Dangers in the Search for Truth
A friend of mine told me today that the thing that really bugs him about religious people is that they never want to critically evaluate what they believe, and turn a blind eye to contradictions in their scriptures or the teachings of their spiritual organization.
I agree, many people are not critical and don't want to be. However, not all people with faith "turn a blind eye." For instance, I left my faith for many years, for intellectual, emotional, and spiritual reasons, and I am just now returning to faith (hence the blog name, When You Return). I am not blind to the apparent contradictions of scripture, or complex reasoning that people must sometimes use to harmonize scriptures. However, as a fellow seeker, I offer the following observations and cautions:
1. The Limits of Reason
While reason may help you to identify a trustworthy source of faith, reason has its limits in the quest for spiritual truth, and we must also use the faculties of our heart and conscience in the quest.
2. Living with Mystery
You will never eliminate all questions - in my favorite book of all time, Further Along the Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck has a whole chapter discussing that if we want to be on the spiritual journey, we must become comfortable with mystery - some things will always be beyond our understanding, and we should learn to enjoy it like a sailor on the sea who can not see all the way to the bottom.
3. Focusing on What You Can Know
One of my favorite sayings regarding reading the bible goes like this:
Many things in the Bible I cannot understand; many things in the Bible I only think I understand; but there are many things in the Bible I cannot misunderstand.My list of lingering questions shrinks and grows, but my list of things I am sure of grows steadily, and based on those things, I move forwards. I don't let my list of questions hold me back from what I do believe. Sometimes, I can not move forward until I get a question answered, but often, what I do believe allows me to "doubt my doubts" for the time-being. Often, those issues clear up in time by themselves.
4. God Offends the Mind to Reveal the Heart
Jesus often taught in parables, which surprisingly, were very accessible to the common people, but to the intellectual and religious theologians, it was confusing. He did this so that the proud and fault-finding would not see, but the humble would. Don't ask why, but the scriptures do say that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. So be careful. Check it out in Matthew 13:10-17.
5. Apparent Contradictions Often Hide Profound Truths
Because most profound truths appear in paradoxical pairs, often, what looks like a contradiction is actually hiding the balanced, profound truth. So don't miss it. There are many such pairs that seem contradictory, but the profound relationship between them, once seen, is masterful. This includes the relationships between mercy and truth, predestination and free will, and faith and works.
6. Look to Find Truth, Not to Disbelieve
We must be looking for truth, rather than looking to find fault. If we look for reasons to disbelieve, we will always find them. I am not saying that we should ignore our doubts or questions, but I am saying that the best reason to search is to find the truth, not to prove that others are wrong.
posted by danielg @ 12/05/2004 01:12:00 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
There is no god.
So you're saying that self-determining will vs. not self-determining will is a false dichotomy?
I am saying that both self-determining free will and predestination can both exist and be logically consistent.
There are many possible explanations, but if you demand a simplistic black and white answer, as with many spiritual truths, you may not get one.
Possible Explanation 1 (PE1): God reaches out to you or me, knows ahead of time what you will do, but you must choose.
PE2: Your ultimate destiny and perhaps many milestones are set, but how you get there is up to your free will.
PE3: Your ultimate destiny, and the qualitative milestones (e.g. you will learn about poverty) are set, but how you learn such things is up to your free will.
PE4: God allows such a mystery to exist to foil those looking for a reason not to believe.
PE5: God allows such a mystery to exist in order that man may be both culpable for his actions (via free will), but unable to brag about his spiritualy because he depends on God to provide it (predestination).
An interesting example of this principle may also be seen in the sripture that says we ought to be thankful to God because he gives us the *ability* to make wealth - even though we may have chosen to work hard for what we have, the opportunity and abilities we have ultimately come from him, so we should be humble.
Another appropriate scripture is "work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Phillipians 2:11-13.
We work, but it is based on faith that God works in us.
Seeker:
I asked what I thought was a rhetorical question as to if something's (the will's) being either A (self-determining) or not A (not self-determining) was a false dichotomy. I think that you're saying both that it is and that both can be not absurd. Perhaps you missed the parts about non-contradiction and about the self-determining will being absurd. It requires that one will at will, desire as one desires, choose the nature of one's choices, and have a say in one's having the particular choice-making faculty that would make any particular choice one has made. When was the last time you did these and could you please describe the experiences in detail? Also, please don't pull a Gordon and ignore the rest of the questions I've posed repeatedly throughout the thread, with the most recent posing being on April 30th at 10:02 PM, website time.
You make frequent mention of certain aspects of our destiny being "up to our free will;" have you read the entirety of the thread? I ignored your last posting because it dealt with free will vs. God's predestining while ignoring the apparent absurdity of free will in the first place. Please catch up with the thread, answer the rest of my explicit questions, or ask your own explicit questions concerning determinism, and I'll be able to take your postings more seriously.
Also, if free will is "inexplicable in natural terms by virtue of its being supernatural," then is not the non-believer to whom explicable free will would be requisite for faith going to be held accountable for failing to receive an incommunicable communication?
Thanks
P.S. If you could hereafter post all responses on the Evangelical Outpost's Free Will thread, I'll be able to respond more readily.
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