FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
Fearless Doubters
Thomas is often remembered by a single word: doubter. It’s almost his permanent label in the minds of many Christians. “Doubting Thomas.” The man who wouldn’t believe unless he touched the wounds of the risen Christ. But as Bishop Quiñones shared with us at Forge this week,that’s not the full story. In fact, Thomas shows us something profound about doubt and faith. That God’s grace transforms doubters into fearless followers.
Earlier in John’s Gospel, before the resurrection, Jesus tells His disciples that He is going back to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead. The other disciple’s panic: “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” (John 11:8). But Thomas speaks up: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John 11:16).
Does that sound like a cowardly doubter? Hardly.
Thomas was willing to face death for Christ. His problem was not lack of courage, but the same problem we all share. Lack of clarity, lack of trust in what we cannot yet see.
When Thomas missed that first encounter with the risen Jesus, he refused to believe secondhand reports. He wrestled with doubt honestly. And when Jesus appeared again, He didn’t scold Thomas for being slow to believe. He invited him to touch His wounds. Grace met Thomas in his doubts, and grace overcame them.
Here’s the truth. To be fearless for God does not mean we never doubt. It means that by God’s grace, we face our doubts head-on. We bring them into the light. We wrestle honestly, not hiding behind shallow clichés or borrowed faith. Fearlessness is not the absence of questions; it is trusting God to meet us in the middle of them.
Thomas went on, tradition tells us, to carry the gospel as far as India. The one remembered as a doubter was also a pioneer, a missionary, and a martyr. He doubted, yes. But he also went. He followed. He gave his life for Christ.
So, what about the men of Forge? We doubt in our families, our workplaces, our churches, our quiet moments. We wonder if God is truly near, if His promises hold, if His grace is big enough for our failures. But fearless faith is not built on suppressing those questions, it is built on laying them before the risen Christ, trusting His scars to be enough.
God does not disqualify doubters. He calls them. He meets them. He sends them.
Like Thomas, we may doubt, but by God’s grace, we can doubt fearlessly.
Joe Bouch
