{"id":650674,"date":"2013-06-05T15:24:02","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T15:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/andygill\/?p=650674"},"modified":"2013-06-05T15:24:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T15:24:02","slug":"faith-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/andygill\/faith-doubt\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith & Doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Today\u2019s post is written by\u00a0Andrew Steven<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you would have asked any doctor before 2007 what your appendix does, they would respond with, nothing. It serves no purpose. A remnant of the past. Perhaps an evolutionary glitch. That\u2019s one of the reasons we are quick to remove them when they become infected. But in 2007, a team of scientists from Duke University discovered a fundamentally new idea about how the appendix works<\/a>. Our appendices, as it turns out, are basically store houses for beneficial bacteria that help us \u201creboot\u201d when other good bacteria dies off.<\/p>\n

Before 2007, most doctors would swear with absolute certainty that your appendix is useless.\u00a0Today, with that same certainty, they\u2019ll tell you how beneficial it is.<\/p>\n

Growing up in a faith community can feel similar. Religion can become a place where honest curiosity and confusion are not permitted. I\u2019ve heard many stories of people experiencing real doubt and questions, only to be told by their pastors to stop thinking so much, to fall into place, and to keep quiet. Perhaps their pastor\u2019s intentions were in the right place, but those actions have consequences.<\/p>\n

My parents raised me as a Christian and took me to church regularly. It was not only an integral part of my weekly schedule, it was a major part of my identity. And like many who were raised similar, I understood the Bible to be a literal, infallible, perfect word of God. Because of this, I still remember when someone told me to find a specific passage in the Bible. They asked me to turn to Matthew 17:21. It wasn\u2019t there. It should have been. Matthew 17:20 and 17:22 were there. Only the footnotes offered a poor explanation, Some manuscripts include\u2026 <\/i>and then the verse. <\/i>Even today, searching for \u201cMatthew 17:21\u201d on the world\u2019s most popular online Bible, returns with, \u201cWe\u2019re sorry, the page you\u2019re looking for can\u2019t be found.<\/a>\u201d <\/i>I then learned there were even more passages omitted from the Bible.<\/p>\n

Discovering that my Bible seemed to be edited, censored, and fixed, changed the way I read it. I felt like a Duke scientist, suddenly realizing that much of what we thought to be true was actually not. I felt confused. I felt tricked. I felt lied to. And because much of my identity was wrapped up in being a \u201cchristian,\u201d I began to question who I was.<\/p>\n

There are many reasons scholars and pastors give for why certain verses are omitted from the Bible, most of which make a lot of sense. I still love the Bible and believe it to be a inerrant, integral part of my faith. But I also believe that doubt plays an important part as well. Faith and doubt are not two sides of the same scale. More doubt does not equal less faith.<\/strong> Or as Rob Bell says in his new book<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many people in our world, the opposite of faith is doubt. The goal, then, within this understanding, is to eliminate doubt. But faith and doubt aren\u2019t opposites. Doubt is often a sign that your faith has a pulse, that it\u2019s alive and well and exploring and searching. Faith and doubt aren\u2019t opposites, they are, it turns out, excellent dance partners.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a child, when I had doubt, I was taught to hide it. To forget it. To try and will it away. It\u2019s this dangerous practice that infects religion and promotes quitting Christianity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When people meet Jesus, their lives change. When people meet religion, their routines change<\/strong>. Most of us change our routines in hope that our lives will also change and we\u2019re surprised when we find ourselves back to where we were before, with little difference in our lives, having replaced relationship with legislation,\u00a0and conversation with silence.<\/p>\n

The debate is holy.<\/p>\n

The struggle is divine.<\/p>\n

Faith is a conversation.<\/p>\n

Following Jesus is a dance.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s post is written by\u00a0Andrew Steven. If you would have asked any doctor before 2007 what your appendix does, they would respond with, nothing. It serves no purpose. A remnant of the past. Perhaps an evolutionary glitch. That\u2019s one of the reasons we are quick to remove them when they become infected. But in 2007, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2495,"featured_media":650675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,11],"tags":[57,10,23,73],"class_list":["post-650674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-guest-post","tag-doubt","tag-faith","tag-jesus","tag-religion"],"yoast_head":"\nFaith & Doubt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today's post is written by\u00a0Andrew Steven. 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