Reasonable And Unreasonable Doubt
Posted by Pastoral Musings on February 15th, 2012
Erik mentions the issue of doubt in reference to a statement that I made here.
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It is well that we remember Chesterton’s words when we think of doubt.
But what we suffer from to-day is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert–himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt–the Divine Reason.
Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith) (1994-05-01). Orthodoxy (p. 27). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
It is reasonable to doubt ourselves. Today’s academic environment leads to ambition that leads to the unreasonable doubt of God’s Word. It is the exaltation of the man with new ideas. The mantra is “publish or perish,” so academia continues to roll out novelties so that the one writing and publishing can be applauded and promoted. This is not a problem that is unique to one particular scholar whose works are under discussion as of late: it is a systemic problem. Academia is pressing men to have far too much confidence in themselves and their works, forgetting that those works will soon be discarded for the next new intellectual fad.
It is unreasonable to doubt the work of the Holy Spirit in giving to us God’s Word and guiding the church in her understanding of God’s Word.
Today’s approaches tend to lead to the unreasonable doubt of God’s Word and its veracity. That must be avoided at all costs.
