Stop Calling Him Doubting Thomas
Somehow, Thomas ended up with the worst nickname in Christian history.
Peter denies Jesus three times and gets called “the rock.”
David has an affair and arranges a death and gets remembered as “a man after God’s own heart.”
Thomas asks for evidence once—and for two thousand years we’ve been calling him Doubting Thomas.
That feels… unfair.
Thomas wasn’t cynical. He wasn’t trying to tear the community apart. He wasn’t saying, “I refuse to believe.” He was saying, “If this is true, it matters enough for me to be honest about what I need.” That’s not doubt. That’s integrity.
Think about what Thomas was being asked to believe. His teacher had been publicly executed. Brutally. The trauma was fresh. The grief was real. And suddenly his friends show up saying, “He’s alive. We saw him.” If anyone today heard that story, we’d say, “Of course you have questions.” We’d probably recommend sleep, therapy, and a second conversation—not a nickname that sticks for millennia.
When Jesus finally meets Thomas, he doesn’t shame him. He doesn’t say, “How dare you ask.” He invites him closer. “Put your finger here. See my hands.” Jesus meets Thomas at the point of his question, not beyond it.
And then comes the part we often miss: Thomas gives one of the strongest confessions in the entire Gospel of John. “My Lord and my God.” That doesn’t sound like a man who never believed. It sounds like someone whose faith was forged honestly.
Growing up Adventist, many of us were taught—explicitly or implicitly—that questions are dangerous. That certainty equals faith. That doubt is a spiritual flaw. So we learn to suppress questions, smile politely, and call it belief. But buried questions don’t disappear. They just go underground and come out later—usually louder.
Thomas shows us a better way. Ask the question. Say what you actually need. Refuse to pretend. Faith that can’t survive honest questions isn’t strong faith—it’s fragile faith held together by fear.
So maybe it’s time we retire the nickname.
Call him Honest Thomas.
Curious Thomas.
Faith-But-Not-Gullible Thomas.
Or just Thomas—the disciple who loved truth enough to ask, and found God waiting on the other side of his question.
That’s not doubt to be ashamed of.
That’s faith done honestly.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
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