CYNIC OR SCEPTIC – Are you a Nathanael or a Didymus?
John 20:24-25 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
The danger of COVOD-19, from a spiritual perspective, is that sceptics are turned in cynics. Cynicism is like poison in the community well, and leads to the death of all who drink from it.
The past 5 months have separated believers into two distinctive camps. There are those who believe there is a clear and proven evil agenda behind the source, the numbers and the people who fill our minds with daily updates and manipulated information. And there are those who believe the sources they trust and seek to be responsible citizens in the way they act, communicate and deal with the realities of a pandemic. Both camps have sincere believers who love the Lord with a deep passion for truth, justice and righteousness. And yet their views are poles apart and irreconcilable. These vastly different responses raise some questions: Is the one a realist and the other an idealist? Is the one a pessimist and the other an optimist? Or, does the difference lie in the fact that one is a cynic and the other a sceptic?
A cynic always believes the worst in everything. A cynic is always distrustful, believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest and, therefore, suspicious of human sincerity or integrity. A sceptic on the other hand also has doubts but is not easily swayed in any direction, good or bad, until it is proven so.
Paul Maxwell, in an article on the website Desiring God[1] writes the following:
“Cynicism is so undetectable because it is so justifiable. It wears a mask of insight and godliness, but it conceals festering wounds of harboured bitterness against God and neighbour. The cynic places the highest premium on their own analysis of the world. Cynicism is Descartes’ principle of doubt in the hands of self-protective fear — transformed from ‘I think, therefore I am’ to ‘I think therefore you’re dumb’. It is an emotional rocket launcher mounted on a La-Z-Boy.”
Maxwell then provides the following five trademarks of a cynic. If we identify any of these trademarks in our lives, whether it be against leaders, cultures, religions or people, we need to transform it before it turns toxic.
- APATHY
At the root of cynicism is a lack of joy, combined with a desire for pleasure. Cynicism is the concoction of indifference and discontentment. It is teenage apathy turned sour through the hardships of life as a twentysomething (the quarter-life crisis being the expiration date). Cynicism is pointed apathy. The cynic is the guy who finds a reason to leave a church that he doesn’t care about in order to cover a reputation that he does care about.
- CRITICISM
At the root of cynicism is a lack of love. The cynic places the highest premium on their own analysis of the world. Cynicism is Descartes’ principle of doubt in the hands of self-protective fear – transformed from “I think, therefore I am” to “I think you’re dumb.” From ergo sum to “Eh, forget you . . .” It is easier for a woman to explain her singleness in terms of male immaturity than it is to face the possibility of being unwanted.
- WORSHIP
At the root of cynicism is misdirected devotion. Cynicism is an inverted emotional liturgy. It is a dull, stubborn fixation on something or someone. It is not a fit or fury, nor is it brash. It is slight and subtle — rolled eyes, raised eyebrows, curled lips, and, beneath it all, it is a low-lit anxiety burning deep in the chest. Cynicism is an enunciated rarefaction in affection; a doxological dark matter.
- NOTHINGNESS
At the root of cynicism is isolation. The presumption of cynicism is not that it condescends from “up there,” but that it disapproves from nowhere. It scorns from a safe and comfortable nothingness that is so empty and contentless that it cannot be retaliated against. A healthy response to suffering builds something new when the old is taken away. Cynicism thinks building is for losers because Johnny likes building and Johnny is a jerk. End of story.
- HISTORY
At the root of cynicism is a host of bad experiences. Cynicism, despite its very active nature, is usually a result of truly bad experiences of suffering, resulting in legitimate concerns. It is never instantaneously spawned — it is always the result of time. Cynicism is longsuffering, because with every mistake, with every stupid thing said, with every hurtful thing done, it seeks to mount enough evidence to launch an everlasting, irrevocable counter-offence of justified negative emotion. Cynics are cornered sufferers who have turned their shields into blunt swords.
In times of doubt, broken promises, and hurt a transformed believer should rather consider being a SCEPTIC than a CYNIC.
However, let’s be clear. When referring to “being a sceptic”, I am not referring to the Greek word “SKÉPSIS” which means “being in doubt”. I am referring to the Greek word “SKÉPTESTHAI” which means to “scrutinize or examine carefully”.
In Jesus’s inner circle we find both the cynic and the sceptic.
In John 1:46 we are introduced to Nathanael. When Philip finds Nathanael and tells him: “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” The only words that cynical Nathanael could utter was: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Even without testing, scouting or researching, the cynic had made up his mind.
But Jesus also had the sceptic, Thomas. In John 20:24 we find that Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, was not present when Jesus appeared to them after His resurrection. When the other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, Thomas was not cynical but sceptical: “Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
These are the words of a sceptic, not a doubter. After all, it was the same Thomas in John 11:16 who encouraged the rest of the disciples to travel with Jesus to Judea, “that we may die with Him.”
Bible scholars mistakenly attributed Thomas with the dubious title of Doubting Thomas. It should have been Sceptic Thomas, or as my friend Richard Baird says, Forensic Thomas – the one who wanted to examine carefully before just accepting the words of others. He was not cynical, nor was he faithless or in doubt. He wanted proof.
I am a firm believer that transformed followers of Christ, like Thomas, should be more sceptical when it comes to news, testimonies, theologies, and teachings. Unless it bears the marks of the cross, we should not be satisfied. At the same time, we should also reflect the attitude of sceptic Thomas towards our political leaders. Not cynical or doubtful, but sceptical. If we truly believe that God appoints leaders, then we should have an attitude of scepticism rather than embracing cynicism. Because ultimately, no virtue or action can stand on its own against the ‘black hole’ of cynicism.
Rather be proven wrong by being an optimistic sceptic than be proven right by being a pessimistic cynic.
[1] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/putting-off-cynicism
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