This past Sunday, a week after Easter, we returned to our annual visit with the “Doubting Thomas” and the other disciples in the Gospel Lesson for the day. You know it well, I’m sure. Thomas said that he would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead without visible proof and an examination of the data, so to speak (namely Jesus!). One week after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead he received the proof he desired, and he believed! Jesus responded to Thomas and said, “You have believed because you have seen Me; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The number of doubters, skeptics and unbelievers is rapidly growing. That probably surprises no one, I suspect. But, do you realize how fast it is growing and how large a number there are? In my World Religions class I’m teaching to the 7th and 8th graders in our school we learned that the number of “unaffiliated” people (atheists, agnostics, “nones” …) is the second largest “religious” group in North America! In the past decade, U.S. “nones” have overtaken Catholics, mainline Protestants, and all followers of non-Christian faiths. Like Christian denominations, there are differences and divisions in the unaffiliated group. Within their ranks divisions run deep. Some are avowed atheists. Others are agnostic. And many more simply don’t care to state a preference. Organized around skepticism toward organizations and united by a common belief that they do not believe, nones as a group are just as internally complex as many religions. And as with religions, these internal contradictions could keep new followers away.
Do you remember back a few decades (5, actually!) when Time Magazine asked in a famous cover headline, “Is God Dead?” The magazine wondered whether religion was relevant to modern life in the post-atomic age when communism was spreading and science was explaining more about our natural world than ever before. Even as a teenager I remember thinking how ridiculous this seemed.
Not so ridiculous anymore, is it? Of course, you and I would respond with a bold confession of faith that God is not dead! God is real and is the creator and sustainer of our world and universe! However a growing and large number of those around us might respond, “God, who?”
In this Easter season we continue to celebrate that God is not dead! Jesus died on the cross, to be sure, but He arose victorious over sin, death and the power of satan on Easter morning. He proved His resurrection many times over revealing Himself to many people before He ascended back to His throne in glory. It’s not a matter of blind faith! It is documented truth! Investigative Journalist, Lee Strobel, wrote about this in his books: The Case For Christ; and The Case For Easter. The former has just come out in a movie as well. He stopped doubting and started believing!
I invite you to join me in faithfully praying for this growing number of doubters and unbelievers all around us – even in our families! We have a responsibility to share with them that indeed there is a God, and He loves all people and wants them to believe in Him. Give them one of Strobel’s books, or take them to the movie! Share God’s book with them and learn how to defend the truths it proclaims! Be a living example to those around of the faith you hold – and the difference it makes!
I can’t help but think that at the core of so many of the problems we face in society today find their foundation in this doubting and not believing! I don’t ever want to read on the cover of a popular news magazine that God is dead and His church has succumb to it’s lie that He exists. Stop doubting and believe! Stop fearing and follow! Stop procrastinating and proclaim Jesus!
Pastor Dennis Krueger