DISQUS

Name · 2 months ago

Our God is beyond amazing. His kind of "amazing" is incomprehensible.

Brent Logan · 2 months ago

I'm not convinced that Andy is suggesting a third option as much as hoping for one. Without a third choice, the blister beetle larvae's complex and cunningly deceptive behavior either resulted from evolution or was designed by the Creator.

For those who are interested, the original sources for the cited information are found in:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2009/08...

http://www.pnas.org/content/103/38/14039.full?s...

gwalter · 2 months ago

If you're right Brent, then I'm all about possibilities. Modernity has been trying to put God in a box since the days of the enlightenment. The problem is that an infinite God is just not that easy to explain.

I maintain that there will be a whole lot of forehead slapping at the Second Coming - when we will "behold" and be changed in the "twinkling of an eye.". Who knows? We might need 1000 years in Heaven just to sanely adjust to new present truths...

gwalter · 2 months ago

Andy, great story, but I'm a little confused. What is this third choice you offer? I'm usually pretty good about connecting invisible dots, but I'm missing this one... Can you help a brother out?

Michael Castello · 2 months ago

Yeah I missed the point of this as well.

Andy Hanson · 2 months ago

Andy responds to Brent and Gary.

In my world, there are several ways to deal with confounding theological situations. Karen Armstrong provides two of them in her new book, The Case for God.

“Our scientifically oriented knowledge seeks to master reality, explain it, and bring it under the control of reason, but a delight in unknowing has also been part of the human experience. Even today, poets, philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists find that the contemplation of the insoluble is a source of joy, astonishment, and contentment.”
Introduction, p. xiv

“The Buddha, for example, had little time for theological speculation. One of his monks was a philosopher manqué and, instead of getting on with his yoga, constantly pestered the Buddha about metaphysical questions: Was there a god? Had the world been created in time or had it always existed? The Buddha told him that he was like a man who had been shot with a poisoned arrow and refused medical treatment until he had discovered the name of his assailant and what village he came from. He would die before he got this perfectly useless information. What difference would it make to discover that a god had created the world? Pain, hatred, grief, and sorrow would still exist. These issues were fascinating, but the Buddha refused to discuss them because they were irrelevant.” p. 23

gwalter · 2 months ago

Wow - this is well articulated - and so very similar to my own perspective.

Several years ago I was speaking at a Singles Retreat/Conference in British Columbia. No sooner had I arrived and sat down to eat, then someone approached me to ask me some esoteric, yet inane, theological question. I gave this person the same answer I share with my congregations:

"I'm not a theologian - I'm a coach, a mentor, someone God has called to help others know Him better. You should probably ask someone else that question, because I just don't know."

What I leave unpoken is this:

"...nor do I care. It just doesn't matter in the bigger schema. I, and most of us, are just trying to live one day at a time - and those question just don't help me discover how to get through today."

In other words, So what?

Andy Hanson · 2 months ago

Gary,

Thanks for the note and the help. You have really breathed new life into the blog, and, as a consequence, motivated this blogger to actively participate.

Best wishes, Andy

gwalter · 2 months ago

You are welcome! And, thank you!