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

Tips on what NOT to say to someone struggling with their faith

Neal Fowler via Compfight Here’s a post from a year ago from Elizabeth Esther on What NOT to say to someone struggling with their faith. Historically, the church has been a very unsafe place for people expressing doubts or struggles. Let’s be safer than this. From the blog post: “Don’t throw the baby out with…

The Benefit of the Doubt

In my last two posts (here and here) I’ve given five arguments against the common way Evangelical Christians tend to think about faith. More specifically, I’m calling into question the assumption that a person’s faith is as strong as they are free of doubt. I’ll conclude this line of questioning today by offering four other…

Tags: ,

Video Q&A: Do you think Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons are saved?

Does Greg believe that everyone goes to Heaven regardless of their beliefs? Find out here.  

Part Three of Greg’s Interview with David D. Flowers

Here’s the final interview that Greg did with David D. Flowers in which he discusses his upcoming book Benefit of the Doubt: Dismantling the Idol of Certainty. Check it out! From the interview: Faith in Scripture isn’t about striving for certainty: it’s about being willing to commit to a course of action — to a way…

Why Bart Ehrman Doesn’t Have to Ruin Your Christmas (Or Your Faith) Part 1

This is the first of several videos Greg put together to refute Bart Ehrman’s claims published in the article What Do We Really Know About Jesus? Greg went to school with Bart and is very familiar with his line of thought. He’s also heard of many people who have lost their faith based on his writings.…

The Rorschach Test

The choices we make will either increase or decrease our ability to recognize light when we see it.  As we choose goodness, we increase our capacity for goodness. What do you see when you read the Bible or look at God or interact with others? Everything is a Rorschach test to some extent, revealing the light…