We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Reflecting on the Conference and Cynicism

greg benefit of the doubtWe had such a great time this weekend at the Faith, Doubt & the Idol of Certainty conference. People came from all over the United States and it was good to get a chance to connect. We’re more convinced than ever that God is up to something beautiful and real. You’ll be hearing more about this last weekend soon. Thanks to everyone who came and participated. It was a huge blessing.

We thought it would be good to follow up our week of posts on doubt with David Flower’s reflections on cynicism. We received a question during the Q&A session of the conference asking whether too much doubt can lead to cynicism. The short answer is, “Yes”. Doubt and cynicism are two different animals. We are not championing doubt, we’re championing openness and honesty. If you feel like you’ve fallen into cynicism, David’s words will provide a needed corrective and some encouragement for you.

From David’s piece:

But let me be clear. It’s not cynicism simply to acknowledge reality. It’s just that we can’t fully know what’s real without considering the God revealed in Jesus. Reality must conform to the good news of Christ.

Cynicism leads to despair. Repent of it when it’s at work in you.

Repent by believing that God is greater than the evil at work in the world. He calls us to be people of hope. Hopeful realism is about resurrection and the promise of new creation. It allows us to see the Spirit of God at work, and it empowers us to join him in shaping God’s good future.

 

Related Reading

The Lessons of Job

Breno Peck via Compfight In his book Benefit of the Doubt, Greg argues that the lessons of the book of Job reassure us that God does not lie behind suffering, but he rather is a trustworthy friend who can handle our doubt and pain. If you’re in the midst of grief or suffering, we hope…

Why Doesn’t God Make Himself Obvious?

Why is faith so difficult? Why isn’t God more obvious? Why doesn’t God come out and provide irrefutable proof that he is God so that there is no more doubt? Greg’s father raised such questions and Greg’s responses are recorded in the book Letters from a Skeptic. _______________________ What would happen …  if God individually…

New Feature: We Need YOU!

For the last several years we’ve been running a feature every Friday called Lighten Up. It was fun for a while, but it’s gotten harder and harder to find light-hearted, relevant content. That’s where you come in. We’d like to start something slightly different on Fridays that features content sent to us by YOU! There’s…

Why Bart Ehrman Doesn’t Have to Ruin Your Christmas (Or Your Faith) Part 3

This is the third of several videos Greg put together to refute Bart Ehrman’s claims published in the article What Do We Really Know About Jesus? If you missed the first two installments you can find them here and here.

Loving God With All Of Your Mind

Rebecca-Lee via Compfight David D. Flowers posted this essay on loving God with your mind that reflects our stance on intellectual integrity as we approach Scripture. It even features a video clip of Greg talking about maintaining humility when we encounter ideas that are new to us and challenge our current understanding. It’s well worth…

The Bible is NOT the Foundation

Many people imagine that the foundation of their faith is the Bible. This is viewed as the ultimate center around which everything they believe revolves. However, the foundation of the Christian faith is actually centered on a person, not a book. Whereas Islam has always presented itself as a “religion of the book,” the kingdom…