Well, it comes to pass that this blog must at some point turn to theology for me. I am continually fascinated by the way people think about who God is, and what effect that thinking has on the world. I have always had a defensive nature in this area, as I grew up being taught strong Christian values and faith in God. A loss in an intellectualy challenge equaled a crisis of faith...so challenges were avoided. After all, how can someone defend the amount of evil in the world, AND the goodness of God. And what about that little piece of not actually being able to prove God? These questons were dangerous for me, but I have taken a bit of a different angle of late.
This new angle, is liberating in its foundation. Whereas before it was up to me to defend and grasp all things, I now trust that issues of God are actually revealed to us from God. Therefore if God says he is good, it really does not reflect on me to repeat that information...in fact I would have to find a source equal to or greater then God to dispute it! I realize that there are many things that may challenge the way in which we hear from God, and which sources of God's revelation hold water...nonetheless, it is this foundation that has boiled down to making sense (while still often unclear) far and above other foundations. For instance: the premise of atheism is set firmly on the grounds that all thinking about God is contrived from humankinds need to make sense of things that do not make sense, and therefore supernatural beliefs are actually based in natural origins. This, of course, is why using the Bible in discussion with an Athiest is only useful (in the atheists eyes) in exampling to them where your source of thinking begins. It is truly two different languages and two different conversations occuring at the same time.
So how can I suggest that a foundation placed on the God's revelation through the Bible is a better way to go? I can only say that it is liberating. I am free to use the foundation of logic from the atheist, the foundation of exerience from the agnostic, the foundation of using spiritual senses from the animist and on and on. All of these foundations fit on the greater foundation of God's creation, his relationship with his creation and his desire for us to live life! We are in fact free to use all created senses, and thoughts and experiences because they are there for us to use. We can even question God...more on this later.
