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certainty and doubt


"Only the truth satisfies and answers to the need of the spirit.  There it finds rest. Certainty is rest, peace, blessedness, while doubt, surmise and opinion always involve a certain degree of discomfort and uneasiness. Certainty is the normal and natural condition of the spirit as health is of the body.

"Therefore, even the search for truth is beautiful and a precious gift. But even more beautiful and precious is finding it, enjoying it and walking in its light. Doubt, on the other hand, is never the true condition of man, but is abnormal, like disease.  Sometimes, due to the error and lies that beset our lives, doubt is necessary, just as a fever may be good for the body and a thunderstorm good for the atmosphere. But in itself it is always a painful evil. He who doubts is like a wave on the sea, but he who believes is like a rock."

--Herman Bavinck, in The Certainty of Faith

Photo above courtesy Jet Propulsion Labs at NASA

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