From Skepticism To Belief

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. So today we're looking at John chapter 20. It's not the typical gospel reading for today. Often it's read in a week from now because it happened a week after Easter. And I think today, the story of doubting Thomas, you've heard that term before, is very appropriate for all of us. And it's something we can learn a lot from today. So we're going to read John 20, verses 24 to 30. Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Today we're going to be looking at Thomas, who is probably the most famous doubter of all times, right? We use that phrase doubting Thomas for anyone else who doubts. And I think this story is going to help you a lot. Help me a lot. Because you see, modern people today really struggle with this whole idea of faith and believing in things that they cannot see. We struggle to believe in God, let alone in miracles, and let alone in something like the resurrection of the dead type miracle. And so, even though we're in a different age and a different time than Thomas, how he doubted, why he doubted, how he came to faith might just hopefully will be some real help to all of us. Now some of you here are going like, wait a minute, I came specifically because I do believe in the resurrection. Great, good for you. There have been times I thought I really believed in the resurrection, and then some events have happened, like 22 years ago when my father died. And all of a sudden it becomes a little more poignant. Do I believe this or don't I? Is there something more or not? And honestly, even you might think I'm young, some of you, and some of you will think I'm old, depending on where you fit into this. But the older you get, the more you come to terms with your own finitude. And the more this becomes important, do I really believe in the resurrection and the life everlasting? So whether you believe today, or whether you are skeptical and have so many doubts about this today, I think Thomas will help us all today. We're going to look at this account, and we're going to just ask two questions. Why didn't Thomas believe? And then secondly, how did he come to believe? Very simple. So why didn't he believe? Well, this is kind of speculative, because there's nothing in the Gospel of John that tells us exactly why he didn't believe. But yet, even though it's speculative, and we're trying to figure out maybe why he struggled with this, some of his reasons might actually give us insight into our own struggles with doubt and questions that we have. The first thing, I think, is that Thomas' temperament might be such that he was one of those type of people that struggled with believing in anything. Any of you take the Myers-Briggs personality inventory in your life before? Just a few? Or other personality tests? Well, according to Myers-Briggs, there are personalities that are much more analytical, that just focus on facts, empirical evidence, etc. Those that are considered analysts, by the way, about 40% of them, the highest percentage of any type of personality, 40% of those who are analytical types, say they are not religious nor spiritual. It's the highest percentage of any group. So it's just possible that Thomas had one of those personalities, like some people today, that just struggles with believing in anything beyond what he could experiment, see, understand, comprehend in his own mind. I've met people over my ministry. I can recall one specifically who really struggled with doubt and belief, who grew up in the Christian church, but he was a professor at the Louisiana State University when I was in Baton Rouge. And he started going to a counselor because he was just struggling with all sorts of issues. And the counselor basically told him, your problem is you think too much. And you think yourself out of believing or trusting anyone. Because you can always find those doubts. If I really was one of those...