Doubt that leads to fear

 Last week I talked about doubt. Among other things it is a source in our lives for the questioning of faith that we all need to have in our search for God's presence in our hearts. Just as with many things though doubt is two sided and last week I briefly spoke about the danger of self doubt. This week gives us the opportunity to look at the darker side of doubt and where that might lead. All of the Gospel stories of the resurrection contain elements of doubt that are handled in various ways. Last week, we heard John's story and this week it is the turn of Luke. In Luke's handling of doubt it is important to understand that Christ appears to criticise the presence of doubt in the disciples (Lk. 24:38b). Why, if we need doubt does Christ then criticise this feeling in the disciples?

Doubt if not allowed to move towards the positive need to query and investigate will descend into the festering hole of fear. Unless, hope is present as we quest for answers then the answers we seek will be obscured by our fear, which is enabled by doubt. Fear leads us towards the darker recesses of our humanness and encourages us to create our own answers that lead to depravity and a denial of our neighbours. It is our fear that drives the divide between those who our different as we fear that the difference may overwhelm us and make us also different. Science fiction, just like any other genre of fictive writing, can nudge our understanding of this phenomena if we allow it. In a series, by  author Michael Anderle, a very different world to our present one is described. However, what is clear in this particular series is the exaggeration that comes with fear of the other and how humanity can be driven clearly away from the love of neighbour. The fear that is present is driven by doubt and is clearly exploited by the books antagonists to rule over the population. In some respects these last few years have also shown how easy it is to manipulate a populace using the tools of doubt and fear.

Fear builds walls when we succumb to doubt 

Christ challenges the doubt that the disciples feel in Luke's gospel to move them away from the fear that underlies their doubt. In all the Gospels that fear is prevalent and is overcome with the coming of the risen Christ. Yet, the harbinger of fear, doubt, is also present and in later years rears its head in many ways but can be seen most clearly in the removal of women from the leadership and power positions within the growing community. This is in reality just a symptom as underlying the symptom is the actual problem that of power and authority to influence others. Christ influences others in such a manner that their natural tendencies are overwhelmed, so that they come to understand love and the need to integrate power and authority within the community. This naturally means that all may share in the boundless love that comes from Christ. But what happens when we give in to our doubt and allow our fear to dominate. Then we set our hearts on the world as John states in his letter (1 Jn 2:15). In doing so we submit to our fears and turn away from that which calls for courage and questioning to find the way forward in faith.

Our natural tendency has always been to be ruled by our fears and thus succumb to doubt rather than be challenged to change by our doubt. In our fear we grab for what is available to us and more often then not that means grabbing and holding on to what the world gives to us. In doing so we are tantalised by the promise of more and more and thus forget that we travel with companions. In forgetting those that are around us we forget to give love and see those around us solely as means to attain our goals and our needs. So as to overcome our fears by ridding ourselves of that which challenges us. This is what the world asks of us; that we remove all obstacles and difference from our path to power and authority, no matter how small or great that is. Christ calls us not to succumb to the world but to cast aside our fears and allow our doubts to fuel our faith. It is only through the love that God displays that we are able to reach out over that which divides to ensure that we form the family of God in the community. Once we can let go of the fears that our doubt allows to grow, fears that are only fears of ostracisation as opposed to the inclusion that comes with love.