That Old Chestnut

This is a picture of an old chestnut.

It is an odd thing, the expression. 'That Old Chestnut'. 

Why is it old?

Why is it that?

Why, oh why, is it a chestnut?

If could be this, it could be new, or mature, or mellow, or seasoned, or wizened, or even scarred. It could be a coconut. Or a peanut. Or even not a nut at all.

But, it seems, we have that old chestnut.

I begin today's post with this observation because eventually I want to move from nuts to seeds, but in the meantime, I want to talk about doubt. This isn't a nutritional blog, though I hope it feeds you spiritually in some way, so this talk of nuts and seeds is rather strange. But in the Christian conversation, doubt is quite common. 

I've not really blogged on doubt before. Not because I don't suffer from doubt, or struggle with faith, or falter at believing some of the stranger things that Jesus taught, or commanded, or assumed, or knew, but because I don't have very much to say about doubt. You see doubt is a deeply individual thing, unique to every follower of Jesus. I'm quite lucky in that my New Testament namesake, Thomas, is best know for his evidence-based doubting. I have spent a long time (And still dabble!) looking for the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus, and whilst I haven't yet had the privilege of seeing the wounds in Jesus' hands, I'm very sure of the Resurrection. I think the Resurrection is a beautiful picture of the Truth of Christianity. The Resurrection is the starting point of our Easter religion, and from it I think we can gradually work our way out to the rest of this theological thing we use when we follow Jesus.

But doubts remain.

For almost every believer.

At every stage of their journey with Jesus.

New.

Old. 

Mature.

Mellow.

Wizened.

Scarred.

Battle-Scarred.

Doubt can strike the Christian at any time. I think it is particularly prevalent, at least it is my highly anecdotal experience, among people about to become Christians, and amongst those who have been following Jesus for a while but have been giving too much of themselves. Doubt happens. In fact, its an entirely reasonable part of faith. It just isn't the whole story.

Doubt is just a very old chestnut.

But to be honest, Christians (for the most part), are not nuts.

We are called to be more like seeds.

Jesus once said something rather strange. Twice. Firstly in Matthews Gospel, 17:20, where he is recorded as saying;

"Truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you"

Jesus starts with 'truly'. Which means he means it. And he's talking about a very small thing, a very small faith. A faith barely begun, or perhaps (as occasionally I feel) a faith so squeezed of life it feels like a tiny remnant, a tiny reflection of what once was, or what we might wish. Yet Jesus says, truly, that this faith makes the impossible possible. Mountains move. The mountain of doubt versus the seed, the speck, of faith.

This is how small a mustard seed is. 

image source here.

Jesus says something very similar in Luke's Gospel, 17:6;

"If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you"

Again, that tiny seed. And the possibility of something. Jesus doesn't assume all is lost. He neither assumes, in response to the Disciples request to 'increase our faith', that we need more than a speck. If. Small. Little words that imply a start. A speck of life. Of faith. Of the opposite of date.

I'm going to swing a bit off-piste. But sometimes, as far as I know, doubt can be quite mountainous - or we can be in a valley of doubt - and doubt can also set in quite firmly, like the roots of a mulberry tree. Both forms, every expression of doubt, can be crippling. But they can be moved. I believe Jesus literally meant that his followers could move mountains. Or trees. And I'm certain that a minuscule speck of faith, a mustard seed, if you will, is enough to engage with doubt. To pray, or to ask God if he is there. To simply call on him. 

Karl Barth, one of the most prolific and thought-provoking Protestant theologians of the modern period, had this to say about doubt;

"Everyone who has to contend with unbelief should be advised that he ought not to take his own unbelief too seriously. Only faith is to be taken seriously, and if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, that suffices for the devil to have lost his game"*

I think thats true. Jesus mentioned this mustard seed of faith in contrast and in the same breath as mountains and mulberry trees. Doubt is not an unscalable mountain - it is a moveable mountain. No doubt, ultimately, can grow in your heart that cannot be uprooted. Faith wins, because the object of faith, biblical faith in the Risen Jesus, is rooted in something much deeper. The story of the God who loved so much He came. The story that engages every doubt and promises an end to every fear. The story of Jesus, woven through the Bible and hinted at throughout our culture. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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I hope this post has been of help or interest to you. If you are interested in what I said about the Resurrection, then look at the 'Resurrection' Page for some of the the evidence. Or maybe read my critical review of a book that seeks to disprove the Resurrection. Perhaps you are struggling with not feeling God or sensing his presence. I'd encourage you to consider "Faith not Feelings". Thanks for dropping by!

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If you've read my blog for the first time, or are a regular reader, then I'd love you to find and 'like' my Facebook page. You can read about that, and the recent name change in this post.

*Quoted in Thomas Merton, "Dancing in the Water of Life: Seeking Peace in the Hermitage", The Journals of Thomas Merton, vol. 5 (Harper: San Francisco, 1997), p. 20