Why I Believe. Part I.
This series of blogs is directed to a friend of mine in particular and everyone else as well. Last summer and ending in the late fall I read a set of books that have spurred much contemplation. The death of Pope John Paul II has only continued this thought process to continue. The books with one exception were geared towards our national politics and were God and Ronald Reagan by Paul Kengor, Persecution by David Limbaugh, and Man, The Saint by Fr. J. Urteaga Loidi.
The friend in particular was a childhood friend and while we have grown and went our separate ways when he comes back for visits he usually contacts us and we get together. I will refer to him as Junior. Junior's father and mine were good lifelong friends and this is how we became friends. He went to school at MSOE and was introduced to the writings of Ayn Rand and saw much in them he liked. One of those things was disbelief in God.
We were sitting around the campfire one night "Up North" and he wondered aloud to me why I do believe in God, being that I am well educated and traveled. He figured I would have given up belief after all the learning and traveling. He asked if I would write down my reasoning for belief. This was quite some years ago and I have attempted many times to do this. I do not mind sharing my faith, that isn't the problem. The problem is faith is an extremely contradictory thing, it is both simple and complicated (I know, this sounds like "what if c-a-t really spelled d-o-g" but I can not express it any other way). Sometimes the simplest of things are the hardest to explain.
Men of greater minds have written volumes over the centuries on this very subject. It is the simplest matters that generate the most heat, the most contemplation. No doubt Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg et al. generated much heat and writing amongst themselves regarding quantum physics but guess what? The heat is now gone and the debates are settled. Surely the writing goes on but the writing is for instructional purposes not for the purpose of discovery and exploration.
No doubt, as you see, I expect this to be a series of blogs rather than a single blog. After all, as I just stated the world's greatest minds have written volumes over centuries on this very topic.
I have no roadmap laid out as to where this discussion will go. It will most likely touch upon the practices and beliefs of The Church, my own thoughts, my experiences, and so on.
The friend in particular was a childhood friend and while we have grown and went our separate ways when he comes back for visits he usually contacts us and we get together. I will refer to him as Junior. Junior's father and mine were good lifelong friends and this is how we became friends. He went to school at MSOE and was introduced to the writings of Ayn Rand and saw much in them he liked. One of those things was disbelief in God.
We were sitting around the campfire one night "Up North" and he wondered aloud to me why I do believe in God, being that I am well educated and traveled. He figured I would have given up belief after all the learning and traveling. He asked if I would write down my reasoning for belief. This was quite some years ago and I have attempted many times to do this. I do not mind sharing my faith, that isn't the problem. The problem is faith is an extremely contradictory thing, it is both simple and complicated (I know, this sounds like "what if c-a-t really spelled d-o-g" but I can not express it any other way). Sometimes the simplest of things are the hardest to explain.
Men of greater minds have written volumes over the centuries on this very subject. It is the simplest matters that generate the most heat, the most contemplation. No doubt Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg et al. generated much heat and writing amongst themselves regarding quantum physics but guess what? The heat is now gone and the debates are settled. Surely the writing goes on but the writing is for instructional purposes not for the purpose of discovery and exploration.
No doubt, as you see, I expect this to be a series of blogs rather than a single blog. After all, as I just stated the world's greatest minds have written volumes over centuries on this very topic.
I have no roadmap laid out as to where this discussion will go. It will most likely touch upon the practices and beliefs of The Church, my own thoughts, my experiences, and so on.
posted by Marcus Aurelius at 5:01 PM
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