"I Doubt It"
a condensed version of the sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at Union Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Somonauk, Illinois.

PODCAST of "I Doubt It"

Have you ever played that card game? The one where everyone holds cards and players take turns putting down their cards, face down, in the correct order. If the player doesn’t have the correct card they have to bluff their way through the turn without someone challenging the truth of their play. The game goes by many names – the least offensive is probably "I Doubt It." If a person is challenged and caught trying to pass off their cards as some other cards, they must pick up all the cards in the discard pile. If the person who challenges them (by saying "I doubt it" after the cards are placed in the discard deck but before someone else begins their turn) finds that the player challenged was telling the truth, the challenger picks up the discard deck. It really is a fun game, though it can last for as little as a few minutes or as long as a few hours (I ‘d say that I get tired of the game and call a truce with everyone if it goes longer than 45 minutes.)

The game really is based on the fact that doubt is risky, but not unhealthy.

Is that a life rule? Is there a life rule anything like it? Is there a life rule completely opposite of it?

Let me show you something else designed to exercise your doubt.

(Magic Trick – Svengali Deck with Dagger trick)

Was that a feat of magic? Did I break the laws of probability to be able to correctly guess the card that you would pick out of the deck? And then did I magically look at the cards and then will you to put the blade into the deck at the exact spot where I knew the card was?

Please respond here with the sermon title:

" I doubt it!"

Well, your doubt is not unfounded. Your instinct to doubt is correct – after all, I just showed you a trick – an illusion. No magic.

But am I gonna tell you how I did it?

Please respond here with the sermon title again.

"I doubt it!"

You’re right. But do you know what I am gonna do? I’m gonna make that abrupt switch from the non-biblical into the biblical!

(No – don’t say the sermon title here!)

Look at this morning’s reading from John. After he was resurrected, Jesus came to the disciples and showed them his wounds and he breathed on them. When he breathed on them he told them to receive the Holy Spirit. He told them about forgiving sins.

However, Thomas wasn’t with them at the time. When the disciples told Thomas about what they had seen, he wouldn’t believe them until he saw it for himself. And then a week later, Jesus appeared again and showed Thomas. He told Thomas to stop doubting and to believe. He also told everyone that the ones who believe without seeing will be blessed.

And therefore we are convicted to believe without seeing. We are moved to go from doubters into believers. We are taught that our questions are signs of doubt and that doubt is the opposite of faith.

Wait a minute – Did I just say that? I did! Did I believe that last sentence?

Sermon title?

"I doubt it!"

I don’t believe that doubt is the opposite of faith.

Let me make some statements to you. Think about whether you agree or disagree with them

• Doubt is uncertainty or skepticism
• Doubt is the absence of faith
• Faith cannot exist with doubt
• Doubt and faith exist together

The first statement is a shortened version of a dictionary definition of doubt

The second one is the one that I was taught by a few teachers when I was growing up

The third one was what the second one led to in my mind as I grew

The fourth one is what I believe.

The Life Application Bible says this about doubt,

"Some people need to doubt before they believe. If doubt leads to questions, questions lead to answers, and the answers are accepted, then doubt has done good work. It is when doubt becomes stubbornness and stubbornness becomes a life-style that doubt harms faith. When you doubt, don’t stop there. Let your doubt deepen your faith as you continue to search for the answer."

I love the last line. Let your doubt deepen your faith as you continue to search . . .

It makes me glad. It makes me enthused about what is to come. It makes me able to say things like this.

• I have doubt that the Bible has come to us without the flaws people have put into it. But I have faith that the Bible as it has come to us is the Bible from which God wants us to study and to learn.

• I have doubt that a loving God would allow all the hate and evil and tragedy in the world – even if it is people who have set the wheels in motion that lead to all of it. But I believe that God has a picture that is much larger than mine and that God is far smarter than I am or anyone else in the world could ever hope to be.

• I have doubt about what the next days; months and years will bring for Union Congregational Church, Church of Christ in Somonauk. But I believe that God will lead us toward God’s will.

• I have doubt about what the future holds for anyone – But I believe that God is faithful and will lead us where God wants us to go.

• I have doubt that I have all the . . . OK – many answers at all. But I believe that God does have them.

Will God be unfaithful? Will God lead me astray? Will God give me all the answers and make things easier?

I doubt it.

Close with prayer

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