God's Hegelian Dialect Part lII: Reaction

In Part II, I offered my understanding of, and reason for Creation. I also filled in how our human race fit into this grand design. It may be more accurately expressed, “How the grand design was tailored to fit us.” Yet, it seems that we are either improperly made or poorly installed parts in this wondrous system. Whales don't struggle with these issues, neither do axolotls (See images below). One look at this guy and you know that he'll fit in anywhere.

You may also realize that he is part of the whimsical Provision of God discussed in Part l.

Not so long ago, Christendom erroneously placed the Earth at the center of the solar system not by the testimony of Scripture, but by compiled human error and an assumption about what Scripture “should” (by human understanding) imply.

How did such a bizarre twist of reason come to be de facto Doctrine?

In the late second century, a pagan astronomer named Ptolemy of Alexandria formulated the geocentric system which placed the the earth at the center of the solar system with the sun and all other planets orbiting around us. Ptolemy's error remained “scientific” fact and was later adopted as Christian dogma which lasted into the Age of Reason. It made sense to the now powerful Christian hierarchy that God's Creation would place us at the center. The Faithful who dared question Church authority on such matters were at risk of being declared heretics and punished accordingly. It took until 1992 for the Catholic Church to own up to its mistreatment of Galileo who promoted a  heliocentric solar system which placed the sun at the center.

Throughout Church history there have been countless martyrs of science who have paid a heavy price for standing on their God given reason in opposition to Church doctrines. As a result, today there are many in the field of science who hold a grudge.

On the other side of this implied duality, many within the Body of Christ feel that science has demoted humanity from divinely created beings to mere chemical accidents. Scientists who support this worldview will claim that the ekklesia have it all wrong. In fact, it’s been a promotion for humanity from fortuitous chemical accident to quick-witted, mostly hairless descendant of apes. This has not brought solace to those who put their trust in God, and they hold a grudge, as well.

More's the pity, in my opinion.

What I find most egregious about this centuries old feud for the heart, mind, and soul of mankind is how baseless much of it is on both sides.

Scientists under the erroneous instruction of Christian theologians who misinterpreted the first few chapters of Genesis became a smoldering hot spot between these two factions. (Remember that fear and faction do not exist independently.) Genesis was never intended to be a scientific textbook for the Creation. Much of it is allegory as the Jews, who wrote it, understand. Somehow in the original schism between Jews and Christians this minor fact, which turned into major factions, was overlooked.The problems that we struggle with most as individuals, communities, and denominations are the ones we cause ourselves.

I look for harmony where there is discord between science and Scripture. For instance, the Flood story recorded in Genesis 6 correlates nicely with what anthropology calls the "population bottleneck", a time when humans nearly disappeared from the planet. Both worldviews support a near extinction event in our recent past. If we insist that it must include a man named Noah on a boat with all non-marine creatures on-board, then we have ample fodder for discord. But, if we allow the Flood to be allegory of an anthropologically supported event, which I believe it is, it resonates in both heart and mind. A “perfect pitch” I find to be exclusively reserved for God. Here is the common ground we as people of faith, reason, and reasonable faith should be seeking and taking with each other. Instead, religion and reason continue as adversaries both believing it's either one or the other.

While today in the year 2016 (or 5776 by the Hebrew calendar) we, with few holdouts, accept that the earth is not the center of the solar system. It isn’t even a very significant planet when compared to many of our local neighbors. The Earth has only one moon, no rings, no giant spots, or other immediately distinguishing features. One might say our pale blue dot of a planet is somewhat boring at first glance, but God is a Creator who focuses on content over superficial appearance. This may explain why He humbled Himself to come as a man from the rural backwater of Galilee to walk with us, His precious Creation, even when we refused to walk with Him.

Our solar system is nowhere near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. We are out in the boonies of our galaxy, nestled in an unassuming location between two notable spiral arms. Nothing seems to indicate that there is anything important here by our human conception. We'd expect to be up front and center where the Supreme Being presumably “should” have placed us. However, being a bit closer to that “prized galactic real estate” would kill us. The radiation levels near galactic center are far in excess of our capacity. The dead center is occupied by an inactive black hole that if it were active could gobble up our solar system like a snack. We are placed in what seems to be a very safe, quiet backwater, a lot like that undistinguished place called Galilee. This kind of overlooked corollary demonstrates to me that we have a much smarter God than we anticipate, appreciate, or even dare to imagine.

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”, rings as true today as when it was first written. When we look at the empirical data, we have a most (fasten your seat-belts, please) anthropocentric Universe. (Both cosmologists and animal rights activists just found a new common enemy in me. Ah harmony!)

Consider, what this Universe offers us, it meets our every human need from simple matter (which is far from simple) to awesome wonder (quantum levels of complexity beyond the “simple” stuff.) Here we sit perched atop the Animal Kingdom, not by a slim margin but head and shoulders above our nearest intellectual rival. (Animal rights activists hate me even more and evolutionary biologist are now signed on), I feel perfectly capable of pointing out to my loyal opposition that humans are the only species capable of taking offense at my comments. Prove me wrong, but until then…

Q.E.D.

Rather than working with science, many of the cloth have turned against science. Many of the lab coat have turned against a God of seeming irrationality and increasingly scant probability. That is our reaction. We are divided by our beliefs. Partisanship is the glue which divides Theists and Atheists, Catholics and Protestants, Creationists and Evolutionists, Blacks and Whites, Republicans and Democrats, Capitalists and Communists, Monists and Dualists, Christians and Jews, us and all. This is a very poor reaction.

While we may disagree on God or an afterlife, we can surely agree that we will all pass through the great equalizer, the final harmonizer we call death. Maybe we should just "Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."* Along the way we might recall that Jesus often evoked quarrelsome reactions from His disciples by providing the right answer to their wrong question.

* The origin of the quote, "Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle" is a matter of great controversy attributed from another alumni of Alexandria, Philo of Alexandria, or maybe it was Plato, or John Watson, or Ian MacLaren which is John Watson's real name? 

"Oh, bother!"  ~ Winnie the Pooh (for sure!)

God's Hegelian Dialect Part II: Our Problem

In Part One, I covered The Problem as if the issue were solved, which it is. Both The Problem and The Solution were foregone conclusions an eternity before anything in Creation came to be. They were “known knowns” as Donald Rumsfeld would have redundantly categorized this matter. 

The Fall of Man, as recorded in the third chapter of Genesis, was not only expected, but... (You may want to brace yourself. Fair warning)... necessary. 

Yes, that’s right, I said, “necessary”. The Fall of Man was incontrovertibly, inexorably, and categorically unavoidable. It was an essential part of God's Plan. Now, before you start warming up a burning stake for me to occupy, allow me to explain…

However, for the benefit of the less reactionary readers among us, few though they may be...

• The Tree of Knowledge wasn't placed conveniently within Eve's reach by some design flaw on God's part.

• The “craftiest of all the creatures” didn't appear by parthenogenesis, nor was his craftiness the result of happenstance.

• Eve didn't just happen to be as gullible as she was by chance.

• Adam wasn't so easily influenced by his wife by a role of the dice.

• God wasn't incommunicado whilst the Serpent plied his trade.

If the Fall narrative is true in fact or merely allegory, this leaves us with only one reasonable option, it was planned. So precisely well planned by the Ancient of Days, Himself, that He begot the Solution prior to the Problem, our Problem. 

Now, before you curse God for The Fall of Man, which might have been more appropriately named, “The Trip of Man”, consider what this means. Moreover, consider the Nature of the Supreme Being that Created this most beautiful Universe with perfectly balanced chemistry, physics, and geology to produce our galaxy. Then, consider this God, this Almighty God who placed our solar system out of harm's way at the outside edge of a spiral arm a long distance from galactic center. Contemplate this awe inspiring God who waited the 12.75 billion years for all to be perfect for us to inhabit the place we call home, planet Earth. Mull over this God of Love and Forgiveness and  Provision and Protection, and when you have thoroughly reviewed all of these Works of the Almighty ask yourself, “What's His purpose for all of this, this Creation?”

Are you Stumped? 

Okay, I'll give you the answer…

As any proud parent, He made our nursery beautiful…

Spacious too...

Deep as well...

Plenty of headroom to grow...

We can have company…

Or make it just you and me…

God will be there too. Guaranteed!

All of these wonderful features and everything else we know and love is right here in God's nursery. 

God did a great job, did He?

So, here we are in the safety and comfort of Our Father's beautifully prepared physical nursery for spiritual beings. We are so well provided for that we can envy, covet, and become jealous of each other just like a toddler who always want the other child's toy even when holding an identical toy. We all know that type of selfish, greedy, self-centered child. They are so easy to identify, especially when it's your toy at risk, but somehow when we are that demanding brat we have a hard time taking that blame.

Here, we learn the cost of sin in its fullness. One painful lesson or more at a time. The syllabus covers important subjects like the folly of deception, the sting of betrayal, the bitter fruit of narcissism, the emptiness that a life built on consumerism provides to the dying, and all the other nasty stuff that our broken human nature entails. These are the types and kinds of experiences and feelings that we will need to be complete beings, our finished product, capable and worthy co-rulers with Christ.

Today, there are many Christians praying for the Rapture. They will tell you that they want to leave this wicked, sinful world because they just can't wait to be with Jesus. However, I think that they we're the kind of kids who couldn't wait until summer vacation, or the weekend, or whatever else was off in the future and not happening right now. They miss a lot of life waiting for it to happen. They forget or perhaps never understood that our physical lives are not trivial, they are essential specifically to God. 

The time we spend as a corporeal seed may be ephemeral but it is absolutely vital to our purpose. The horrors we witness, the beauty we experience, the evil we endure, the warmth we share, the pain and the pleasure we feel are all teaching tools for our benefit. The negative experiences; horror, evil, pain, and so many others are often cited as evidence that there is no God or if there is, then He must be a malevolent deity. However, all of these maligned experiences provide us with the most valuable lessons we will ever receive. The lessons we learn through suffering are those we best remember. Indeed, if we never suffered injury, injustice, or betrayal, how would we ever learn forgive?

Today, suffering is something our modern paradigm urges us to avoid at nearly all cost. Pain avoidance is the primary focus of many human endeavors; healthcare, liability insurance, government bailouts, welfare programs, and even copper bracelets with bio-magnets sold on late night television infomercials. All are devised to eliminate or attenuate some form of suffering and all are all based at least partially on fraud. It makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Pain avoidance is dry-labbing a critical lesson. Without having truly suffered in our lives, how would we ever learn compassion?

Without evil in all its manifestations, how would we be able to comprehend good in all of its far more abundant forms?

Without knowing loneliness, how could we understand what it means to be in relationship, and to desire it?

Without the loss of your life's love, how would we know how to cherish every moment together?

How could we know much of anything that really matters unless we had suffered what it is to lack those very things?

So, that's our Problem. This is our homework problem assigned by the God who is the Solution here in the nursery He built for and with us.

May He bless you for and in all of your work on Our Problem.