Blinded By Sight

Having left my evangelical Christian beliefs a few years ago, I find myself often appalled at my past beliefs. I marvel at how easily I would believe so many tall tales of religious lore. Perhaps some of it was from a child hood that loved fantasy and wished for a reality fashioned more like my comic book interests. This repulsion of past naivety and love for the clear and empirical have often made me enjoy reading or listening to the thoughts of atheists who speak out against the irrational beliefs of the religious. I can so much identify with their criticism and sometimes cynicism. Yet, I can never go as far as they. Whereas I heartily agree that the Bible is filled with tales that upon logical inquiry are nothing more than legends, I cannot cast such ideas as credence to not believe in God. I also empathize with the thought that clear and empirical evidence will not be found for God's existence. Yet sometimes I think that this is the trap of the empirical. Empiricism relies on our five senses. It is tangible. However so much in life is not tangible. I live in the realm of thought. Are my thoughts tangible to anyone but me? Can someone see my thoughts? No, I have to communicate my thoughts to people. They then must take my words by faith that they truly represent my thoughts. How about love or joy? There is nothing empirical about this. Both are very real emotions that shape our lives but they are nothing that you can quantify or experiment with scientifically. There are many other things that are strong parts of our reality that are not subject to empirical or at least simply by sight. Heat can be felt and measured but not seen. The wind can be felt and it effects visible but no one can see it. We know that we are composed of millions of cells that are made of millions of atoms. However, that is not what we see in our day to day reality. We only see the huge structures that those atoms and cells make when joined. So much of reality is not visible, and some of it is intangible. I believe we are often blinded by our own sight. We often think of reality as simply what we see with our eyes. Yet we know scientifically and experientially this is not true. There is so much more there than meets the eye. When I consider this, I do not find the idea of spirit as unreasonable. What animates these atoms and molecules to become living organisms? Is there any clear scientific explanation? Surely we have not created this from raw chemicals and minerals in a lab. For me this means it is reasonable to call that energizing aspect spirit. I cannot see this, but I do see its results and I feel them. I think this is logical faith. It is not empirical but it is reasonable. While I must say I often identify with agnostic/atheist ideas and criticisms, I can never be so dependent on my own sight and the empirical.

Talking Snakes

Recently I have been amazed at the health care debate that has been occuring in our country. I am appalled at the wild claims like 'death panels' that so many quickly believe and so vehemently speak out against. It is both sad and comical to see people ardently and feverishly criticize items that are not true or based loosely on fact. I am so tired of hearing about the exaggerated claims about socialism. I sometimes puzzle how people can be so naive. However, while considering this I have reflected on days past when I was an evangelical Christian. I remember reading the story of the garden of Eden in Genesis 3 and hardly stopping on the fact that Eve dialogued with a snake. How odd that we as people can so easily accept things that in any other context would be laughable. Part of me wants to chuckle now at the absurdity of the story but I humbly remember, "oh, yeah I used to believe that was true too." Perhaps naivity and gullibility are both native weaknesses for our species.