J.R. Briggs

Reflections from doubt :: night

April 7, 2009

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“Be merciful to those who doubt.” -Jude 22

“God, I don’t love you. I don’t want to love you. But God, I want to want to love you. Amen.” -Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila

Last night we hosted our second doubt :: night - a laid-back, but intentional space for conversation, a place to courageously and honestly air out our doubts that we may have about God, faith, life, Jesus, the Bible and church. The concept is simple: we rent out a local bar, buy hot wings, fries & onion rings, invite our friends and allow a space to interact authentically with others about our doubts about life’s biggest questions.

We had about 35 people there last night, similar in size to our first event, but about half of those in attendance were not there the first time. (Not bad, considering that we scheduled this during the NCCA Men’s National Championship Game).

I don’t teach or lecture during doubt :: night. I facilitate/moderate the discussion and interject my thoughts/convictions from my Christian worldview in addition to allow others to answer from their perspective. I loved it. These types of environments pump me up!

The questions were raw and honest, the dialogue was participatory and fruitful and the environment was safe. While I loved our first doubt :: night, I enjoyed this one even more. We spent a significant amount of time discussing a few central questions that people raised throughout the evening: (1) Why do bad things happen to good people? and (2) What is the meaning of suffering – and why would a good and loving God allow such incredible suffering to occur?

Several times throughout the evening I was struck by the diversity of the room: New Agers, skeptics, college students, homosexuals, agnostics, pastors, Buddhists, Christ-followers, atheists, the mentally handicapped, those in recovery from severe drug and alcohol addictions. Even the bar owner asked me afterward what questions were discussed – and then proceeded to tell me some of his doubts and questions about religion. I found it odd, yet refreshing – a “Christian event” led by a pastor with a room full of courageous and curious people wrestling through some of life’s most significant questions and hearing about the hope of Jesus.

As we finished last night, I asked if/when we should host another doubt :: night and the overwhelming response (mostly coming from the skeptics in the room) was to do it against next month. I’m looking forward to it already.

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