Objection 8: I Still Have Doubts, So I Can't be a Christian

On this intervew with Lynn Anderson, Jacobsen opts to be brief. He refers to material in Chapter 5 (our own answers there) and remarks:

I don't see any way to avoid concluding that belief and faith isn't a true/false issue, people's level of belief and faith encompasses the entire range from completely convinced there is a God to completely convinced there isn't.

With all due respect, I must conclude that Jacobsen's conclusion here is due to a lack of cognitive dimensionalism. My own take on this matter is that those who speak of being at various levels of being "convinced" are fooling themselves. To speak of being "47% convinced" is like speaking of being "47% pregnant". Your decision has either crossed the line or it hasn't. One may say, where X, Y and Z are required to decide on an issue, "Well, I have overcome reservations X and Y to this issue, but not Z. So I am only 66% convinced." That is a numbers game: You are 100% convinced on X and Y, and 0% on Z, and therefore, 100 x 100 x 0 = 0. There is no "66% convinced" but rather, "I have been satisfied on 66% of answers needed to reach point A." Therefore Jacobsen's parable of people missing the pearly gates by Maxwell Smart's "that much" is completely out of line.

Jacobsen offers this parable:

Lets suppose there are two men, who seem like very similar people. They are "Easter Christians," generally showing up at church only for Easter and Christmas. But one of these two only does it because he thinks he is supposed to, and usually nods-off during the sermon. The other one feels he should go more often, and listens to the preacher and tries to get meaning out of the sermons. He occasionally thinks to himself that he should go more often, and knows that he hasn't really been giving fair time to God.

Jacobsen goes on to hypothesize that the first man goes to hell, but there is insufficient data in the Christian paradigm for this -- we have no idea what either of these men thought concerning the central soteriological question, What do you believe about Jesus? If both did believe, then we DO have a place where some sort "spiritual quotient" comes in -- in terms of rewards in heaven. But there is no "level" where the core belief is concerned. You either believe or do not; you are either convinced or you are not, and if you are not, you are either going to be someday or won't be. Jacobsen's parable of Mr. Sleepy and his friend reversing roles misses the whole point. Faith (loyalty to God) is not open to double-mindedness. He who is not for Him, is against Him.