God's Logic

I have noticed that any remotely religious topic on News24 is hotly debated. News24 is my on line news provider, but I imagine the insight is true of any news vendor on the net.

There are always 2 distinct camps, those who angrily refute the myth that God exists, based on solid logical, and rational arguments, peppered with belittling language. In other words, how can you idiotic Christians believe in ‘fairy tales’? The other camp consists of the individuals rooting for God. Their reasoning is often flowery, weak, full of biblical quotes, and ultimately ending in the ‘no debate’, ‘just have faith’ argument.

Each side tries their best to convert the other to their way of thinking, with neither side seemingly making any progress in amassing converts. To my surprise, it is the masters of logic who seem hell bent on winning each of these interactions. The arguments always end in impasse. No surprise there!

The notion of faith is the crux of the disagreement! This concept is unacceptable to anyone who wants it proven from first principles. Obviously if that were possible, the debate around God’s existence would be a non issue, either we prove him to be here or not. Christians fail to get the logic argument, as by its nature Christianity asks its believers to believe what cannot be seen (and hence proven). In other words, one must put logic aside in order to embrace the concept of being Christian.

For a non believer, the logic just does not stack up.

I am then further amazed how upset both sides become, as they fail to make any headway. As per any good disagreement, both sides refuse to budge from their opinion. Sadly, agreeing to disagree, and then moving on, does not seem to be an option. Instead the same debate is rehashed on publication of the next religious article, with the same amount of fervour.

I wonder what the right response is to such an impasse. Being a highly logical thinker, I appreciate the logical argument. Being a good Christian at the same time, I get the complete breakdown in logic. I see my inconsistent thinking and yet, I would have it no other way. God makes sense to me on all levels of my life, more than that I feel genuinely loved. I am happy to take that any day over the satisfaction of winning an on line sparring match with cold logic.