Faith and doubt

 Faith is not about being right or wrong. A person can believe something that is wrong.

Faith is not about a quantity of knowledge about something. One only needs to know enough to believe.

Does being wrong—though one does not believe they are, and lacking knowledge about something--though they have enough knowledge to believe, mean their faith includes doubt?

When Peter began to sink, and Jesus asked him why he doubted, did he still have faith? Why did he start to sink? If a little faith is good enough, then what good was a little faith for Peter if he sunk and drowned? Jesus seem to equate doubt with little faith: ³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:31 Jesus' reaction was one of disapproval.

James speaks of faith without doubting, does this mean there is faith with doubt?  “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:6-8 Could the double-minded condition be that one asks God for wisdom, but he does not believe God will give it? He asks God for wisdom, but proceeds to deal with the matter as he sees best, not waiting on the Lord?

Does belief require 100% certainty to be belief? This can get complicated.

There are some things one are not 100% certain about but they choose to go with it. They may say that they could be wrong, but they believe it is most likely or the best option. Is this a case of a faith that includes doubt? Is it just wishful thinking? Is it just a preference?

Is the idea of 100% too demanding? Or do we even need to think in terms of percentages? Belief by definition doesn't seem to include doubt. Faith and belief mean the same thing. There is nothing in the words themselves to suggest that one of them, such as belief, includes doubt. It would be better to say that there is a belief without doubt and a belief with doubt. But any belief that includes doubt means a lack of certainty.

Some will point to this text to say faith includes unbelief: ²³ Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" Mark 9:23-24

We do not know exactly why this man responded this way or what he meant. Jesus was telling him he needed to have faith. Maybe the man didn't quite know what was expected of him. Maybe he was saying he wanted to believe but had doubts. Maybe he believed God could heal, but he didn't think he would. Something was lacking, but the man did bring his son to the disciples for healing. Maybe he was just hopeful something could be done, but was not certain about it, and he was just being honest.

There can be things we are certain about, and other things we think are the most likely or the best option. The former would seem to be faith without any doubt, but the latter does seem to contain some doubt, because it lacks certainty, though one may still believe it is possible, or they want it to be true. Is that faith that contains doubt? For it isn't complete denial. (edited 1-1-25)