Patheos blogger Rebecca Hamilton writes about a miracle story here. Most of the non-faithful will simply write it off as a delusion or an as-of-yet undiscovered scientific explanation. The faith of the non-religious in science is unwavering.
But the thing about these stories is that they happen all the time. They really do. I open my Facebook or RSS feed and everyday I get a story like this. Sometimes they are the same story for about two or three days. Sometimes they are really similar such that I wonder if one is a riff of of another. By and large there are so many of these stories that I find it next to impossible to dismiss them as coincidental.
I say next to impossible because being a natural skeptic I have to force myself to check my unreasonable bias against such stories. When I'm actually thinking it is impossible to come to any other conclusion that there is a God and He seems interested in us. But critical thinking even when useful leads to bad mental habits of doubting something simply because it doesn't mesh with one's experience.
In the past I would wonder why God would not perform miracles for the "unbeliever." It seemed to me at the time the most rational thing for Him to do. Empirical evidence and all that.
The thing I've learned over time however is that humans are not rational by nature. In fact it requires a great of mental discipline to actually think properly. Most people are emotional first, then use tortured reasoning to back up the emotion. It takes time and discipline of both emotion and reason to gear our senses toward the truth. And it is a daily struggle.
With this in mind I remember the story of Jesus visiting His hometown and would not perform a miracle due to their unbelief. Now I see that it wouldn't matter. The human mind is ultimately governed by the will. And the will can and does override what should be the natural reasoning process. If we are not careful we can put ourselves in a position where nothing could make us change our minds.
It is a wonder that we live in such an Age of Miracles and yet we try to pretend as if we do not. There is wonder all around us. But we choose to live the life of a false narrative. Ultimately this is due not to reason or empirical evidence, but the fact that we are afraid of the cost of changing our minds.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Series Page: Objective Morality
A series on common misconceptions about objective morality:
What is objective morality?
Misconception 1: Everyone would agree what is moral
Misconception 2 - Subjectivity has no role
Misconception 3 - Objective morality is not knowable
What is objective morality?
Misconception 1: Everyone would agree what is moral
Misconception 2 - Subjectivity has no role
Misconception 3 - Objective morality is not knowable
The tyranny of the secular state
I have often heard the claim that America was founded as a "secular state." Religion was specifically excluded from the Constitution because our Founders thought that a state founded on religion caused great harm to society. Thus religion has no place in American politics.
Let us set aside the question of if "religion was so dangerous why is it the first freedom afforded to us under the Bill of Rights?" Clearly the Founders saw some merit in religion if it appears at the top of things the government should not infringe upon.
But let us take the claim that religion has no place in politics. If taken to its logical conclusion this would mean that one should not legislate anything that derives from a moral viewpoint. This is where we get that phrase that couldn't be more wrong "One cannot legislate morality."
A government that has no moral outlook is like a man without a soul. It lacks the ability to justify why it should be allowed to prohibit or compel action on behalf of the people. The secular government cannot justify its use of power except by the fact that it has power.
To see the point I'm driving at consider some "theocracies" of the past. The Caliphates of the Islamic world justified their rule by appeal to the Prophet. The Western monarchs appealed to the "Divine Right of Kings." Both point to a higher source of that authority.
This is not to say that these principles were followed to a T. The point is that there was the principle to point to. And more importantly (at least in theory) a higher power that can bind the lower authority.
The secular state has no such claim to derived authority nor any bounding on that authority. The state seeks no justification for its actions, only what it can get away with. It seeks no purpose for wielding that power, only that it can. The citizens are not which are served by the state, but who serve the state.
We are now seeing the fruit of the secular state as it continues to encroach on the freedoms this country once cherished. But it is not surprising that the state will not guard them. It neither recognizes them nor the source from whence those freedoms came. It is sadly, the natural course of the tyrant.
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