Categories: uncategorized
Date: 10 June 2007 17:19:33
After the hecticness of yesterday it has been good to kick back and, apart from chapel, do nothing. I watched 2 films and am preparing myself for the 400th Simpsons at half six tonight. At least I get to work from home for the next 2 days.
Its been good to see that Smudgie has had the good news she's been waiting for.
The thing I like most about the Wibsite is the friendship and support you can get from people who are really strangers. You can pour your thoughts out and say things that are, even disguised, very personal. Then you have a hard time and you find support that you didn't know existed. Unknowingly to you, people you have never met have taken an interest in your life and actually care about you.
To me this is what our faith is really about. Caring and supporting those fellow believers, and non believers, and showing an interest in what they go through. After all Jesus told us that we'll be judged on how we help Him throughout our Christian walk. Whenever we help the hungry, the lost, the bereaved and the needy we are helping Him and showing the compassion that He showed through His life on earth.
Now some people may not understand, following the last paragraph, why I'm doing the following:
Today I started reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. This has become the "Atheist's Bible" since it was published last year and drawn either great praise or much hatred and ridicule, depending on the person's personal viewpoint.
Having read the Preface I can understand why he has encountered some vitriolic criticism. Without realizing it his style is actually very blunt and combatitive but he doesn't appear to see that. He hates being called a Fundamentalist Atheist. After all in his eyes Fundamentalists are religious bigots but he's a scientist with evidence on his side.
So why am I reading it?
I believe that a Christian should understand the world around them. They should be able to read and understand the views of others, even where it diametrically opposed to our own. For those of us who have a faith, we need others who don't and how they arrive at their decision. This applies as much to those of other faiths and no faith. Everyone is worthy of respect in God's eyes; after all He gave us the freedom to decide what we will and will not believe in.
I don't believe in fairies, Santa or the boogieman but I do believe in God and that Jesus was His presence on earth. Yet we have no "concrete" proof that some people will accept. Some are like Thomas and want physical evidence to support our belief. Written accounts are not good enough for some.
Yet some scientists feel that religion and science are totally opposed. Our understanding of how things work is not proof of God's existence, only a nail, in His coffin. Some accept theories as complete fact because they match parts of what they believe in and, just like religious people, then try to fit parts into a coherent thesis to support their case.