Etherial Thesauracle

Beliefs

my dearest of anons,

since you won’t have a real discussion with me, i don’t know exactly what you would like to know — so i will supply you with a bunch of information in order to be thorough. this is what you get.

SCIENCE:
a common question regarding my faith (or faith in general) is “what about all the science?” to which i usually reply, “there is a lot of science… and i like it all. what is your favorite subject?”

i know what they mean: “they haven’t proved god exists.” the common rebuttal is still appropriate — that they haven’t proved he doesn’t. i’m going to quote/paraphrase a lot of C.S. Lewis, because i love him, and he explains things so eloquently and logically.

i don’t believe that science will ever prove or disprove the existence of God. Lewis relates God to the universe as an architect to a house: the architect could no more be a staircase or window in that house as God could be perceivable matter for scientific discovery/study in our universe. He is the Divine Creator; when we speak things that are not, we’re lying. when God speaks things that are not, they are. i don’t know of any other thing in our universe with the energy and power to literally CREATE OUT OF NOTHING. how can we hope to identify and understand such a being?

i respect sciences. i love them. they are fascinating. to me, they only show the immaculate, purposeful, artistic design and stability of the universe which God created. the deeper we go, the more perfect and deliberate the design becomes, and the more the design needs a designer. science is awesome!

MORALITY:
another common stance for the irreligious (indifferent or hostile towards religion) is, “i don’t believe there is a right or wrong.” or “truth is relative.” or a whole arsenal of evasive, slippery standpoints on absolutes.

this can get muddy because everyone who believes these things believe them a little different from the next person. without talking to you… i’ll do my best to cover my bases.

let’s look at this from a personal view point. it will seem absurd… but let’s be honest… this whole page is a little absurd.

scenario 1: you own a house (for argument’s sake). you’ve lived in this house for a few years. you’ve put money into this house, you have memories in this house… this is your home. today, a man shows up at your door and says “give me your house.” you will say:

A.) okay. there is no right or wrong, truth is relative. you want this house — i can not object because your wants are valid. of course, this house is mine… but my neutral morality forbids me from asserting my truth above your truth and saying that you are wrong. here are the keys, strange man, have a nice day.

B.) hell no. get off my property before i call the cops.

i don’t think you would actually choose option A. but if you would… give me your keys, i totally want your house.

no. in reality, you would choose option B: you’re insane. go away. what does that tell us? you have decided that a strange man demanding you surrender your home for no reason is wrong. he may believe he has some… strange right to your house… but you believe that you are entitled to what you have worked for and what you currently own, and pretty much the whole world will agree with you.

scenario 2: you are a child. during the summers, you are home alone with your older sibling while your parents are at work. your older sibling abuses you and molests you. you will say:

A.) that’s okay. he/she believes what they are doing is right. they are entitled to abuse me how they see fit. they can choose to do whatever they want. of course, i don’t want this to happen, but my neutral morality forbids me from asserting my truth above their truth and saying that this is wrong.

B.) no. i acknowledge the basic right of every human being to protect themselves from harm. admit that your older sibling is morally incorrect and needs help from adults. that you need help from adults. and that this is not the way the world should function. people should not be abused by family members, nor at all.

if you seriously chose A, then i will say that you have never been molested — you are invalidating the worth of my life, and the lives of others who have been tormented and abused by people they should be able to trust. if that has no influence on you, then we have nothing further to talk about and you can close this page right now. we will agree to disagree.

if you chose B, then you are asserting that there is a moral code… a way of life… a choice that supersedes our own selfish desires and works to see the world function equally and in a “civil” manner.

“The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than to the other. But the standard that measures two things is something different from either. You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as a real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people’s ideas get nearer to that real Right than others.”

-C.S. Lewis

or put it this way: if your moral ideas can be more true than the stranger’s or the molester’s, there must be something — some Real Morality — for them to be true about.

we’ve talked about the two main avenues for averting Christianity, or religion at all: scientific evidence, neutral morality. in my head, i’ve given you my stand point on both matters: science is inconclusive (and will always be inconclusive) and is a bad litmus test as to the existence of God. neutral morality simply can not exist in a logical mind frame. if you maintain neutral morality, then we have little to discuss, for i can not discuss serious matters with illogical people.

now i will explain why i’ve chosen Christianity above other world religions. there are a lot of world religions — and even more popping up every day… so… the abridged version will look something like this: Christianity is completely antithetical to other world views.

Buddhism, Islam, Hare Krishna… and everything else… all require that man meet a certain standard to achieve whatever end-goal there is to that faith-system. works: if you do this, i will give you this. Christianity is the exact opposite: you can not do this… but i will give you this anyway.

you are probably reading this and saying “WWWWHHHHAAAAATTTT!?!?! YOU’RE INSANE!!! I CAN NOT TELL YOU HOW MANY SNOT-NOSED CHRISTIANS HAVE TOLD ME THAT I’M DOING THIS AND THIS WRONG SO I’M A BAD PERSON.. BLAH BLAH BLAH” :::sigh::: i personally believe that they were both wrong and right. wrong in talking to you that way, but essentially right in what they believe.

WE’RE ALL BAD PEOPLE. that is the moral of the WHOLE story!!!! we’re all equally deprived, sinful, broken — and we’re all equally given grace, covered for our sin, and being made whole.

why do i believe in Jesus over every other prophet and teacher who’s come before? because His teaching is radical and irreconcilable to the bad parts of this world; meaning His teachings are the best way to heal what is obviously broken.

i could go miles and miles deeper into the truth of what the Gospel really is and what it really means for all of us… but i’d just be puffing up smoke into the atmosphere because i don’t know what you’re looking for specifically.

you’re better off reading the Bible for yourself, maybe try talking to the God who supposedly inspired it. if the Bible seems too daunting, try Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. it’s an easy read, very interesting, very logical. and he doesn’t even quote scripture to try to prove any points.

if you have any real, relative questions — i’d be ecstatic to talk to you about it. I DO NOT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS, but i do know what i believe and why i believe it. you may have new questions i’ve never thought to ask. i’m not afraid of those. i would just rather talk to someone than at someone.

you know where to find me, anon.