"When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything." ~UMBERTO ECO, (Foucault's Pendulum)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
It Speaks For Itself
6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I was re-reading God's reply to Job beginning in Chapter 38. I love those passages. We can ask "Why?" but most times we must be content without knowing, without understanding, when it comes to matters of faith. (I can see the above statement riddled with bullet holes.) But there does come a time when "Why?" is not helpful and perhaps not even what is most important. J
"We can ask "Why?" but most times we must be content without knowing, without understanding, when it comes to matters of faith."
But doesn't this bother you? And doesn't it render any pronouncements about who God is completely arbitrary, even specious? If we should be content without knowing, then why not admit agnosticism? Why call yourself a Christian if you're functionally agnostic? I don't mean 'you', personally, J.; just 'you' in general.
Kane "If we should be content without knowing, then why not admit agnosticism? "
Believing in a god does not mean you are all knowing. It also does not mean your god(s) will answer all your questions. So I see no reason a person can not be a devout believer and still not know everything Otherwise we would all be all knowing and how boring would that be?
I think the point was not that one is all-knowing because one believes in God/gods. The point was that because one "must be content without knowing, without understanding" makes a person functionally agnostic. This is the opposite of the Christian claim that one can know God, and that one can gain understanding of God by reading scripture and praying and studying.
In that respect, "a person can not be a devout believer" and claim contentment without knowing, without understanding. Assumedly, faith is not contentless. Assumedly, faith is in relation to its source, God, which would be its content, and thus be an awareness, or knowing of sorts, yes?
Good evening. Wow, I really did get sidetracked with so many things requiring my time. Glad to check back here, though. I think there is a real peace to contentment. It means that you can be in the midst of something you can't explain and just sit back, breath deeply and know that you don't have to know why - that sometimes it is enough that you know who. What I mean is that there are so many things that are impossible to understand, as much as we try and as much as we gain some limited understanding of things ... If we are always in pursuit of understanding, of questioning all that is, perhaps we miss out on some of the simple beauty of character in a relationship. I questioned everything for a while and found that it not only did not explain everything in my life -- the questions are bottomless -- but that it actually distracted me and in some ways hurt the relationships in my life that were so much more important than my need for answers. I'm not saying that you shouldn't ask "Why?" because God created us with a brain, to seek Him and know Him as a lifelong journey. But there is a time to stop asking and just rest or focus on the things that we do know that really matter to us. "When the waves swell and threaten to overwhelm me, I drop anchor in the unfathomable deep - the character of God - and there my soul finds its respite" (me). J
Thank you for such a personal account of your confidence. I enjoy the imagery of dropping anchor in the unfathomable deep. Very thoughtful, and poetic.
6 comments:
I was re-reading God's reply to Job beginning in Chapter 38. I love those passages.
We can ask "Why?" but most times we must be content without knowing, without understanding, when it comes to matters of faith.
(I can see the above statement riddled with bullet holes.)
But there does come a time when "Why?" is not helpful and perhaps not even what is most important.
J
J.,
"We can ask "Why?" but most times we must be content without knowing, without understanding, when it comes to matters of faith."
But doesn't this bother you? And doesn't it render any pronouncements about who God is completely arbitrary, even specious? If we should be content without knowing, then why not admit agnosticism? Why call yourself a Christian if you're functionally agnostic? I don't mean 'you', personally, J.; just 'you' in general.
Kane
"If we should be content without knowing, then why not admit agnosticism? "
Believing in a god does not mean you are all knowing. It also does not mean your god(s) will answer all your questions.
So I see no reason a person can not be a devout believer and still not know everything
Otherwise we would all be all knowing and how boring would that be?
Randy,
I think the point was not that one is all-knowing because one believes in God/gods. The point was that because one "must be content without knowing, without understanding" makes a person functionally agnostic. This is the opposite of the Christian claim that one can know God, and that one can gain understanding of God by reading scripture and praying and studying.
In that respect, "a person can not be a devout believer" and claim contentment without knowing, without understanding. Assumedly, faith is not contentless. Assumedly, faith is in relation to its source, God, which would be its content, and thus be an awareness, or knowing of sorts, yes?
Good evening.
Wow, I really did get sidetracked with so many things requiring my time.
Glad to check back here, though.
I think there is a real peace to contentment. It means that you can be in the midst of something you can't explain and just sit back, breath deeply and know that you don't have to know why - that sometimes it is enough that you know who.
What I mean is that there are so many things that are impossible to understand, as much as we try and as much as we gain some limited understanding of things ...
If we are always in pursuit of understanding, of questioning all that is, perhaps we miss out on some of the simple beauty of character in a relationship.
I questioned everything for a while and found that it not only did not explain everything in my life -- the questions are bottomless -- but that it actually distracted me and in some ways hurt the relationships in my life that were so much more important than my need for answers.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't ask "Why?" because God created us with a brain, to seek Him and know Him as a lifelong journey.
But there is a time to stop asking and just rest or focus on the things that we do know that really matter to us.
"When the waves swell and threaten to overwhelm me, I drop anchor in the unfathomable deep - the character of God - and there my soul finds its respite" (me).
J
J.,
Thank you for such a personal account of your confidence. I enjoy the imagery of dropping anchor in the unfathomable deep. Very thoughtful, and poetic.
Take care,
Kane
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