Actually, faith and doubt are not opposites. The true opposite of faith is not doubt, but unbelief. Doubt lies somewhere between faith and unbelief and having doubts does not invalidate your faith. Author and pastor Ben Young likens doubt to a patch of ice somewhere between the two shores of a frozen river: “Doubt is like the ice between the two banks. A grassy bank symbolizes belief, and a rocky bank symbolizes unbelief. Doubting is the place between belief and unbelief. Doubt is like ice. Ice is neutral. It can slide you closer to God or it can slide you farther away from him.”[1]
While expressing doubt as a Christian can sometimes feel like confessing a failure of belief, it is actually anything but. Doubt is an honest, seeking posture that says, “I believe, help my unbelief.”[2]
Instead of claiming 100% belief to gain healing for his son, the man answered with both hope and honest doubt. He was somewhere between the shores of belief and unbelief. Jesus responded to him by healing his son. Mark doesn’t explicitly say so, but in this case, doubt provided a means for faith to be exercised and strengthened.
To doubt is human. It is natural. It is a direct result of being who we are–finite creatures seeking to understand things beyond ourselves. It is inevitable that we will doubt…that we will question and wonder and be unsure.”[3]
Recognizing the difference between doubt and unbelief can release us from inappropriate fear or shame when we doubt, and even make stronger belief possible.
[1] Ben Young, Room for Doubt: How Uncertainty Can Deepen Your Faith, (David. C. Cook, 2017), 35.
[2] Mark 9:24
[3] Barnabas Piper, “Normal Doubt and the Nature of God,” www.barnabaspiper.com
“Somewhere along the line, the word “doubt” started to take on the baggage of “unbelief.” But they’re not the same thing! To doubt something means that you have some questions. Maybe you believe part of it and have questions about part of it. Unbelief is a state where you have decided that you don’t think something is true at all.”