The incompatibility of faith and doubt

[Jared R]

Holding to the propositions of revelation with doubt = opinion
Assenting to the propositions of revelation without doubt = faith

Sometimes I see it suggested that it is OK to doubt, or that doubt makes our faith healthier and more authentic. I agree that a tested faith is more mature, but a tested faith means we have maintained unconditional assent in spite of the attacks of doubt.

I sympathize with people's struggles, but I think it's important to understand that faith means giving unconditional assent to the articles of faith, and if assent is not unconditional then it is not assent and it is not faith. Doubt is a temptation, and we must never consent to it. I think of St. Therese of Lisieux, or St. Padre Pio, or Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, who were attacked by doubt but did not consent to it and maintained unconditional assent. They are examples of heroic faith.

Practicing the virtue of faith is like practicing the virtue of purity. Some thoughts may enter our head without our consent, but we do not lose the virtue as long as we fully resist the thoughts and do not consent to them.

I worry that the virtue of faith is not fully taught and preached, which is upsetting because faith is necessary for salvation.

I have gathered some references for discussion.

Catechism of the Council of Trent:

That faith thus understood is necessary to salvation no man can reasonably doubt, particularly since it is written: Without faith it is impossible to please God. For as the end proposed to man as his ultimate happiness is far above the reach of human understanding, it was therefore necessary that it should be made known to him by God. This knowledge, however, is nothing else than faith, by which we yield our unhesitating assent to whatever the authority of our Holy Mother the Church teaches us to have been revealed by God; for the faithful cannot doubt those things of which God, who is truth itself, is the author. Hence we see the great difference that exists between this faith which we give to God and that which we yield to the writers of human history.

http://www.catholicapologetics.info/thechurch/catechism/ApostlesCreed00.shtml​

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Faith is certain. It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie. To be sure, revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience, but "the certainty that the divine light gives is greater than that which the light of natural reason gives." "Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt."

157, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s1c3a1.htm​

St. Thomas Aquinas:

Faith implies assent of the intellect to that which is believed. Now the intellect assents to a thing in two ways. First, through being moved to assent by its very object, which is known either by itself (as in the case of first principles, which are held by the habit of understanding), or through something else already known (as in the case of conclusions which are held by the habit of science). Secondly the intellect assents to something, not through being sufficiently moved to this assent by its proper object, but through an act of choice, whereby it turns voluntarily to one side rather than to the other: and if this be accompanied by doubt or fear of the opposite side, there will be opinion, while, if there be certainty and no fear of the other side, there will be faith.

ST, "Faith," Article 2 http://www.newadvent.org/summa/3001.htm#article2
​

Bl. John H. Newman's three modes of holding a proposition:

And in fact, these three modes of entertaining propositions,—doubting them, inferring them, assenting to them, are so distinct in their action, that, when they are severally carried out into the intellectual habits of an individual, they become the principles and notes of three distinct states or characters of mind. For instance, in the case of Revealed Religion, according as one or other of these is paramount within him, a man is a sceptic as regards it; or a philosopher, thinking it more or less probable considered as a conclusion of reason; or he has an unhesitating faith in it, and is recognized as a believer. If he simply disbelieves, or dissents, then he is assenting to the contradictory of the thesis, viz. to the proposition that there is no Revelation.

Many minds of course there are, which are not under the predominant influence of any one of the three. Thus men are to be found of irreflective, impulsive, unsettled, or again of acute minds, who do not know what they believe and what they do not, and who may be by turns sceptics, inquirers, or believers; who doubt, assent, infer, and doubt again, according to the circumstances of the season. Nay further, in all minds there is a certain coexistence of these distinct acts; that is, of two of them, for we can at once infer and assent, though we cannot at once either assent or infer and also doubt. Indeed, in a multitude of cases we infer truths, or apparent truths, before, and while, and after we assent to them.

[...]

Assent is unconditional; else, it is not really represented by assertion. Inference is conditional, because a conclusion at least implies the assumption of premises, and still more, because in concrete matter, on which I am engaged, demonstration is impossible.

http://www.newmanreader.org/works/grammar/chapter1.html
​

Bl. Newman again:

I must insist upon this: faith implies a confidence in a man’s mind, that the thing believed is really true; but, if it is once true it never can be false. If it is true that God became man, what is the meaning of my anticipating a time when perhaps I shall not believe that God became man? This is nothing short of anticipating a time when I shall disbelieve a truth. And if I bargain to be allowed in time to come not to believe, or to doubt, that God became man, I am but asking to be allowed to doubt or disbelieve what I hold to be an eternal truth. I do not see the privilege in such a permission at all, or the meaning of wishing to secure it. If at present I have no doubt whatever about it, then I am but asking leave to fall into error; if at present I have doubts about it, then I do not believe it at present, that is, I have not faith. . . . I may love by halves, I may obey by halves; I cannot believe by halves: either I have faith, or I have it not.

http://newmanreader.org/works/discourses/index.html​

 

[benedictaoo]

Since I'm old school, I was taught we are to offer our religious assent to even those things we do not fully agree with or understand. That, that assent is an act of faith.

 

[benedictaoo]

And when we say Amen to the Eucharist we are assenting to all the Church purposes for our belief.

 

[Jared R]

Since I'm old school, I was taught we are to offer our religious assent to even those things we do not fully agree with or understand. That, that assent is an act of faith.

My only reservation with the way that's stated is that to "not fully agree with" would mean our assent is not really total. Assent means fully agreeing with the truths of revelation on the authority of God who reveals. If we don't fully agree with an article of faith, then we are doubting the divine authority. Or in other words, to not fully agree with truth is to not fully agree with Truth (God).

 

[benedictaoo]

Faith seeks to understand though.

 

[Jared R]

Absolutely. Faith tells us what to believe, reason confirms it.

There are things that have not been sufficiently proved to my natural reason, but I know they're true because God revealed it. For example, I believe the Bible is inerrant in everything, as the Church has always taught. My natural reason has not proven this, but I know it's true because God said so through the Church. Reason confirms this in the sense that the more I study scripture, the more I see the Church's faith in its inerrancy stands up to scrutiny.

 

[tadoflamb]

Thanks for that Jared, this has been my recent experience with the Catholic faith. As a convert (and I came to the faith from a very long way away) I've had to overcome some obstacles, but as a convert, I was able to ask some very tough questions which the Church never shied away from. I've been able to accept the major tenets of the faith with relative ease and can explain the difficult issues we Catholics face in the 21st century. For whatever reason, as much as I don't understand religion, I understand Catholicism.

Until recently.

But I get it, and I hope am living it. As much as I don't understand a recent development in the Church, I'm obliged to accept it and as difficult it is to discern, I've always had the hunch, if allowed to ask, that an appropriate answer would eventually be provided. This is my Catholic faith, and if I'm going to believe it, then I'm going to own it. We're the boots on the ground here, so to speak. I need to be able to explain this stuff. As it turns out, through the patience and diligence of Catholics better informed than myself I'm coming to a better understanding, but my main point here is that it is my belief that the Church doesn't discourage tough questions.

It's so good to have you around again. I'm so grateful for your presence. God bless.

 

[Jared R]

Thanks for that Jared, this has been my recent experience with the Catholic faith. As a convert (and I came to the faith from a very long way away) I've had to overcome some obstacles, but as a convert, I was able to ask some very tough questions which the Church never shied away from. I've been able to accept the major tenets of the faith with relative ease and can explain the difficult issues we Catholics face in the 21st century. For whatever reason, as much as I don't understand religion, I understand Catholicism.

Until recently.

But I get it, and I hope am living it. As much as I don't understand a recent development in the Church, I'm obliged to accept it and as difficult it is to discern, I've always had the hunch, if allowed to ask, that an appropriate answer would eventually be provided. This is my Catholic faith, and if I'm going to believe it, then I'm going to own it. We're the boots on the ground here, so to speak. I need to be able to explain this stuff. As it turns out, through the patience and diligence of Catholics better informed than myself I'm coming to a better understanding, but my main point here is that it is my belief that the Church doesn't discourage tough questions.

It's so good to have you around again. I'm so grateful for your presence. God bless.

Thank you for the kind words Tad. You've always been very kind. As I said, I am sympathetic even though the way I write probably doesn't sound like it. Also let me clarify that this thread wasn't created with you in mind.

I think asking tough questions is perfectly acceptable, and I definitely think the Church can handle them. There is only a problem if our full assent is contingent on there being a satisfactory answer to our tough questions. Maybe there is an answer, but if it doesn't totally squash the temptation to doubt, do we give in to it? I think we should always give full assent first, with or without the answers, and then make our inquiry from the position of faith.

 

[benedictaoo]

So what do you think about humble dissent?

 

[Jared R]

So what do you think about humble dissent?

I think humility and dissent are incompatible, even though it may have the appearance of humility, because to dissent is to make God a liar (though individuals may have good intentions in their dissent). Part of humility is the proper relation between the creature and the Creator, and when the creature rejects what the Creator tells him to believe, the creature is not in proper relation to the Creator, and is not really humble.

 

[benedictaoo]

The Church does allow it in a very strict narrow sense.

 

[Jared R]

The Church allows people to reject the truth (as in saying this is sometimes ok)? I don't understand what you mean.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Here's a document from the Vatican that deals with the topic of dissent:

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Instruction Donum Veritatis on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian

And here's where the question of about doubt is answered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2088 The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith:

Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief. Involuntary doubt refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.​

Here

 

[pdudgeon]

Since I'm old school, I was taught we are to offer our religious assent to even those things we do not fully agree with or understand. That, that assent is an act of faith.

i agree with this. in fact, i'm coming to understand that offering our assent when we don't understand or agree
is more heroic than to sit there and complain or stew in our own self pitty, our fear of the unknown, or even to disagree.

an old friend of mine used to liken that to 'throwing a leg over the side of the boat.'
and then following with the other leg.

it's all about letting go of us and jumping into the unknown,
trusting that you will be caught.

and 4 weeks in, I'm learning that in RCIA the challenge is to keep doing that every week!

 

[pdudgeon]

So what do you think about humble dissent?

honestly, i think it's both false and an oxymoron.

dissent always implies that there is either a better or a more acceptable answer than the one given,
and that the original opinion or reasoning has not been disproved.

an oxymoron because there can only be two reasons behind dissent: either faith or else pride.
if it is faith, then humility in dissent would be dishonest.
if it is pride, then dissent can only lead to one's downfall, and not to a good outcome.

 

[Davidnic]

On doubt and dissent

Dissent is when someone denies the truth of what is taught and openly contradicts it. Dissent is sometimes confused with other responses such as wishing the Magisterium taught otherwise or failing to understand why the Magisterium taught as it did. Dissent is not the same as disappointment or incomprehension which are entirely compatible with assent. Nor is it the same as doubt, though doubt is likewise a failure to give full assent. Depending on the circumstance doubt may be voluntary or involuntary, culpable or non-culpable.

Avery Cardinal Dulles
Magisterium: Teacher and Guardian of the Faith

 

[benedictaoo]

From my layman faulty understanding, humble dissent is when we try as we may to understand and reason with the Church to our best ability but our conscious can not agree, so we humbly dissent but that doesn't mean we can disobey or openly dissent. It's different from an obstinate refusal to assent. At least tis is how I understand it. Someone can surely correct me if I'm wrong. This is something that has always confused me.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

I struggle with this too...I can say I believe, and I can act like I believe; those are actions I can chose to do. I can also study and learn about the faith. What I can't do is choose to truly believe. I don't think that is something one can just decide to do. Faith may eventually come through the actions, study and prayer, perhaps, but it seems artificial to just declare one has a true faith and assume it is this true.

 

[pdudgeon]

I struggle with this too...I can say I believe, and I can act like I believe; those are actions I can chose to do. I can also study and learn about the faith. What I can't do is choose to truly believe. I don't think that is something one can just decide to do. Faith may eventually come through the actions, study and prayer, perhaps, but it seems artificial to just declare one has a true faith and assume it is this true.

doing this ^^^ is like a bystander observing the impossible from the safety of the boat.
it's human, and it's understandable, because we are coming to confront something new
from the position of our own assent and understanding.

When we get up and throw a leg over the side of the boat, something changes within us.
our attention and our faith goes from us and what we understand.
The focus is taken off ourselves, and our attention goes to God, Jesus, and the Church who invite us.

It's at that pivotal point that we're half-way between the safety of something familiar, and the challenging invitation of God.
A decision is necessary.
We can rely on God and Jesus because we have the testimony of those who went through this same thing before us.
But to make that final leap of faith ourselves, and actually commit our actions and our future---even for that we can
look back in life at other times when we made a similar committment to God and to Jesus.

"Come unto Me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

it is that same invitation that Jesus offers those who struggle to believe, who carry a heavy load of fear or doubt--
enough to sink a battleship--and we try to carry it by ourselves.
It's so familiar, we've carried it for so long that it has become a part of us; we even identify ourselves with it.

"Come unto Me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

So if we find ourselves sitting in the boat tonight, and we see something attractive that beckons us to a better life,
maybe it's time to put down that heavy load, stand up and throw a leg over the side of the boat.

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

We choose to believe even in the midst of doubt. The holy spirit will will lead us to truth.

19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”