Learning Objectives:
- Students will recognise the existence of doubt as a common experience for adherents to Christianity.
- Students will explore the possible responses to doubt, examining how individuals and communities address and incorporate doubt into their faith journeys.
- Students will reflect on their own questions and doubts, considering how these influence their personal beliefs.
Success Criteria:
- Students can identify a range of common questions and doubts that are experienced by people of faith.
- Students can articulate a variety of ways in which Christians might respond to doubt, recognising the value and limitations of each approach.
- Students can express the questions and doubts they experience, while identifying some strategies and people who may be able to help them process their doubts.
Introduce the Question
Pair & Share
In pairs, students share a story of a time in their lives when they started to doubt something they believed in. (e.g. the tooth fairy, the moon landing, vaccines, life as a Sim, 5G health risks etc.)
Idea Reflection
Students complete a ‘Colour-Symbol-Image’ thinking routine for the word ‘doubt’.
Define Doubt
Students read the Spark & Guinness (lesson 7 slides) definitions of doubt (in relation to Christian faith) then write their own definition.
Group Brainstorm
On a post-it note, students write down one or more doubts they have about the Christian faith. These get stuck on the whiteboard and other students indicate whether each is something they also are unsure about. This activity could also be completed using a Digital Discussion platform.
Explore the Question
Resource Evaluation
- Clip: The role of doubt in a life of faith (1:22)
- Clip: Doubt and grace (1:15)
- Clip: Facebook forum: Doubt and faith (1:30)
- Article: The pain and beauty of uncertainty (4 minute read)
Students complete the ‘Four C-s’ thinking routine based on each of the above resources which they’ve watched and read.
Students complete a Think-Pair-Share activity using the following questions:
- Do the attitudes towards doubt in these videos and article surprise you?
- How could doubt be beneficial to faith or even “part of the life of faith”?
- If these people have at different times struggled with doubt, why do you think they still believe?
- In the article, Simon Smart says: “The sort of faith that allows no room for doubt may ultimately be frail and limited…Deep faith that honestly wrestles with the murky aspects of life, the parts that cannot be reduced to simple equations, measurable qualities and glib answers may in the end be the most enduring and sturdy of them all.” What is your reaction to this quote? (lesson 7 slides)
Group Discussion
- Clip: On doubt and certainty (1:31)
- Article: What if you’re wrong? (1 min)
Show the clip to the class and read the article together, before students are invited to summarise the value that these resources give to the place of doubt in the life of faith.
Students discuss how much they agree or disagree with the points being made.
Bible Focus
Students read Luke 7:18-28 and answer the following questions:
- What does John the Baptist’s question to Jesus reveal about how John was feeling at this point in time?
- Why is it surprising that John was experiencing doubt? (You may want to read Mark 1:1-11 for some background on John). What circumstance in his life do you think might have caused this?
- How did Jesus respond to John? What does this show us about Jesus’ character and how he responds to doubt in general?
- What does Jesus say about John? Why is this surprising? (Considering that John has just expressed some doubt in Jesus’ identity).
Students write a journal entry from the perspective of John the Baptist reflecting on this incident.
Respond to the Question
Written Reflection 1
Students imagine that a friend has shared a doubt about faith or God with them. They then draft a text message designed to encourage them, incorporating at least one of the ideas explored in this class.
Written Reflection 2
Students reconsider the doubt that they originally wrote on a post-it note, and write down something that they have learnt that may be relevant, the questions they still have, and who could help them in exploring answers to their questions.
Self-Inquiry
Students produce a set of questions that could be used to interrogate their own beliefs, asking themselves the question “What if you’re wrong?”.
Extension
Students prepare a series of interview questions which explore how someone who is a Christian processes uncertainty and doubt.
Students may also record an audio interview with them about doubt and their faith (ideally an older person).