Tag Archives: agnosticism

A Way of Looking at God

Posted on by April

Imagine for a moment that you are an artist–a very talented artist capable of extraordinary work. One day, you decide to sit down and draw a detailed self portrait. Something like this:

By artist Paul Cadden, featured at gencept.com.

Yes, this was done with pencils.

Now imagine that you had a way of bringing this portrait to life. Not just in an animated sense, but in the conscious, independent thought and free will sort. Wouldn’t that be incredible?

Certainly it would. However, you’d soon discover slight obstacles to your creation’s understanding of you, the creator. You exist in three dimensions: length, width, and depth. Because your body was made in 3D, it is capable of processing information in 3D as well. But the living image you created is in 2D. As such, she can only process information in two dimensions. So some things you can see and hear, she can’t. Some places you go, she is unable to follow. In fact, there’s a whole dimension of you, the creator, that she is unable to grasp–it is hidden from her. In fact, there are only one or two angles from which she is able to see you at all. Even if you occupied the same room 24/7, you’d remain invisible to her most of the time.

So how would your creation seek to understand you? Continue reading →

Why We Suffer

Posted on by April
Suffering

Image courtesy of haitian-truth.org

Several years ago (when I was about 16 or so), I wrote a blog post about why humanity suffers. Some of what I wrote back then (what I can remember, anyway) still holds true in my mind. But other statements, I think, were a little short-sighted. Now that I’m a bit older and wiser, I’m going to take another stab at it. This comes at an appropriate time, as a deadly shooting just occurred at a Connecticut elementary school.

Human suffering is a topic of serious discussion in modern times. Atheists and agnostics hold it up as proof of God’s nonexistence or evidence of divine cruelty. The logic goes, “If a just and loving God did exist, He would not allow us to suffer.” For those who aren’t aware of the Bible’s position on suffering, that can be a compelling argument. Hopefully, I can shed some light on the subject. Here are the following reasons God has given me for why people suffer: Continue reading →

Good vs. Redeemed

Posted on by April

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRgkEwYkEtfdb8qUjg5c-uI6E7DgnpSNCutJftR_ejJDESmtWzaUQWhenever I encounter atheists and agnostics, a particular sentiment tends to come up in conversation. It goes something like this:

The Bible, especially what Jesus taught, is basically a list of rules for how to be good–help the poor and treat others with respect. It’s entirely possible to do that without faith. You can give to the needy and be a respectable person without becoming a Christian. I mean, if you need faith to keep from murdering your neighbor or beating your child, that doesn’t say much about you, does it?

And you know what? They’re right. Continue reading →