Faith + Reason = Truth

From the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill's website for their Religious Studies program:

     "Writing for religious studies takes place within a secular, academic environment, rather than a faith-oriented community. For this reason, the goal of any paper in religious studies should not be to demonstrate or refute provocative religious concepts, such as the existence of God, the idea of reincarnation, or the possibility of burning in hell. By nature, such issues are supernatural and/or metaphysical and thus not open to rational inquiry."

And here I was, thinking that I'd been studiously writing about religion, when all I was doing was expounding on the "supernatural" that is "not open to rational inquiry."

My apologies to all of you and your rationally inquiring minds.  I'll do my best to keep my religious studies confined to matters that do not "demonstrate or refute provocative religious concepts, such as the existence of God," etc.

One of this year's 3 TED wish-winners is Karen Armstrong, a renowned and prolific writer on the topic of [for the most part] monotheistic faiths, i.e. the Abrahamic religions, aka Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  She is a scholar, she is a person of faith, and her empathy and compassion for all, regardless of religious beliefs (or lack thereof) is to be admired and respected.
Her TED 2008 wish is to receive assistance in the creation of a worldwide Charter for Compassion, and the project is now well underway!  The site (PLEASE visit it) is CharterForCompassion.org and is actively calling for participation and action by people of all beliefs - even people of "no" belief, or at least no religious belief.  It is truly an all-inclusive endeavor.
Do your soul a favor and drop by the site.  Contribute if you are moved to do so.  Thank you!

Ipod Touch for less than $300, including free WiFi-enabled multitouch surfing.
Any of a number of new netbooks, sub-$400, that would also be WiFI-enabled.  These have much larger screens than iPods, are actually real computers and do everything computers do (including real keyboards), but cannot just be tossed in a pocket and last for many hours on a charge like an iPod Touch.
Last but not least, the mysterious Kindle by Amazon.  This is the technological wizardry that actually inspired this post, even though it's never been seen in person (by me).  I think I may actually get one, but for the price, the iPod Touch or a netbook may be wiser investments.  Hmmm...

Some say that there is no God.  That we believers are full of nonsense.  That, rationally, it cannot be the case that the world, the universe, was created by a creator.

I say that, rationally, how possible is it for you to exist in the exact way that you do, at the exact place, in this exact moment, doing exactly what it is that you are doing?  It is "statistically" so unlikely as to be virtually impossible, mathematically speaking.  Yet there you are, as yourself, right now, doing what you are doing, wherever you happen to be.

Some say that it's not that significant that Christianity exists and is strong and vibrant throughout the world, 2000 years after its founding, even after considering all that it has endured.  That, after all, in light of so many competing religions and philosophies, something was "bound" to beat out the others, wasn't it?  And that one thing just so happens to be Christianity, even though it could just have likely have been any number of other beliefs.  It's the Romans, by golly, that we have to thank for Christianity's dominance!

I say that, to the contrary, who's to say that any set of beliefs that was present and relevant 2000 years ago in a specific, unique culture and place would have any business surviving and thriving throughout all of the ensuing eras of human history, across cultures, all over the world?  It is not a militaristic belief system, although many have gone to war in defense of it.  It has had its share of dark periods and individuals, as it is a human institution.  But when so many have been moved and continue to be moved to make the sacrifices that they have made, including their very lives, for their belief, it is no wonder that it is as prevalent today as it is.  The unanswerable question posed to those who do not believe is this:  what is the source, the inspiration, for that level of devotion?  What would you lay down your life for, what would you be torn to shreds and voluntarily devoured by wild beasts for, what would you be consumed as a human torch for?  Money?  No.  Your love, your children?  Possibly.  Your belief in something not of this earthly existence?  What could have that kind of power over even one person, let alone so many people across so many years?

If you don't believe, if you are not seeking the Truth with your head, your heart, and your soul, then what are you doing with your life, with your existence?  Ask yourself the questions that must be asked, the big important universal questions, and you will quickly realize that in order to find the answers, you must necessarily rely less on statistics and probabilities and rationalizations and excuses and the limits of human reason.  Employ them to your head's content to have it all make a little more sense in terms of constructs and understandability, but realize that they are not of themselves able to provide the answers that you seek.  Have faith in the veracity of eyewitness accounts of God's walk on earth as Man and in all that has transpired since, and you will have made a good start for yourself.

This blog does not get a large number of visitors.  On occasion, I'll run some AdWords ads to drive some traffic and see what happens to my stats (pages per visit and length of visit), and while doing so the night before last, I went out and set up an AdSense account.  AdSense is Google's way of having site owners open up their sites to Google ads and getting paid on a per-click basis for doing so.
Apparently Google is very secretive about how much revenue these ads can generate, and they don't allow us to disclose exact earnings amounts or other metrics.  Let it suffice to state that I spent between 50 and 100 times my ad revenue earnings on traffic acquisition costs yesterday.  The amounts we're talking about are really quite trivial, less than a hundred bucks on acquisition costs, but the amount of visitors and ads served were a pretty decent sample size.  Enough so that I have ZERO misgivings about removing the ads entirely, as they are likely to do more harm than good, at least on this particular blog.

Please forgive my experimental foray into potential revenue generation from this site, and know that I feel very priveleged to have each and every one of you visitors and subscribers!

Tom

Are you struck by images of soldiers alone with heads bowed down in prayer?  Especially when the fear or desperation is tangible through the photo, through the paper or tv, across the thousands of miles of ocean and land?
Or maybe it's not fear, maybe it's hope, maybe it's faith, maybe it's thoughts about others in their prayers.  There is no doubt that when things are toughest, times are darkest, and hope is all but lost, those are the times when faith is either magnified or abandoned.  People have wondered since our very beginnings why God allows tough times.  I don't know, but I do know that those are the times when His children are closest to Him.  For that, I am thankful.  And for those who have fought bravely to protect freedom, America's as well as other nation's, I am indebted and grateful.
Here is an excerpt of the eloquent words proclaimed by President Bush in honor of this day and the people it memorializes:

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

On Veterans Day, we pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the men and women who in defense of our freedom have bravely worn the uniform of the United States.

From the fields and forests of war-torn Europe to the jungles of Southeast Asia, from the deserts of Iraq to the mountains of Afghanistan, brave patriots have protected our Nation's ideals, rescued millions from tyranny, and helped spread freedom around the globe. America's veterans answered the call when asked to protect our Nation from some of the most brutal and ruthless tyrants, terrorists, and militaries the world has ever known. They stood tall in the face of grave danger and enabled our Nation to become the greatest force for freedom in human history. Members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard have answered a high calling to serve and have helped secure America at every turn.

Our country is forever indebted to our veterans for their quiet courage and exemplary service. We also remember and honor those who laid down their lives in freedom's defense. These brave men and women made the ultimate sacrifice for our benefit. On Veterans Day, we remember these heroes for their valor, their loyalty, and their dedication. Their selfless sacrifices continue to inspire us today as we work to advance peace and extend freedom around the world.

Good question, short answer:  no.  Here's why.  There is only 1 truth, arrived at by as many paths as there are people in the world.  How can this be, you ask?  Well, there IS a catch, as you may have guessed.  The catch is that the paths all must contain one common element, and that is the Word Incarnate, a.k.a. Jesus of Nazareth.  Although none of us gets to choose where our paths begin, including those of other beliefs, we do control them with our choices and intentions throughout our lives.
Think of humanity as a map.  Every person on earth is a road on the map.  No two are alike, every single one starts at a different point, but they can intersect, they can overlay each other for short stretches or for long, they can detour, they can merge, they can stop, they can start again.  Some are shorter than others, some are much straighter while others tend to meander around.  For true Christians, however, they all arrive at one final destination, and that destination is the doorway to eternal life and truth.  The name of the doorway is Jesus, it is very well-lit and easy to find, there is no toll or secret password.  All you have to do is set your life to the built-in autopilot feature, accessible through your active deployement of Christian faith, hope, and love, and you will arrive unscathed and none the worse for the wear.  Happy traveling!

After reading a press release on Microsoft's huge marketing deal with Sun, granting the option to tens of millions of downloaders of Java to include an MSN toolbar in their download, the immediate thought was "why would anyone do this?  I thought MSN's search was still a cluttered mess, in stark contrast to Google's simple elegance and focus."  After a quick visit to msn.com, I confirmed my suspicion, but then dug deeper by clicking directly on the search link at MSN (see live.com screenshot, followed by msn.com screenshot):

In stark contrast to msn.com, the Live site is a study in cool simplicity.  Just like Google was and still pretty much is.  I've always wondered why someone hasn't tried to out-Google Google, and I believe www.live.com has accomplished that feat.  They've even got a shorter url to type in!
Now if all of us were aware of exactly what www.live.com was, then MS might one day be relevant again in the everyday internet citizen world.  Can its p.r. effort get out of the way of itself and somehow allow that to happen?  I hope so, because although the screenshot doesn't show it, the site actually has some gee whiz techiness to it that is earning it a bookmark in my browser bar as soon as this post is finished!

The Main page is changed up a little in order to encourage visitors to subscribe or bookmark Faith + Reason = Truth.  I've gotten back to posting 5 days a week, and as with exercising any muscle, the more you write the easier it is!
If you're a blog visitor to this or any blog, then you should make every effort to engage through Comments.  At first, if you're new to it, you may be a little scared to expose your thoughts or feelings to "the whole world" [or at least that gigantic portion of humanity that happens to be reading that blog, that post, and your Comment].  Then, you may feel like you need to offer something new or insightful or never-before-conceived-of-by-humanity - but that feeling too shall pass.
Eventually you will find and settle upon your own voice; as you continue to engage, you will strengthen and sharpen that voice, or maybe even alter it, if you don't like what you're discovering about yourself.  THIS is what the whole point of it all is!  It takes awhile; in fact, it will probably take the rest of your life if you're lucky.  The best part, for me anyway, comes after you've built a body of work through your Comments on other blogs and no doubt your own, and you are able to relive what you've said, what you've thought, what you've felt, what you've experienced at various moments in time.  Preserved for you and everyone else, for better or for worse.
What are you waiting for?  Go now - find something worthy of your opinion - and write it! 

"Put yourself in my shoes."  Sounds simple enough.  But as far as I know, humans are the only things on this earth that can accomplish that feat.  Inanimate objects cannot.  Plants cannot.  Other animals cannot, can they?
Start with a fish, a bird, your dog or cat (you know, the one that "loves" you back), and proceed to dolphins and primates.  Although other animals can display that they care in some way for other things, I don't think they can have empathy or that they can project themselves into an imagined existence as something other than themselves.  People can.
If you could be anyone or anything, go anywhere, or experience any time other than the present...why don't you?  You can, if only temporarily, if you put your mind to it!

Thanks to pseudoku and his recent post on Kurt Vonnegut and yeast for the inspiration for this post.

Where would this nation be if either Al Gore or John Kerry had offered the kind of healing, unity-building concession that was proffered by John McCain last night?  I can't answer that, but I can say that it would be a better place than it is right now.  Divisiveness takes two, and no losing candidate has been as divisive, outwardly bitter, and harmful to national governance as either Gore or Kerry were.
McCain's honest, heart-felt love for his country first and his party second has started the ball rolling toward the ultimate shared objective of Barack Obama's presidency and the hopeful citizens of a nation and a world.  If only we could have been 8 years further along on this path than we presently are...but we are not, and we will do our best to make up for lost time.  Thanks to the infectious optimism and hopefulness of both John McCain and Barack Obama, we finally have an opportunity to realize the dream that we all share.

Sola Scriptura is the Protestant belief that only Scripture matters.  Teaching, tradition, and authority have nothing to do with what is to be taken from the Bible.  This is an untenable position for a number of reasons:  there is the obvious translation issue, as well as the actual context and meanings of words written down 2000 years ago.  And that is where the teaching and tradition comes in handy.
If you really believe in Sola Scriptura, that the Bible is infallible and obvious to all who truly seek to know and live the Word, then you obviously wouldn't require a translation, would you?  You could just pick up a copy in any language, say Attic Greek or Hebrew or a Latin Vulgate or even a King James English (or heck, why not a Mandarin or Sanskrit?), and it would make sense to you the reader.
Does it?  Of course not.  So cut yourself some slack and say, "but as long as it's in common modern English, I'll be ok."  Will you?  Of course not.  This is due to the aspects of context and tradition, familiarity with life back when it was written.  For example, do you know anyone who works for the IRS?  Any tax collectors?  How about the County Tax Collector to whom you pay thousands of dollars in property tax each year?  Does it seem like a grave, horrible offense worthy of communal ostracism to associate with them in any form, let alone have dinner with them or consider them part of your trusted inner circle?  It was for Jews living in Judea around 30AD.  So some context is required in order to grasp the impact of Jesus embracing and forgiving EVERYONE, even despised tax collectors.
Martin Luther was a man deeply concerned with the direction the leadership of Church was taking, and he tried to get people's attention and spark some much needed reform.  The Pope was aware of this and dismissed it as a "monkish quarrel" (Luther was in fact a German Catholic monk at the time).  But the suggested reforms took on a life of their own, and Christians have been divided ever since between those who believe they can figure it all out on their own (all they need is a handy dandy Bible that's been translated into words they can actually understand, even if they don't mean the same thing as the original words written by the original authors) and those who recognize the need for the magisterium, the teaching authority and the tradition of the Church going back to its very founding with the actual followers and companions of Christ setting the example of oral teachings that would eventually be written down decades later.

If you see a person in expensive clothing or jewelry of their own possession preaching the Word, run the other way.
If they own an expensive vehicle or home, they are not truly following the Way.
Why, you ask, can't a person be fully on the path while owning expensive things?  Because if they had found and embraced the Truth, then they would not only have no need for such things, but they would actually shed them as quickly as possible.  Look at Jesus of Nazareth.  Look at the Apostles.  Look at St. Francis of Assisi, who, unlike the Apostles, actually had wealth and then discarded it when he found the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Look at St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, or if you prefer, look at people who were not Catholic saints.  Look at Gautama, look at Ghandi.
When one discovers the Truth, through faith and reason, one has no need or desire for things of this world other than physical sustenance.  At least that's what I gather from study of the subject.
Where does this leave you?  I'll tell you where it leaves me:  doing my best to stay on the path, but leaving much to be desired with my efforts - and certainly not yet arrived at the destination.  My craving for things of this world are very strong, and I continue to devote way too much of my time and being to attaining and enjoying them.  I see the error of this way, yet choose to rationalize my actions as being geared toward providing for my family or trying to make the world a better place.  That is why true spiritual people who are called to serve God and nothing else cannot have spouses or children; the conflict of interest is too much to resolve, and either God or the family will be short-changed.  I'm not sure what the correct course is, which is how I know I haven't yet arrived at the place I seek - for if I had, then I would be absolutely sure of what my priority should be, and would be able to act accordingly.  My family would not only understand, they would embrace and join in the decision themselves, for themselves.  But it is not something I can ask of them or anyone else, nor am I ready to do so.
So I will continue along the path, clinging to both God and my own life, while hoping nothing ever forces me to choose one over the other, as has happened countless times throughout history going back to the martyrs and to Jesus himself.  Let's hope that's enough for now.