So, the service exploring 'Faith and Doubt' is upon us, or is it actually more of a (little knowledge being dangerous) dodgy Greek lesson?  A lot of what I'll be saying emerges from getting side-tracked by the way the GNB (the pew Bible we happen to have) translated a particular Greek word (which can legitimately be rendered 'doubt') differently from other translations.  There are, it would seem, the NT scholars can correct me, albeit too late for today's service, five Greek words that can be translated as 'doubt' used in the NT:

Diakrinomenoj (diakrinomenos) which literally means 'through judgement' and translates as 'discern', 'discriminate', 'judge', 'hesitate', 'doubt', 'distinguish' and 'estimate' (18 occurences)

Aporew (aporeo) which literally means 'without means' and translates as 'hesitating' or 'being in doubt and perplexity' and can be used to refer to 'uncertainty'. (4 occurences)

Diaporew (diaporeo) – which literally means 'through perplexity'. (3 occurences)

Distazw  (distazo) – which literally means 'to duplicate' (2 occurences)

Dialogismoj (dialogismos) – which literally means 'through reckoning' (1 occurence)

The word that got me going along this avenue for thought was from 2 Cor 4:8 (Aporew) which the GNB translates as doubt and pretty much everyone else as 'perplexed'.

Anyway, the guts of what I'm going to say, is that if we view 'doubt' as something active, involved in wrestling with ideas and seeking to understand, whilst avoiding over-analysing then it is actually something quite positive.  To hesitate before rushing to conlcusions, to discriminate, discern, distinguish, these seem positive.  Only wavering seems to have a negative sense... with the KJV translation of James 1 giving us a waverer who waveth is like a wave on the sea... fab!