It's an odd thing these days but people (like me) seem to forget that hope is a virtue. That means that it must be something that is cultivated. Sure we may be presented with a sign that things are getting better and that helps. But also hope is an act of will, much like charity and faith. It requires a conscious act on our part to cling to hope.
Another odd thing about hope is that it is so logical if one believes in God. The creator of the universe. The all powerful. He who made everything. His victory is assured and His will invariably will carry the day in the end. Duh. And yet it seems all too easy to forget. We are so easily frightened. We cling instead to money, sex, power. Or just yield up into despair.
But Easter is the time of renewal of hope. God has conquered death. Death no longer has power over us. Hope wins out.
Showing posts with label Good News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Good News. Show all posts
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Conversion: The aftermath
While trolling the various web blogs I found that a rather famous athiest blogger has converted (or reverted) to the Faith. I had known very little about him save for anything that had been mentioned at Dawn Eden's blog.
Perhaps the most curious thing (to me at least) is just the rather juvenile responses from the athiests that have turned on him. The vulgarity and condesencion that the convert has met with is nothing less than breathtaking. But perhaps more than that is the tendency to shout from the rooftops "Me rational, you not!" type of responses. It might be true, but having to reiterate it over and over again seems to me a kind of weakness. Perhaps an inability to perceive the mind of the other side. Sadly too often people of all creeds (or lacking one) seem to write off an opinion contrary to our favorite positions as nonsense. It may be true, but to call something nonsense you have to at least be able to demonstrate that you understand what it is you are rejecting.
The New Athiests (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, et al) demonstrate time and again that they do not understand what it is they are attacking. They are so far removed from what it is they assail over and over again, demonstrating that they simply don't underestand what it is they are railing against, thus making their arguments ineffective.
This I believe stems from two problems that they suffer from. Breathtaking arrogance and ignorance of religious subjects (usually Christianity). The latter comes from the former. The arrogance comes as a personal vice. This can only be remedied by them (God's corrective grace can only be accepted by them). The ignorance comes from a lack of respect for Christianity. They do not respect it enough to learn about it. Thus they dismiss it with a wave of the hand and bombast that they pass off as rational argument.
This is not an attempt to pass judgement on them. I have no idea about their moral failings or such. But until they sit down and actually learn more about what it is they despise so much, their arguments can be met with only "that's not what we teach." You cannot convert someone from something they don't believe in.
Perhaps the most curious thing (to me at least) is just the rather juvenile responses from the athiests that have turned on him. The vulgarity and condesencion that the convert has met with is nothing less than breathtaking. But perhaps more than that is the tendency to shout from the rooftops "Me rational, you not!" type of responses. It might be true, but having to reiterate it over and over again seems to me a kind of weakness. Perhaps an inability to perceive the mind of the other side. Sadly too often people of all creeds (or lacking one) seem to write off an opinion contrary to our favorite positions as nonsense. It may be true, but to call something nonsense you have to at least be able to demonstrate that you understand what it is you are rejecting.
The New Athiests (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, et al) demonstrate time and again that they do not understand what it is they are attacking. They are so far removed from what it is they assail over and over again, demonstrating that they simply don't underestand what it is they are railing against, thus making their arguments ineffective.
This I believe stems from two problems that they suffer from. Breathtaking arrogance and ignorance of religious subjects (usually Christianity). The latter comes from the former. The arrogance comes as a personal vice. This can only be remedied by them (God's corrective grace can only be accepted by them). The ignorance comes from a lack of respect for Christianity. They do not respect it enough to learn about it. Thus they dismiss it with a wave of the hand and bombast that they pass off as rational argument.
This is not an attempt to pass judgement on them. I have no idea about their moral failings or such. But until they sit down and actually learn more about what it is they despise so much, their arguments can be met with only "that's not what we teach." You cannot convert someone from something they don't believe in.
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