Those Who Doubt Have No Answers

“Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.” – Habakkuk 2:18-19.

The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. – 1 Thessalonians 1:8-9.

Chesterton and Augustine had similar experiences in their long journey to faith. After exhausting himself looking for answers among philosophers, Augustine found satisfaction by reading the Bible. Only by having the inconsistencies of philosophy firmly planted in his mind did he grasp the coherence of Scripture. Chesterton was led to faith by the doubts of skeptics and agnostics, because he saw in them the inconsistencies for which they attacked Christianity.

Swinburne accused Christ of making the world “grey”—unhappy. Yet, in Atlanta the poet gave this account of paganism, “I gathered that the world was, if possible, more gray before the Galilean breathed on it than afterwards.” Even Swinburne said that pagan life was dark. Yet, curiously, he maintained that Christ had darkened it. He denounced Christianity as pessimistic, but was himself a pessimist. It appeared to Chesterton that “those might not be the very best judges of the relation of religion to happiness who . . . had neither the one nor the other.”

Indeed, if his detractors claim that Christ was a pessimist, they had better be optimists. For if Christ brought unhappiness to the world, they must prove it was happy before he came. If faith in Christ raises problems, unbelievers must prove that disbelief produces answers.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.