Piqued

In my last post, I linked a video I made which addresses several arguments for the existence of God, or at least some supernatural being.  A visitor to my blog posted a detailed and thoughtful series of questions/rebuttals as a comment.  Since the original post and my response are rather lengthy, I thought I’d dedicate a blog post to the exchange.

Here is the comment by “ARS:”

Brian, I would like to begin by saying that I appreciate someone trying to make a logical argument for or against a belief, I think the quote you brought up in the beginning of your video is a great one that more people who believe your faith should abide by.

However, some of the assertions logic and arguments you use in this video can be misleading, false or flawed. I would like to first address that you do not speak for all of man, not all man needs a divine presence, there is a large percentage of the population of this world that goes through life not believing in any god, presence or being influencing them.

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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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I read an article today posted by a friend of mine.  The article was written by an abortion doctor and outlines the reasons he chooses to provide them, and his experience dealing with the criminal violence of a couple of anti-abortion activists.  It was published in the National Post (a Canadian paper), and is located here: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=283931&p=1

Below this posting, my friend pointed out that even if abortions were illegal, they’d still happen. Here’s my take:

It is true that abortions would still occur were it to be made illegal. Violations of individuals rights to life and property, such as theft, rape and murder happen all the time too. Should they be made legal?

While the article points out some chilling facts about amateur abortions, it ignores the fundamental issue in the abortion debate. What happens to the mother is completely irrelevant if the fetus is a human being, and not just some meaningless attached tissue as abortion proponents argue. This article then becomes an example of the consequences of an illegal activity, the gory details of which should, if anything, encourage pregnant girls to give their children up for adoption rather than go through such a thing. The fact that legalizing the practice would have fewer consequences for the person who decides to have it has nothing to do with whether it should be legal or not. Either type of abortion (professional or amateur) still has the same, far greater, consequence for the other person in the situation: death.

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Note: The following is a chapter from an unpublished book I wrote a year ago. The purpose is to share lessons and observations from my time in college. I hope to revise and somehow publish the book in its entirety at some point, but for now I’m sharing the current drafts one chapter at a time.

Part I – The Past: More than Just a Bunch of Dates

“Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known.”
- Ronald Reagan

Growing up, History didn’t interest me much. I guess I knew in my head that there were lessons to be learned from those who lived before me, but it still seemed like a lot of tedious memorization of facts that I’d never need in my daily life. Some of my peers found it fascinating…I would have much rather learned about technology, science, or computer programming. But I’ve come to realize that understanding the past is a great way to make the most of the present and succeed in the future. Generations of imperfect people have been trying things, some of which have worked and some which haven’t. Rather than going through that whole process ourselves, doesn’t it make more sense to learn about what they did and how it turned out, so that we can avoid making those same mistakes?

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Last week I received my latest issue of Gilbert Magazine, a magazine that features reprinted writings of Christian writer G.K. Chesterton as well as editorials relating to the worldview he espoused. It’s the magazine’s 10th anniversary, and I liked this paragraph:

By being devoted to Chesterton and his ideas, we have often faced the accusation – as did the man himself – of being narrow or of being on the fringe. But our defense is the same as his: we are not eccentric. We represent the central ideas of civilization: family, faith, and friendship. The normal and human ideals remain birth instead of contraception or abortion; natural death instead of suicide or physician-assisted murder; marriage instead of a revolving door of divorce or homosexual mockery; freedom instead of coercion; self-government instead of Big Government; taking care of one’s own property instead of taking care of someone else’s property; science as a tool or a toy instead of as a materialistic philosophy; education as truth passed from one generation to another instead of as state-sponsored indoctrination; beauty instead of ugliness; tradition instead of faddism; laughter instead of sneering; hope instead of despair; and finally, faith in God and Christ instead of endless doubt, relativistic tolerance, or nirvana.

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