Pub Theology 4/9/24 — Believing and seeing
This past Sunday was the Second Sunday of Easter, and that meant we were treated to one of those classic biblical stories which has firmly rooted itself in the cultural cortex of believers and non-believers alike. Yes, we’re talking about the story of “Doubting Thomas.”
The story, as related in John’s Gospel, 20:19-31, goes this way. Following the crucifixion, Jesus’s disciples have locked themselves behind closed doors, hiding from the same religious authorities who had put their leader to death just days earlier. The resurrected Jesus then appears to them, they recognize him and rejoice, Jesus blesses them, and then goes on his way.
Thomas (called the Twin) wasn’t with the rest of the disciples at the time, and when they later tell him that they had seen the Lord, he refuses to buy it. And this is where he earns the moniker Doubting Thomas: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Hearing this in church on Sunday got us thinking about the nature of belief, more specifically, why we believe what we believe. Do we, like Thomas, require tangible proof in order to believe something? Or to believe in someone? Is seeing believing for you?
This is a topic that we’ve spent some time talking about before, but it is worth revisiting. Way back in 2016 we asked whether belief, and the flip side, disbelief, was a matter of choice. In other words, if we can choose to believe in the absence of proof, can we also choose to disbelieve in the presence of proof? Or do we take whatever evidence is there and shape it to fit with our preconceived notions?
This brings to mind the 2003 documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Errol Morris, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. One of the lessons that McNamara shares, learned from his many years of service in and out of government both before and during the Vietnam War, is this: Belief and seeing are both often wrong. In short, we see what we want to believe.
We’ll be talking about all of this in our conversation this week, Tuesday, April 9. Join us for the discussion starting at 7pm at Casa Real in downtown Oxford.
