Is Doubting Our Faith a Sin? Saintly Words from Dorothy Day!
Is Doubting Our Faith a Sin? Saintly Words from Dorothy Day!
Many disciples and Apostles had difficulty accepting Mary Magdalene’s story that the tomb was empty, and Jesus had risen from the dead. Most of the apostles couldn’t even believe Jesus’ resurrection at first! And poor Thomas alone gets the bad rap!
Many believers had difficulties. Why? Most unbelievable stories are unbelievable. The resurrection is totally different, truly exceptional, quite amazing, and utterly world shattering. To believe that Jesus Christ, an unknown carpenter from Nazareth rose from the dead is ridiculous. Yet he did!
Healthy skepticism is an essential element in finding the truth. It is also not to question the truth when we see it. Didn’t Lazarus rise from the dead, and come forth from the tomb? And then later dined with his sisters, Martha, and Mary. As they watched his eating in front of them, they believed!
Explaining the heart of the Catholic Worker from Dorothy Day in her autobiography, “The Long Loneliness” wrote, “…if you are lonely, it isn’t your fault. There’s nothing wrong with you. Life is a search for a communion of love, a pilgrimage into the body of Christ, but we are not there yet and even if we feel moments of connection, we will still feel moments of alienation until Christ burst forth from the grave and then we will all be connected!”
We owe thanks to our firm religion teachers who convinced us that God was right and sure, so we were taught not to doubt, especially to doubt anything about God.
However, doubt can be the mechanism by which faith evolves. It helps us cast off or embrace what’s new. One author wrote: “Doubt is like a refining fire that keeps faith alive, moving and bubbling. It also keeps faith from freezing on the spot.
Here is an example from Dorothy Day’s life: Dorothy Day stands in for those who think themselves too damaged or sinful to do anything meaningful for God. At a retreat, the retreat director ended with a comment about Dorothy Day’s past:
“What if Dorothy day had thought to herself: I had an abortion. What could God do with me?... Imagine all the wonderful things that would never have gotten done!”
We can clearly see how doubt exists all around us. This is especially true in the rhetoric and ads of today’s politicians. Fear easily spills from today’s fractured world of politics into our lives.
Where would we be if Saint Peter never doubted religious dietary food laws; or if Martin Luther never doubted that salvation could be purchased; or Galileo accepted church instituted cosmology; or Rev. Wilbur Force never contradicting the English laws of slavery.
Now we understand better one of the main reasons God placed humans on this earth: to ensure the victory of life over death to all we meet along the pathway of our journey. It helps Jesus fulfill his main desire: to save rather than watch his Father’s creation perish.
