HeyMike3,
I think I can safely agree with your contrast of naivety and cynicism. Although I’m not certain what your motivation is for bringing them up.
It’s valid to contrast the type of certainty that is mentioned in Acts with what is usually discussed in a 21st century context as well. We are not talking about the same thing. Peter preached based on texts from within a culture that held them to be true, at least in a broad sense. He was also talking about an event that was recent to those described in the text. They really could go talk to witnesses of the resurrection. Peter’s sermon took place within the context of a miraculous event itself. Because of the miraculous nature of the events, I think it’s safe to asume that the Holy Spirit was at work as well.
When we talk of certainty today, we’re talking about something quite different, something quantifiable and rational in a way that is divorced from the presence of God in Christ, reference to prophecy, and the work of the Holy Spirit. That is often the promise of what is called apologetics today. We are promised certainty according to Western rationalism without the basis on which rationalism actually functions—the directly observable, repeatable, quatifiable.
Because our secular cultures operate on completely different assumptions than those of the New Testament authors’, what were basic assumptions in those cultures are not ours now. And the idea of certainty that we speak of now is something quite different from at that time. So, let’s not throw the word “certainty” around carelessly or use it as an accusation for lack of faith, when nothing has been presented to build faith.
I’ve said before, I’m a Christian. I believe the faith I have is a gift from God by his grace to me poured out by the Holy Spirit. I don’t pretend to be able to observe forensic evidence for the work of God in my life that would hold up in court. I recognize that what I see as the work of God looks like subjectivity from the outside, and that my own understanding is fallible. Because of my own observations and limitations, I recognize that I need to exercise grace toward someone who is wrestling with uncertainty. I claim Mark 9:24 and John 20:27 for any of us that ever have doubt and dare to wrestle with it. Jesus is a kind and patient God, who deals lovingly with his people.
Kendel