From tedious adulthood to the faith of a child...

Lately, a blogger that I've just discovered & I have been having a discussion (he's young & fancies himself athiest, but even he says he's not quite sure). In a recent post he asks,

"Who is God, who made God? Can such a complex and all powerful being just come into creation? How was God made? Who decided God should be the Alpha and the Omega? Why not me? Please don't say God just is...Because I can easily say the universe just is & then we're back to square one..."

I like this new blog friend. He has an openness to conversation & a gentleness to his young spirit. But one can see the tedium with which he approaches the Almighty.

Then just today I was hearing all about my first grader's day at school. She is quite a talker, & one might think she's rambling-on until you stop to listen to what she's "rambling"...which is almost always something that makes good sense. (It's mentally exhausting sometimes, let me tell ya!)

So it went like this,

her: "...learned about the solar system...the line that goes around the earth...God gave us all the languages so we can talk to each other...we live above the equator...God gave us all the names so we can name our children something different...days to get around the sun..." and then...

her: "I've always wondered why God doesn't have a wife."

(Do you see why I always have to be listening?)

me: "Baby, God doesn't have a wife, because God isn't human. God is God."

her: "God has to be part boy & part girl, because boys talk to God about boy stuff & girls talk to God about girl stuff."

me: "Very wise & observant thing to say. A lot of adults don't even understand that about God, baby. Good thinking..."

It was so simple to her. No worry about the origin of God, the gender of God, sexism superimposed on images of God, etc., etc. To my precious 6 year old daughter, God just is. And you know what? She's right.

And this new blog friend? He would be right too...so is the universe.

~~~

"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Mark 10:15

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Atheism 101 ?

An odd title for such a beautiful morning! Azaleas are their full glory. Iris is blooming & sunshine is glittering through my window. I’ve been away from the blogs b/c it has been just like THIS for several days now! Today, though, I feel inspired to put my fingers on the keys…

Lately I’ve encountered another blogger @ Cristina’s site, where she had posted the following:

Atheism

The belief that there was nothing and nothing happened to
nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything
and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason
whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs…Makes
perfect sense.

It was a rather clever summation of atheism, & I left a comment saying so. However, an atheist had stopped by too, & wasn’t pleased. I tracked back to his homepage, finding a blog seemingly entirely devoted to atheism.

From the intellectual nature of his language, I deduced that science & math were the basis for his atheism. Having done a bit of science in my day, I was curious about his perspective. (I’ll admit my pride was stung, too, having been down-right insulted when Cristina’s blog was belittled.)

See, I don’t tend to partake in arguing the “How it happened” of Creation/Evolution. To me, that’s a frustrating, circular dispute, resulting in one party’s presumed intellectual superiority, & the other party’s presumed spiritual superiority. I’m more of a mind to insist that the “Who” discussion is the most important part. In other words, Creation could have taken God 7 days or 500 million years (which to Him may have been 7 days…). It doesn’t really matter to me, because “How it happened” was God’s prerogative (& His Mystery), not mine. But the “WHO” of creation is absolutely critical. Anyway, our discussion @ this new blogger’s site went something like this:

My comment to A – “I'm truly curious, A. What makes me ignorant b/c I believe that God created it all? I'm fascinated by math…I'm riveted by the beauty & creativity of science...I'm awed by the magnificent creation that is the human body…I'm continually thankful for modern medicine's progress…I respect these disciplines & those who practice them. I do not discount science, but I acknowledge that the One who created all of it is a greater Mind than mine could ever fathom...Respectfully I ask, why is that ignorant?”

A’s reply: “I didn't say that you were ignorant for your beliefs. I said that the person who posted that was ignorant about atheism and what science says about the origin of the universe. You are certainly entitled to believe in your god, but I find the Christian god to be logically incoherent. What science tells us about the universe points to a completely natural process that does not require a creator, and until there is actually evidence of such an entity, I find it irrational to believe in he/she/it.”

My next comment to A:
“…I've studied 'what science says about the origins of the universe.' Though I don't claim science as a profession, I find it extraordinary & fascinating. Indeed, it is 'a completely natural process.'

Here's where we differ: it's more plausible in my mind to believe that there exists an Architect of this 'completely natural process' than to deny it…

Here's my question: what or Who do you believe…is responsible for the organization of any molecule, for the exquisite structure of the double helix? For the mathematic perfection of the circle, the sphere? Who or what do you think is responsible for the mind boggling nature of pi? What about the absolutely astounding creativity & variety of animals/plants in the rainforests? or deserts? I suppose your hypothesis might be that it all arose out of the natural qualities of molecules…Even if you look at an atom, the mind blowing structure of protons, neutrons, electrons. Who decided how these things would function & interact? Laws of matter or antimatter? Perhaps. But what or Who is/was the organizing force of such 'laws'? Nature? Of course. I read here: God…

I'm not one who believes that sincere, evangelical Christianity & science are mutually exclusive... In my mind, all-the-above is all the 'evidence of such an entity' anybody ever needs. I believe God has given us our lives to study, mull over, & chew on it. In my mind, God gave us this richness in order to draw us near, that we would take joy in it! That's much more fun, I would think; living joyfully...”

Though I was sincere in my questions, there has been no further response from this new friend.
I ask you, though, & I wonder myself -- How someone can look at this:

Or this:

Or this:

…& really believe that there is no God? That, dear friends, is more of a puzzle to me than Quantum Physics, Organic Chemistry, Micro-neurosurgery, or the mysterious Black Holes of the outer universe will ever be.

~~~