Faith & Reason

"You were born without purpose, you live without meaning; living is its own meaning. When you die, you are extinguished. From being you will be transformed to non-being."

                                                                                  ~ Ingmar Bergman

That may be the saddest quote I have ever read.

I. Bergman

Ingmar Bergman was a fantastic director; he was involved with more than 60 films.
But of all the things he got right in life, he got the biggest thing very, very wrong.

There is more to life than simply existing.

Bergman had determined for himself, for whatever reason, that Science, and not the Faith, was right.
His work evidenced his heart → pain, betrayal, faith or the lack thereof, illness and death; his heart was darkened by life.

Perhaps it was safer for him to believe in nothing rather than to struggle with the difficult questions of life and faith.

I have a dear friend; a person whom I believe is just wonderful.
She is intelligent, competent, strong, witty, compassionate, caring, intuitive and perceptive.
Truly, I admire this woman.

Yet, when it comes to the question of faith; we are light years apart.

Either Science is right or Faith is right; either there is a God who governs life or we are living life ad hoc and at random.
Either there is no purpose to life or there is a grand purpose we cannot fully grasp.
Either there is a morality to life and the world or everything is moral and acceptable, including the most heinous crimes against humanity itself.

The point is that no matter how much I admire my friend or how much I think of her, one of us has to be wrong.
It is impossible for us both to be right.

For centuries, Science has attempted to answer one question: 'How.'
Sometimes, science is accurate; but not always.
The reason is because science falls short of answering the greater question, which is, 'For what purpose...'
The real dilemma of life is not figuring out how we arrived where we are; but rather, it is determining for what purpose we are here at this moment in history.

When we begin to ask, 'for what purpose,' it must always come back to a standard of some type.
And if there is a universal standard, then there must be Someone who has previously set that standard.

My own ability, mind or thought cannot be the standard.
Millions have come before me in the human race and I live with millions on the planet now; yet, somehow, there is a basic standard of morality.
For example, all people know it is wrong to murder (with the exception of sociopaths who do understand it is wrong, they just don't care). But how did we know this?
Therefore, it cannot be my own standard, for there are others with the same standard and it did not originate with any of us.

Nature cannot be the standard; for, nature is cruel - far more cruel than the human race. In fact, Adolph Hitler justified his acts against Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals by citing the cruelty of nature.
For example, Mallard Ducks will isolate a duck of another breed, gang rape it and then murder it if they are not stopped. Male Chipmunks will eat their own children.

Why would these animals do this?
Well, simple - if nature is our guiding principle, then life is all about the individual; to propagate and survive.
And survival means eliminating the competition.

But why do we cringe with the above examples?
We cringe because within us, something set within our own souls knows this isn't right and is not how things are supposed to be in the world.

Something MUST give us our rights; for we know not all beliefs and systems are indeed equal.
A pedophile who routinely harms children IS NOT equal in his morality or right practice when compared to the firefighter who routinely rescues homes and people from the flame.

The question then becomes, why is one set of values greater than another?
Without a Creator, without a First Cause, all natural rights we inherit by birth, all human rights obtained through our existence in a decent society...all of them are absolutely pointless.
All points of view are equally valid, all moral systems are on equal footing, the Christian and Jihadist are both speaking equal ideals whether it is grace or murder because without a First Cause, without a Creator - all things are indeed equal.

Peter Singer

The Humanist, bioethicist Peter Singer, has argued that a chimpanzee's life should be valued over what he terms, 'defective' human children.
Millions adhere to Singer's philosophical beliefs; thousands flock to hear him speak on various subjects or debate modern Christian theologians.
The New Yorker even once called him the 'most influential living philosopher.'

But my question for Singer is quite simple: Who gives anyone the right to determine which human life is 'defective?'

Eighteen minutes out of every hour will be commercials on television; it is quite bothersome if you are watching anything live. This is where DVRs come in very handy.
This massive onslaught of commercialism has let to an overwhelming consumer economy; the ultimate result being riots on Black Friday.

An athlete who is able to catch a ball will earn more money than several hundred of my home state's teachers, police officers and ministers...combined.

When a person returns from a Third-World Country into our society, even if you are an American, there is a culture-shock endured.
Upon my return from the desert several years ago, it seemed our 'advanced' society was less 'real' and very, very shallow.
It still seems that way.

Each of these things show how off-balanced the morality of our world truly is today; it sets before us a horrible image.
But what do these things speak of us?
What do they reveal?

Thomas Aquinas, a theologian of yesteryear, suggested a person who lacks true spiritual joy will settle for something far inferior - pleasures offered by the world.
Or by alcohol
Or by a lover
Or by drugs
Or by work
Or by materialism....

Pascal

Another man, Blaise Pascal, stated that every person has a God-shaped hole in their hearts; indeed.
This is why so many attempt to fill their lives with the things listed above, concluding those who cling to faith have simply fooled themselves into believing that which cannot be true by science or reason.

As imperfect as I may be, I do know the truth in an ancient question:
"What profit it a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

For we go to 'the top', we succeed in life, we master our lives by finding its Master, by losing our life in something or someone else.

And His name is Jesus.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.