Doubting Thomas Got a Bad Rap

Doubting Thomas got a bad rap: the one who didn't immediately believe; the one who questioned.

He had one weak moment: ²⁵So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." (John 20:25).

Recently, I really related to Thomas. I was doubting.

Have you ever wanted proof? Evidence? A visible sign?

I know I was really craving it. I needed to see the nail marks.

Fortunately, they appeared.

Friend after friend shared with me precisely what I needed to hear. Devotions spoke directly to my situation. My pastor's sermon seemed as though it had to have been written specifically for me and my doubt. Mentors linked me to unbelievably appropriate sites or documents that answered my questions; One guy even sent me a document defending Paul written by a female Baptist preacher who is also a professor and a feminist!?!

Yes, I was seeing the nail marks. My doubts were fading. My faith was strengthening.


That is why I could connect with the story of Thomas.

Doubting Thomas got a bad rap.

It has been cemented into society's mind through the stereotype of a "doubting Thomas" and through art, even through music.

One of my favorite songs is called "Doubting Thomas" by Nickel Creek.

The lyrics are so great and, with my recent struggles in Women and Religion, one line especially resonated with me:

Can I be used to help others find truth, (particularly leading a Bible study!)
When I'm scared I'll find proof that its a lie

This was precisely my concern: I was afraid that I would learn my way out of my religion. 

But, the opposite has happened.

Just. Like. Thomas.

²⁶A week later his [Jesus'] disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

 ²⁸Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:26-28)

 According to Dr. Ralph Wilson, "Thomas, 'Doubting Thomas,' as he is sometimes called, is the first disciple to put into words the truth that Jesus is both Lord and God. 

"'Doubting Thomas' utters the greatest confession of faith recorded anywhere in the Bible." 

How awesome and encouraging is that?

Again, Doubting Thomas got a bad rap.

Something else I find encouraging is NOT written in the Bible. Yep. It isn't written in there.

But society has written it in there - An extra verse that doesn't actually exist.

If you look at the art and talk to people (believers and nonbelievers) they will likely tell you that Thomas touched the nail marks.

That, however, is NOT written in the Bible.

The Bible goes straight from verse 27 where Jesus tells Thomas to "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe" into verse 28 where Thomas declares his belief: "My Lord and my God!"

No verse 27.5 exists saying that Thomas touched the nail marks.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.

Either way, we cannot. I cannot.

As a result, I choose to believe that Thomas did not. Then, just like him, we can sense the presence of Jesus moving among us and then proclaim our faith... even if we can't reach out and touch the nail marks.

Verse 29 further clarifies that faith is possible without having the exact proof or evidence or nail marks to touch: ²⁹Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."(John 20:29)

That is how Jesus ends it: he acknowledges that Thomas has believed.

Why don't we acknowledge that?

Doubting Thomas got a bad rap. 

We should look up to him - especially in our time of doubting and questioning - as the one who strengthened his faith and became Believing Thomas.

Oops, my Bible Blunder - an awkward update

In keeping with my recent scripture theme, I have a bit of an awkward update.

It is much more light-hearted than my two previous posts and made me laugh so I thought I would share it.

I know it has already been established that I am single, but I don't believe I have yet mentioned that I am bad with numbers and also a Bible study leader. Those are key points to my story...

My Bible Blunder:

I have a new phone and a new phone plan that allows for mass-text messages. Since this upgrade, I have overindulged myself - and possibly annoyed friends and family - with these mass picture/text messages.

Sometimes these messages are practical, like alerting everyone in a group dinner date about what time to meet, etc.

More often than not, however, they are random messages like when I sent out a picture of a very large penis on the projector in my Human Sexuality class one day; I attached a message saying "Look what I walked into for class; just thought I would share the love ;)"

NOTE: I did not send that one to my Bible study girls!

My Bible blunder involved one of these random mass messages.

After reading a lovely devotional about God as love, I thought I would share the scripture with others, including girls that I lead in my Bible study and also my mother.

This is the verse I thought I texted to everyone:

"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them."
- 1 John 4:16

Isn't that beautiful? As a hopeless romantic, I thought it was.

This would have been a very sweet, Southern Belle kind of message to send out.

Sadly, that is NOT what I sent out in my message. I am bad with numbers and often mix them up or even occasionally forget them altogether.

This time I forgot a number, a very key number.

I left off the number 1.

As a result, I sent a mass message saying "I love you and so does God. John 4:16."

That verse reads:

"'Go and get your husband,' Jesus told her."

Yes, indeed. It seems the Feminist in me might have made a bit of a Freudian slip on that one ;)

And you say women shouldn't preach?

¹ Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. ² She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³ Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. ⁴ They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷ while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. ⁸ Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—⁹ for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then they went home.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. ¹² She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. ¹³ “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

¹⁴ She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. ¹⁵ “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

¹⁶ “Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

¹⁷ “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

John 20: 1-18

In this passage:

1) Jesus does not at first reveal his identity. Instead, he asks Mary Magdalene why she is crying and who she is looking for rather than bursting in and exclaiming his presence (verse 15).

2) Then Jesus announces his resurrection to Mary Magdalene, a woman (verse 17).

3) Mary not only shares the good news (verse 18) but Jesus specifically tells her to spread the news that he had risen (verse 17).

Is preaching not, in its most basic form, sharing the good news?

Mary Magdalene clearly did this. In fact, Jesus told her to.

Thus, I believe that society may have laid out the standard that only men should preach but I try to live by W.W.J.D. (what would Jesus do?). I think this passage pretty clearly points out that he would support women preaching.