Blind Faith: What About Thomas?
October 13, 2006
In a recent post, I mentioned that I sometimes hear nonbelievers explain their aversion to Christianity along the following lines:
I never could be a Christian. I just can’t believe anything based on ‘blind faith.’ . . . There may be evidence [supporting Christian belief], but Christians aren’t allowed to examine and weigh it. Righteousness requires that they believe without question or challenge. I know, because this is what I was taught as a child, when my parents dragged me to church.
(An example of this line of reasoning just so happens to appear today in a post called Hans Zeiger’s Scientific Ignorance: Christian “beliefs are tucked safely behind all sorts of protective mechanisms, particularly the notion that one must have faith that they are true no matter what the evidence says because anyone who doubts them is being influenced by Satan (I’ve been told this directly on many occasions by those who believe such things).”).
If the conversation encompasses Biblical passages, Exhibit A for the nonbeliever typically is Doubting Thomas, from John 20:24-29:
Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Until this past Sunday, I understood the plain meaning of that last line to support the nonbeliever’s argument. It seemed to suggest that “those who have not seen and yet have believed” indeed are more righteous or pure than those, like Thomas, who believed because they have seen. I recently heard a completely different, and eye-opening, interpretation of this passage delivered by Paul Walker, Director of Anglican College Ministry at the University of Virginia and the guest speaker at our church’s annual retreat.
Reverend Walker asked us to take a closer look at the text. Thomas was not present the first time that the risen Lord appeared to the other disciples as a group. While they make a spirited claim to have seen Christ, Thomas is unmoved and unconvinced. He wants to be sure for himself, and that won’t happen unless he sees and touches the nail marks and puts his hand inside the wound in his master’s side.
A week later, Jesus reappears. How does he treat Thomas? Does he reprimand Thomas for being absent on his prior visit? Does he scold Thomas for his unbelief? Does Jesus say, “Satan, get thou treacherous doubts behind me!” No, the King of kings and Lord of lords does nothing of the sort. Instead, he humbles himself before Thomas, submitting his body to the precise examination that Thomas demanded. Jesus tells Thomas, in essence, “Have at it.” “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.”
Through this encounter, Jesus reminds us that he can handle any doubt, any question, any anxiety we can imagine. He reassures us that our doubting, struggling and lacking all of the answers is evidence of our humanity. Like Thomas, we are free to question, and we will be met with love and compassion when we do.
In this revealing treatment of the passage, Reverend Walker did not return to the closing verse where Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” I don’t know why, and I don’t know how he would explain it. I can share with you, though, how my understanding of this verse has changed. Before, I understood Jesus to be saying, “the less evidence a person requires for belief, the greater the blessing they will receive.” But taking into account the context of the situation, I now believe that Jesus was saying, “those who believe without seeing have already been blessed with special faith.”
This may be the correct interpretation of Jesus’ words; it may not. What is clear to me now, though, is that the story of Doubting Thomas is poor evidence for the claim that Christians are called to believe without doubt and in spite of the evidence.
