My belief is that most people believe in something called "science". Would we discard "science" as cavalierly as we toss "faith"?
Do you believe quarks exist? If you really believe in science than you must 100% believe in quarks. How can you believe in quarks if you never saw them? I think you are lying when you say you believe in quarks.
OK, if you REALLY believe in quarks then you can name all six flavors of quarks.
For those of you who are now convinced you are doomed to science hell, the six flavors are up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top.
But don't worry, since you don't believe in science you are not subject to the rules of science. You can fearlessly jump off tall buildings, poke holes in your aorta, consume organophosphates in abundance and provoke red-heads without fear.
Silly?
How much do you believe in science? If pressed, you would probably agree that it is a handy way to grip the universe even if you are not conversant in every detail of what is commonly called science.
How much faith do you give yourself credit for? Faith is a handy way to grip the parts of the universe that are opaque to science. Even more, Faith as expressed in the first five books of the Bible is a handy way to grip the dynamics of arch-type small, closed groups. Faith as expressed in the New Testament is a handy way to grip the dynamics of larger, more porous groups.
I am a simple guy. Using science as an analogy, my faith is not a Large Hadron Super Collider. It is a 12" adjustable wrench. What it lacks in sophistication it makes up for in versatility.
Yes I have doubts. No, my faith is not perfect. But neither is the wrench pictured above.
To quote Brother Miller, "Abraham is the father of faith and they are few. Sarah is the mother of grace and that is the rest of us." For me, science is mankind's way of explaining the wonder of God's creation. Combine the two and that is a glimpse at my philosophy on life.
ReplyDelete"Lord I believe. Help Thou mine unbelief."
ReplyDeleteI liked this so much that I sent a copy of it to a friend.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you found some value in it.
Delete-Joe
I'm sharing with my pastor. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, and thanks for commenting.
Delete-Joe
"Nevertheless, the rising tide of monotheism did not really wipe out dualism. Jewish, Christian and Muslim monotheism absorbed numerous dualist beliefs and practices, and some of the most basic ideas of what we call ‘monotheism’ are, in fact, dualist in origin and spirit. Countless Christians, Muslims and Jews believe in a powerful evil force – like the one Christians call the Devil or Satan – who can act independently, fight against the good God, and wreak havoc without God’s permission. How can a monotheist adhere to such a dualistic belief (which, by the way, is nowhere to be found in the Old Testament)? Logically, it is impossible. Either you believe in a single omnipotent God or you believe in two opposing powers, neither of which is omnipotent. Still, humans have a wonderful capacity to believe in contradictions.
ReplyDeleteThe average Christian believes in the monotheist God, but also in the dualist Devil, in polytheist saints, and in animist ghosts. Scholars of religion have a name for this simultaneous avowal of different and even contradictory ideas and the combination of rituals and practices taken from different sources. It’s called syncretism. Syncretism might, in fact, be the single great world religion."
http://casnocha.com/2016/10/sapiens-history-humankind.html
Satan
Can't live with him, can't live without him?
...and thus we tip-toe into a discussion about the limited processing power of the human mind.
DeleteFor the sake of argument, I suggest that the human mind can efficiently process A-B comparisons. All problems that are more complex than A-B comparisons are reduced to A-B comparisons, whether the problem is amenable to the reduction or not. Some problems are multi-variable and highly coupled and refuse to be solved in univariate, piecewise fashion.
How would you propose such a limited device process a relationship with an infinite being? A designer will often draw three views of a design, front, side and top (or plan) views to capture both the instantaneous image and relationship between the snapshots.
That is one way to reconcile the Trinity, three "persons" or faces of a single God. An infinite and benevolent God giving us a way to groc Him.
Groc?
ReplyDeleteMy bad. Grok. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok
Delete