Piqued

I was perusing last.fm and noticed a recommended Rush music video. I’m not sure if it was officially commissioned, but it was made by some guy named Bobby who’s obviously talented:

I must give the guy major props not only for the slick production, but also the impressive research that went into making those trees.  Would make a cool wallpaper if he’d publish the graphics he used.  Anyway, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, I wanted to write some thoughts on the content of the video.  Whether or not it got Rush’s blessing (wouldn’t surprise me if it did…the band and especially lyricist Neil Peart are openly agnostic/atheist), the content is definitely provocative and worthy of a response.

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No, I don’t have a deep essay in store on how these four topics are profoundly related. I simply had several things I wanted to post today.

God

I was raised in a Christian home and today remain comitted to my faith. However, I also try to take a reasoned and level-headed approach to most things, and for that reason decided it was time to really address some of the questions I had about my faith. Not questions about what Christianity taught, or even what made Christianity right while other religions were wrong. Rather, I wanted to explore whether belief in the supernatural was itself reasonable. I had been taught it was, and knew some arguments for why it was, but felt I needed to explore more. After all, if I hold to Christianity on blind, untested faith, then my beliefs could be as misguided (or more so) than anyone else’s.

So last summer I spent a lot of time researching issues like existence, evolution, historical and geological corroboration of the Bible, the process of canonization, and a lot in between. What I found did not dismantle my belief in the Christian God. In fact, it strengthened it tremendously. But I did have to reevaluate and change some of my other beliefs in light of what I found.

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