Season of the Skeptic

One of the things I believe that is healthy for a Christian to go through is a season of skepticism. For some it may be a season of agnosticism or atheism depending on how messed up of a Christian upbringing they may have had. Perhaps some have endured some pretty legalistic teachings growing up and are now confronted with a new and fresh approach to God. There may be those that have discovered what they were taught about God really isn't God at all. This new teaching may be a bit uncomfortable because of the amount of grace and yet it feels so right. It is as if the Holy Spirit is making this thing resonate within you. It is time to become a skeptic and rediscover, study, dive in and examine this new truth.

Some may have had such a terrible painting of who Jesus is that it really is not Jesus at all. It is in these times you are justified in becoming an atheist for a season. It is time to not believe in “that” high being, but rediscover the true Jesus of the Bible….the red letter Jesus.

In all areas of Christianity I believe it is most helpful to remain a skeptic. According to Dictionary.com a Skeptic is: “a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual.” Other definitions would say this usually happens in the realm of religion. Is this really a bad thing though? I personally do not think so. For the churches or pastors that insist that you don’t question, but rather believe every word they say...this is a nightmare for them. There are absolutely some things that are true and ring true when you hear it that there is no need to be a skeptic. However, I believe it is okay to question and reason with yes….teachings in the Bible. Even today when you walk into a Christian Bookstore (which I don’t…can’t stand the places) or visit the “Christian” section at Barnes and Noble all you see are the end results of people questioning the Christian life/teachings and putting it into book form. What do you think a commentary is? It is the end result of someone wrestling with scripture and putting what THEY believe into book form. However, I bet these people were still a part of a church and even had a pastor (probably loved them both)…they just understood that it is okay to examine scripture for themselves as well.

Read the Bible over again and you will find it is FILLED with skeptics and people that question. In fact you find people that question what God told them to do. At the sake of sounding to radical…I think if it was okay for Thomas to question the resurrected to Jesus to his face, I think it is okay if we sometimes question what our pastor is teaching us.

Being a skeptic can lead to deeper understanding. The reason why some don’t like when others go deep is that to quote a favorite video clip of mine, “when things get deep…people drown.” There is a healthy balance here however. One can remain so skeptical that they never grow and begin to live in such bondage that they eventually don’t know what they believe. The flip-side of that coin is that we can be a skeptic and grow from it. Even Moses, Jacob, Thomas, Jonah, etc. questioned but eventually went ahead with things.