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.

Its all going down over here

This weekend was interesting.

We took a trip to Hermanus to introduce my mom and my in laws to the whales. Instead the only Wales we got to see were the ones the Springboks narrowly beat in their opening world cup rugby match. The drive was lovely through some majestic Cape scenery, reinforcing how privileged we are to live in such a place.

Then there was a dinner party that ended up being more of a party than dinner. Many new stories created that shall be rehashed at dinner parties for years to come...

Our idyllic street of which I have waxed lyrical so many times of late became the scene of two attempted murders and a killing. Now that you have gotten back into the chair you just fell off, it should be mentioned that all who live here are healthy and safe, but understandably traumatised. I will keep you in suspense on this one...

The men’s breakfast I MC’d was well attended and most enjoyable. There is something to be said for the camaraderie of men. Our guest speaker had a particularly poignant message for men, by all accounts, one of his pet topics.

His view on love is that it is a sacrifice. When one gets married, one sacrifices one’s life for one’s partner. Theoretically the partner does the same thing. In essence love wants nothing in return! If you are in a marriage where you are expecting to get something out, then you have the wrong idea. Those with children already well know how much of life is sacrificed to give ones offspring the best chances in life. Christianity too is also a sacrifice of our lives for Christ, the taking of the difficult road, the making of the hard choices, the keeping of high morals and values. The speakers challenge to men was to stand up and make a difference. To sacrifice our lives for the betterment of society which will mean tough decisions, and stands on issues others will ridicule.

One can imagine how much better marriage would work if we were in it for our partner alone. Looking after them and making their lives better in any way we could. Imagine how difficult that would be, and how rewarding. Imagine how our children would learn by our example.

Very simply, anything good in this world is going to be difficult and will start with each of us taking a stand and suffering the consequences.

Lost 2

After giving my last post on ‘lost’ some lateral thought, I decided that I was not happy with it all. If you have not read it, read it and then come back to this post.

There is one other thing that I can do for my children. Ensure that they know and feel Gods love for them. With it, at least they can expect heaven when they die, and as a parent, I will know that this is where they will be. Without it, they are gone without a trace, and as a parent, I will be left with a tragic loss!

You may be thinking that you won’t be reading this blog again because I have brought up the God factor? The thing is, I would rather be an idiot and believe in God, and be wrong, than clever, not believe, and be wrong! This comment though, tries to reduce faith to a tenet of logic which obviously cannot be done, so please forgive me.

As a Christian, I believe that God gave up his son to die for me. There is no way I would ever be able to sacrifice my children for any reason, no matter how good. I am far too small a man for that. To think that God did exactly that for me; means that his love for me is humanly unfathomable. Truly, I want my children to experience that love.

So the things I can do for my children, regardless if they die young or old, is to give them a home filled with love and a life filled with God!