Did Thomas get a raw deal?

How would you like to be known as "Doubting Thomas" for centuries? Just because he wanted to see Jesus for himself, it doesn't mean he deserves to be known for eternity as the "doubter". For the next few weeks I plan to do some studying on the importance of "belief". I don't think I would bet much argument that there is a bit of a "crisis" of belief today. But, we need to be careful how we characterize the crisis as well as how we address it. Sometimes we treat our doubts as if they are a choice to believe nothing instead of something. That mis-characterizes are journey from doubt to belief. Instead, I think it's important to hold up our doubts in the "light" and question why we have chosen to doubt. Timothy Keller in his book, The Reason for God, states "All doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs". When we consider that doubting God's existence or God's providence or God's presence is really a choice to believe something else we can begin to compare the choices. Often the reasons for doubting are substantial...but, unrelated to whether God is God. So, I plan to give a little kinder treatment to Thomas than some. But, in the end, I am glad he listened to Jesus. "Stop doubting and believe"!