Sittin’ here under the River Tree this spring morning, especially with the cacophony of chaos around us, seemingly everywhere, the old codger can’t help thinking about what we call “faith”. It’s a term some of us seem to do anything to flee from. But, hey, we embrace faith pretty much every day of our lives, don’t we? We have faith that when we turn on the lights and open a faucet and turn on the tv and use an appliance and crank the ignition on our vehicle, they’re going to work.
With most of the above, we don’t know exactly how they do work but we trust/have faith they will and do.
But, in all fairness, that faith is based on evidence. We’ve seen ‘em work, so we trust/have faith they’ll continue to work.
The three arguments we make against faith in what we might call a “higher power”, the old codger’d argue, are these:
No physical evidence. Our senses don’t reveal its presence.
Belief/ “dependence” weakens our ability to deal with difficult realities.
It has no benefit to us. What the heck can it really do for us as human beings?
Let’s take a look at all three of the arguments.
We’ve explored lack of physical evidence before. Science has increasingly made evident just how infinitesimally tiny our grasp of the physical universe is. The fact that we don’t understand/grasp something just ain’t no thang… as the saying goes.
Re. weakening us, its pretty simple; can we as individuals ever know the workings of everything around us? And how would knowing make us more functional/productive? Every day we count on literally millions of others and, hey; the only way not to would be to hide in a cave someplace. We constantly need ‘em.
Re. benefit; hey, that’s pretty much the elephant in the room. Faith in something which has laid out over thousands of years an increasingly clear moral and ethical behavioral roadmap for us as a species, is not just a benefit, it would seem to be a must for our continued existence in our increasingly complex and chaotic culture and civilization.
Looking back through history we see evidence everywhere of how we as human beings have damaged, defiled and destroyed ourselves and each other every time we turn our backs on, or attempt to manipulate the imperatives of true faith.
Some of us may chuckle at the quaintness of “the seven deadly sins”, but; take a look, aren’t they at the heart of just about everything wrong with our world today. Greed, envy, pride, wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth? That pretty much covers it, doesn’t it? In Washington, in the world, on social media, in our institutions, communities, and yep, too often in and with our own homes and families.
Love, acceptance, humility, forgiveness, too often are not only not natural to us, but may seem like pulling teeth for us to have any hope of achieving. Ouch! So do we need help in actually exhibiting them? Ya betcha!
The old codger’d argue that anything we can do to instill these heart, mind and soul changing habits in our lives would be a pretty darned good thing.
Finding out more about faith institutions and beliefs might be a way to do that.
For instance, let’s say there might be an actual opportunity on the streets of Perryville, maybe even just a couple of Saturday afternoons from now where we could see a theological “appliance” being carried through the streets and experience and learn about what that “appliance” and its contents is, means and can actually potentially do, in our lives.
Maybe we could be there. Ask questions, find out a little. Hey, couldn’t hurt, could it?
The old codger’d say, our lives might even be changed. Maybe even forever. Just sayin’.
Here’s wishing us all a beautiful week and life, here under the River Tree!
