The unknown is a scary place to be in. Whether that’s in the context of finances, personal relationships, professional goals, or any other area of life, not knowing for sure can be nerve racking - even paralyzing. Humans attempt to plan for the unpredictable from the cradle to the grave, creating college savings accounts for their newborns and paying for life insurance policies that will provide financial stability for loved ones in the event of their deaths. This obsession has touched more than just the everyday matters of human life and has affected the way we ask and answer the bigger questions of what it means to be human, questions of faith and spirituality.

The Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries changed the way humans approach these questions, and we feel its effects to this day. Modern faith seems to rise and fall on certainty. And when the standard of certainty is not met, faith that was once thought to be unshakeable often collapses. For some, they are able to reconstruct something meaningful from the rubble. But for others, uncertainty and doubt signal the exit from faith. But without taking away from the real struggle involved in that process - whichever side you land on - we must ask questions about the thing on which faith rises or falls.

In this first episode of season 5, we ask: Can human beings ever be certain? Is certainty a goal worth pursuing? Would human existence be better if doubt or uncertainty were resolved? Have we made certainty an idol? All that and more in this edition of the podcast.