Until Further Titling – Week Four: Proofs of God
I know a few people that definitely deserve a heaven if there is one, people whose goodness is so far beyond my own that it makes me doubt I’ll ever be in the running…
But perhaps the best argument for God isn’t about proofs or sound reasoning, but in the observation of man and self. The best me is very clearly the thoughtful Catholic me, when I wake up and choose to set a path where eternity is the unavoidable conclusion. Among all of the reasons to believe in God, it is perhaps the best: the recognition of my own weaknesses and effort it takes to live beyond myself provides a goodness that no skepticism or wavering could ever really rival. I am only a very small piece of a puzzle.
In the end, what it comes down to is really not needing a reason to believe in God for the belief to be legitimate. Belief in God is a truly basic belief, which is rooted in experience, not argumentation.
As usual, some thoughts not my own:
One of the reasons why I am a Christian is that this religion got what’s wrong with the world right. In my wanderings through philosophy and reason I went looking for any religion that would best demonstrate man’s great problem. All philosophies (including no philosophy) exist to address what’s wrong with the world. I found something wrong with the world, and I intuitively knew this from a very young age.
. . .
In fact, when atheists criticize my religion the first thing I do is hang on the edge of my seat asking for their best shot against my religion. Many think I’m joking about wanting so badly to find a better argument or explanation than what I’ve got, but I’m serious. I so long to hear a decent, philosophically coherent explanation for the world’s problems. I get nothing of the sort. The only thing more ridiculous than Christianity’s explanation for sin and death is any alternative I’ve heard so far. Still, I’m always open to a good shot at that explanation. It makes for better conversation around a drink than what most people talk about.