Are you driving yourself in spiritual circles?
In the blogosphere, you can’t swing your mouse without hitting a blog post wherein the author wants a sign that God exists.
Or they attempt to convince themselves and their readers that because signs appear to be absent that it is proof that God does not exist.
These are fun mind-games we humans play when we are uncertain, afraid, or absolutely must be in control.
To me this is a circle of madness.
One of the reasons I converted to Catholicism (read my conversion story) is that I find the wisdom of the Bible timeless. Things that people worried about in the time of Jesus and the Old Testament are exactly the same things we worry about today. This is because the Bible is the antidote for the human condition – a condition that is rooted in The Original Sin.
When I was introduced to the concept Original Sin at the age of 27, I had committed many sins. As an adult, I understood that sins – even ones that seem to be impossible to overcome – are in fact choices. Thanks to the awesome (air quotes) choices of Adam and Eve, we are stuck with the good fight against temptation. Christianity made a lot more sense after lesson #6 in my RCIA class.
In today’s Gospel reading is that Jesus was exasperated when, for the umpteenth time, the Pharisees asked him to produce a sign:
“He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
“Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.”
Haven’t we read about 15 consecutive days of miracles in the Gospel According to Mark? What exactly to did the Pharisees want from Jesus? To be a trickster in a carnival? He’s the Son of God. Show some respect, Pharisees!
As I wrote the other day, all of us are Pharisees some of the time and this is because in our Original Sinfulness. Adam and Eve lacked faith when they disobeyed God. Now, when we lack faith, we are open to commit sins. Sins take us away from God’s love. Again a circle of insanity.
When any of us question God or whether he exists, I do not think God is angry or offended. Rather, I think he looks upon us with love and when we allow him to, he will comfort us. When I lack faith, it is because I want to be right or I am angry that God is not doing what I want. I am are like a petulant child throwing a tantrum in a store.
Pray tonight brothers and sisters to break the cycle of insanity in our lives. Pray to welcome God’s grace and be comforted by his love and wisdom. Pray to understand the Gospels of his Son, Jesus Christ that we may find true faith.
Fr. Marty continues to receive our prayers as he convalesces in the hospital. Fr. Maurcio did not tell us whether he’s out of the ICU. Please continue to pray for him.
Also, in case you missed my aside post from earlier today, check out the American Life League video: How Planned Parenthood Hooks Kids on Sex.
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You might also like these related posts from cinhosa:
Searching for God
Given a choice, do you choose God?
Dear Christians, please stop your exuberance
Why we baptize
Today we remember Saint Giles Mary of St. Joseph
Related articles
- We Died To The Law (ptl2010.com)
Tagged: agnostic, atheism, Buddhism, Catholic, Christianity, faith, Judaism, postaday2012, Protestant, religion
Hey Cinhosa,
This is very good. When someone ask me how can I prove God exist my response is, “Because of His art work?” To me God is such a great artist, being an artist myself, I appreciate so, His colors and shapes. I draw a lot of them. Flowers, birds, the sky, the clouds, the grass, animals, humans, etc… It is like He took a molds, made everything all different shapes and sizes, and then painted it whatever color He wanted it. Even grass has so many shapes and colors. Good for reflection. God Bless, SR
Interesting, although I thought maybe you might respond to the requirement many have for proof. I understand your first two lines all too well, and, from an orthodox Jewish perspective, I find such arguments either for or against the existence of God from those signs which are usually put forward as being crucial arguments, to be quite flawed. At the end, nobody will be satisfied, which indicates to me that we are missing something. I intend to address this question in more detail in an extended article on my own blog soon, especially tackling natural theology (essentially the argument from design) and the problem of agnosticism, which I think is a wholly untenable position to hold on the issue; theism and atheism are both logically consistent stances, but agnosticism, historically and philosophically, just doesn’t make sense.
Thanks for this!
Michael,
Thank you for posting! Please reply back with the link to your post. I appreciate your perspective on it.
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Thanks! I’ll let you know when it goes up.
All the best!