than belief in God.
The philosopher Bertrand Russell put it best.  The whole problem with the world, he wrote, is that “the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”
Of that at least we can be certain.  I’m pretty sure, anyway.
—    Julia Baird
From her Op/Ed contribution to the New Your Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/opinion/julia-baird-doubt-as-a-sign-of-faith.html
[I originally found this quote at one of the blogs I follow:  http://davidkanigan.com/
The specific post is:  http://davidkanigan.com/2014/09/28/lets-hope-so/    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2013	Fulfilled Acceptance
2012	Error Is Tolerated Here (So Far)
2011	In Defense Of Pain

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