The Christian Vanguard

Some Catholics and Protestants believe that error has no rights, and errors concerning the faith most certainly do not have right. Errors, and some egregious sins, ought to be punished by law, with some practical exceptions. So here is a question for that position. If doubting the faith were a sin, should doubt be prosecuted? It isn't so easy to say that doubt isn't something we can control at will because faith is often regarded as a virtue. Both of these are mental states of the same sort, so if faith can be praised and be credited to us, then so can doubt, so doubt is in some sense in our control. And doubting the faith is wrong, and so is a sin, which can be susceptible to punishment. I tend to lean to a more classically liberal view on this issue. 

I feel like it’s a bit difficult to get people motivated for apologetics. I’ve written Biblical cases for apologetics, and I’ve been working tirelessly to prepare lessons, and to be available for questions somebody in the ministry might have. And that’s good and all, but that just doesn’t seem to work all too well. Best seller Nancy Pearcy writes in her new book, Saving Leonardo , “Join a campus ministry group? A Bible study? Important though those things are, the most decisive factor [according to a Fuller Seminary study] is whether students had a safe place to work through their doubts and questions before leaving home. The researchers concluded, ‘The more college students felt that they had the opportunity to express their doubt while they were in high school, the higher [their] levels of faith maturity and spiritual maturity.’ The study indicates that students actually grow more confident in their...