Having read the chapter about 3 weeks back I am left with the bare impression of it in my memory. In skimming over it just now I've concluded this will have to suffice. It wasn't a chapter that brought out any of the best criticisms against Christian faith in God but more defined for the reader, as a good book should, what exactly we are talking about here.
What we are NOT talking about:
"God" in the sense that Einstein used the term to describe a sort of wonderment and fascination with beautiful and eloquent processes or objects found within our world and the cosmos as a whole.
What we ARE talking about:
"God" in the very direct sense. A supernatural, living entity that intelligently designed all of creation. The God referred to in the Old Testament (and new). The God of Abraham.
What else I remember:
(May or may not have been from chapter 1)
Richard Dawkins will never confess belief in God on his death bed. Ever.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
If it could be proven
Because of a long line of circumstances, which need not be hashed out here, I began to question a very basic belief I've held all my life: God Exists. Now even in my teen years when I threw a fist in God's face, and pretty much anyone else that even resembled authority, I still believed He existed. I just didn't care.
This doubt, as I shall call it, begged the question of which I am all too familiar with but still have taken the affirmative on faith: If God does exist, Is He Good? If God does not exist then that has some implications on the way I choose to live. If God does exist but He's not good then that has some implications as well, maybe even the exact same ones.
Over a several week period of mulling over these thoughts I, for the first time, grasped more tightly how everything in my life is really due to decisions I made because of God. (Invariably in this amount of time I go through some type of depression like-symptoms so my quandaries are not always rational: Just FYI)
My friends are because of God, the college I went to was because of God, the major I chose was because of God, I got married because of God, I choose not to get divorced even though sometimes I really want to because of God. My job is because of God. Where I live is because of God. My hard work ethic is because of God. My honesty, my patience, my persistence is because of God. My discipline and my routines are because of God. My whole purpose in life is because of God.
Disclaimer: I don't make these decisions to appease an angry God or to earn His favor and His love. Because I believe that God loves me and sent Jesus to save me, not by works but simply by faith, I WANT to live my life for Him, I WANT to make the decisions He wants me to make. As my creator and as my King and as my friend I want to live the way He wants me to live, love like He loves, care like He cares and forgives and inspires and empowers and comforts.
To disprove God would equate to a breakdown in my entire way of life. I know what my reaction would be. Divorce, move, work late nights in some scandalous outfit in any old venue I could find, drink alcohol instead of water, and drug it up. Not to say this would be anyone's reaction to disproving God. Just to say it would be mine. Because I would feel like Richard in one of those last episodes this season: I thought I had a purpose and now it's dead.
If in fact God does exist but one could disprove His goodness I could not decipher a distinction between the two. Why would I live my life worshiping, following, and making decisions for a God who is not good?
Now that I've opened the bag, I have no choice but to see what's inside. I cannot ignore my questioning, my doubts. If I've lived my life for God, if I live it today for God, if I live it in the future for God, I want to know the best arguments against His existence. I want to know the very best cases for why He does not exist or is not good. So I pilot my self-directed search in this unfamiliar territory. Enter upstage, center: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
This doubt, as I shall call it, begged the question of which I am all too familiar with but still have taken the affirmative on faith: If God does exist, Is He Good? If God does not exist then that has some implications on the way I choose to live. If God does exist but He's not good then that has some implications as well, maybe even the exact same ones.
Over a several week period of mulling over these thoughts I, for the first time, grasped more tightly how everything in my life is really due to decisions I made because of God. (Invariably in this amount of time I go through some type of depression like-symptoms so my quandaries are not always rational: Just FYI)
My friends are because of God, the college I went to was because of God, the major I chose was because of God, I got married because of God, I choose not to get divorced even though sometimes I really want to because of God. My job is because of God. Where I live is because of God. My hard work ethic is because of God. My honesty, my patience, my persistence is because of God. My discipline and my routines are because of God. My whole purpose in life is because of God.
Disclaimer: I don't make these decisions to appease an angry God or to earn His favor and His love. Because I believe that God loves me and sent Jesus to save me, not by works but simply by faith, I WANT to live my life for Him, I WANT to make the decisions He wants me to make. As my creator and as my King and as my friend I want to live the way He wants me to live, love like He loves, care like He cares and forgives and inspires and empowers and comforts.
To disprove God would equate to a breakdown in my entire way of life. I know what my reaction would be. Divorce, move, work late nights in some scandalous outfit in any old venue I could find, drink alcohol instead of water, and drug it up. Not to say this would be anyone's reaction to disproving God. Just to say it would be mine. Because I would feel like Richard in one of those last episodes this season: I thought I had a purpose and now it's dead.
If in fact God does exist but one could disprove His goodness I could not decipher a distinction between the two. Why would I live my life worshiping, following, and making decisions for a God who is not good?
Now that I've opened the bag, I have no choice but to see what's inside. I cannot ignore my questioning, my doubts. If I've lived my life for God, if I live it today for God, if I live it in the future for God, I want to know the best arguments against His existence. I want to know the very best cases for why He does not exist or is not good. So I pilot my self-directed search in this unfamiliar territory. Enter upstage, center: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
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