Groups Discussion Guide
Read Scripture. Go Deeper. Ask Questions. Take Action.
Doubt Your Doubts
Scripture
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship —and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
Main Idea
In an age that prizes reason, Christianity makes more sense than skeptics assume, because both belief and doubt rest on reasons and faith. Skepticism is never a neutral starting point, since every doubt stands on some other belief underneath it. When Paul reasons with the thinkers of Athens, he shows us two truths worth writing down:
- Faith Begins Where Certainty Ends: you need faith precisely for what you cannot prove, so acknowledging the limits of certainty is where faith starts.
- Every Doubt Is Built On A Belief: you cannot doubt one thing without believing something else, so a consistent skeptic doubts his doubts too.
- Your Facts Can Be Right While Your Conclusion Is Wrong: the Athenians knew dead people stay dead, yet they still missed the resurrection of the God who authors life.
Faith begins when you start doubting your doubts.
Discussion Questions
- Pastor Justin said, "faith begins where certainty ends." Where in your life are you waiting for certainty before you take a step of faith?
- In Athens, Paul points to the altar "to an unknown God" as proof they admitted there was something they didn't know. Where do you tend to make an idol out of what you don't understand?
- The Athenians knew dead people stay dead, so they could not accept the resurrection. Their facts were right but their conclusion was wrong. Where might your facts be true while your conclusion about God is false?
- What would it look like this week to bring an honest doubt to God, and also to question the assumption sitting underneath it?
Summary
The series argues that Christianity holds up in an age that values reason, because the honest picture is that Christians and skeptics both live by reasons and faith. Faith is not the same as certainty. You need faith exactly for what remains uncertain, so faith begins where certainty ends. Doubt does not cancel faith either, as the father in Mark 9 shows when he prays, "I believe, help my unbelief." Every doubt is built on a belief, so a consistent skeptic should be skeptical of his own skepticism and question the assumptions underneath his questions.
When Paul reasons with the thinkers of Athens, they follow him until he reaches the resurrection, and then some sneer. They knew dead people stay dead, and that fact was true. Their conclusion that no resurrection could happen was still wrong, because the God who authored life can raise the dead. Many of us do the same thing. We turn the limits of our knowledge into conclusions about reality, deciding God must not be good or must not be real because we cannot see it. If you are waiting for every doubt to vanish before you believe, you will wait a long time. Faith begins when you start doubting your doubts, so bring your questions to God and keep moving toward Him.
