Christian Doubt

Maybe I’m biased. Maybe I prefer science over blind faith. Maybe I don’t get my information from right wing radio and cable host. Maybe I trust the scientific consensus too much. But this whole “scandal” on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is frustrating. I find it interesting that the Christian right is so willing to deny AGW (and other theories with tons of data like evolution), but quickly believe something that has little hard evidence (supernatural being). Here are some videos that helped put this scandal to rest for me.

Tags: anthropogenic global warming, climategate, global warming

I have another podcast recommendation. It’s more on the scholarly side, but it’s definitely a good resource and is by a popular apologiticist, William Lane Craig. I’ve been going through the Defenders podcasts and have enjoyed the lectures on the cosmological, teleological, and moral arguments. William does present the arguments well, and he covers them in as much detail as a podcast should allow. He also has a good website with tons of material.

Tags: William Lane Craig

For all you out there who don’t believe in evolution, here is absolute proof of a transition between species.

Just kidding. Evolution doesn’t really work this way

I’ve started listening to the Resonable Doubts podcast, and so far I must say I enjoy it. The audio quality is great, and the 3 guys that put in on are very creative. I have also found it very cool that they are from Grand Rapids (where I lived for 4 years) and they mention the Christian Reformed Church (church I grew up in), Calvin College (went there), and Dutch heritage (I’m mostly Dutch) all of which strike close to home.

A couple things to keep in mind is that it is a podcast, so you can’t hold them to the same rigor as a published book. Podcasts have more freedom and spontaneity, so arguments are not always fully developed, straw men are sometimes presented, and mistakes can happen. But its a podcast. It’s supposed to be entertaining and informative, both of which they do an excellent job. Some of the podcasts are very one sided and come off as a podcast of  angry atheists, but these have been few (as far as I have listened to). I have liked when they have had on the show someone of the faith, where both sides are presented. I also enjoy the more scholarly segments: “God thinks like you” and “Skeptics Sunday School”.  The three fellas that put the podcast on are all professors, so they bring a scholarly eire to the program. But seldom does the podcast get too think in theological discussions. The three amigos keep it entertaining and have kept me tuning in to their podcast.

Tags: Reasonable Doubts

Ran across this interesting article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. It a nice review article that briefly list the many theories of how Jesus may have died. Some of the different theories of how Jesus died: Cardiac rupture, Heart failure, Hypovolaemic shock, Syncope, Acidosis, Asphyxia, Arrhythmia plus asphyxia, Pulmonary embolism, and Voluntary surrender of life. It illustrates once again the mystery behind Jesus, and how with even modern science we may never have a firm grasp of what happened.

Everyone has a skeptical dial. You ratchet it way up when it comes to arguments or conclusions that you don’t like, but then you dial it way down for your own personally held views. In researching the Christian faith I once had, I find myself ratcheting my skeptical dial up and down. I recently caught myself doing this when listening to a podcast on the cosmological argument. I quickly want proof for a designer God, but don’t demand proof for the opposing theory of a multiverse. Both sides of the argument cross over into  metaphysics, but I find myself more skeptical of the arguments that have religious implications. I place the burden of proof on Christianity; however, at the end of the day belief in a multiverse may take as much faith to believe in.

Granted a skeptical dial is beneficial and I use mine every day. For instance, I am not skeptical of the traffic lights, or the evening news, or the love of my wife.  However, I am skeptical of the Spaghetti Flying Monster, acupuncture, and astrology. Other things fall on a range of skepticism. For instance I believe the 1 day weather forecast over the 7 day forecast, and I believe the 7 day forecast over the Farmer’s Almanac.

But when seriously weighing two sides of an argument, it is unfair to put an unreasonable burned of proof on one side, because that biases the conclusion before research even starts. So while I keep searching, I need to remember to keep my hands off the dial, and require from both sides the same burden of proof.

Tags: Skepticism

Tim in the comments quoted an excellent passage from Andrew Peabody. It was so good that I wanted to highlight it here as a separate post.

There are two kinds of scepticism,—that of the heart and that of the intellect. The former is adapted to make unbelievers; the latter, to make Christians. The fomer will not look at the hands and the side, because it is determined not to be moved morally and spiritually as they would move the honest soul; the latter insists on seeing the wound-marks, because it wants to know the precise truth, and therefore avails itself of whatever evidence God has given. The scepticism of the heart hates the light, and will not come to the light, lest its deeds be reproved. The scepticism of the mind is that which cannot believe without sufficient evidence. It proves all things, and holds fast that which will stand the test. It examines both sides of a question, and adheres to that which imposes the least strain on its belief. Such a mind needs only to have the evidences of Christianity fairly presented, to yield to it entire and cordial faith. Many of the firmest believers, many of the ablest defenders of the truth as it is in Jesus, belong to this class of minds. In this sense, Lardner, Paley, and Butler, whose contributions to the Christian evidences are invaluable, and will be so for generations to come, were pre-eminently sceptics. They would not believe, without examining the hands and the side, trying all the witnesses, testing the objections against Christianity with the opposing arguments, weighing coolly and impartially the evidence, real or pretended, on either side; and the result was a faith in Christ, which sight could hardly have rendered clearer or stronger.

God has made many such minds, and they are among the noblest and best of his creation.

– Andrew P. Peabody, Christianity and Science (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1874), pp. 250-51.

In dealing with my own doubt and interacting with others who doubt or have lost their faith, I have seen these two kinds of skepticism. In my own case I have had both kinds of skepticism. The skepticism of the heart is less frequent and comes when I am just tired of searching for God, and say to myself, “The hell with it!” But luckily these moments are few. Unfortunately, most of what I’ve found on the internet has been of this variety. These sites are full of hate and bitterness; rejecting opposing arguments just because they are opposing arguments. The more healthier and productive skepticism is what Andrew describes as “skepticism of the mind”. This is the kind of skepticism which will look at the evidence farely and go where the data leads them. This is the type of skepticism I aim for.

Tags: Skepticism

My mom was going through some of my grandma’s stuff the other day (she passed away last year), and passed along things that she had kept of her grandkids. It is always a good feeling to see the care she took in collecting keep-sakes of her grandkids. From newspaper clippings of sporting events, to photos. One of the things she kept of mine was a poem I had written for a fine-arts festival for school. I had never been (or am) a good writer, so I was surprised I had a poem in the festival. As I read the poem I was taken aback by what I wrote back in 7th grade.

Decision

Don’t know where to go or when,

If I could just go like the wind.

Should I go here or there?

Should I go there or here?

Confusion,

Worry,

Doubting,

If . . .

If . . .

If I could only make up my mind.

Way back in 7th grade I was doubting! I don’t think I was doubting my faith, and I don’t even know if I really even had faith in 7th grade. Sure I called myself a Christian, but at that age how much are one’s beliefs the beliefs of one’s parents. In any event, skepticism seems to have been a part of me from a very early age. So I guess my doubting Christianity was inevitable. Reading this poem again and gazing back in the past, I’ve realized how still similar I am to that awkward skinny 7th grade boy. I’m still in confusion, still worrying, still doubting. If I could only make up my mind.

Taking these two points in time, 7th grade and the present, and drawing a straight line through them, two troubling things come out:

1. I will always be a skeptic, and may always doubt Christianity.
2. I was born a doubter.

Sobering things to think about.

Someone the other day pointed me to this great link that has the Codex Sinaiticus online. The Codex Sinaiticus is is one of the most important hand-written ancient copies of the Greek Bible. It It has been dated to the 4th century (based on palaeographical analysis) and contains one of the very oldest and best manuscripts of the New Testament. The only earlier New Testament manuscripts contain small portions of the text.

I easily burned through several hours just playing with the different features. It was a little clunky at times, but to click on different parts of the manuscript, then see the translation, and compare it to my NIV version was really cool. I wish they could do this for some of the other early manuscripts too. For those who don’t know the field well (like myself), it adds so much to actually see the manuscripts and to see the translations and to compare it to the Bible I have in hand today. It gives me a bit more confidence that what we have today is what the Gospel writers wrote back then. I just have to keep thinking and pondering whether what they wrote down is true or not (unfortunately the harder part).

Tags: Codex Sinaiticus

This past weekend my family had a nice camping weekend planned for Fri-Mon, however things did not go as planned. After driving for about 2 hours and being 5 minutes from the camp ground, my wife looks at the reservation and realized that she reserved the wrong weekend. This is an extreme rarity as my wife is very organized (I tease her about her OCD tendencies). The camp ground is full except for one non-electric site. We got to the spot and when we got out of the van we were immediately devoured by thousands of mosquitoes. It was insane (my skin is still crawling thinking about it). Even my maximum percentage DEET bug spray didn’t work. After taking the kids to the pit toilets (yuck!) we decided to pack it up “for the sake of the kids”. We decided to try a camp ground closer to home. So back in the van for another 2 hour road trip with 7 kids who were getting fussier by the minute.

We get to the new camp ground which was very nice, modern toilets, nice sites, and the mosquitoes were more bearable–or so we thought. When the sun started setting, the mosquitoes came out in force. I don’t know if the mosquitoes this year are immune to DEET or if there was just more of them because of all the rain we have been getting, but they were just unbearable. So we decided to quickly eat some Some-mores and go to bed earlier than normal. The night was awful. Our baby was crying, our 2 year old “slept” with us, kids had to get up numerous times during the night to use the bathroom, there was a camp party some sites away, there was some sort of dog event going on so there were many dogs barking, and to top it off there was a very loud thunderstorm that unexpectedly came during the night. By morning we were tired, sticky, and mosquito bitten.

My wife and I decided to call it quits and go home on Saturday. This allowed us to go to our church service on Sunday, which we would have missed if our camping trip would have gone better. The sermon was on Matthew 7:7-11 and Asking, Seeking, and Knocking. It was a very applicable message for me.

I don’t know if it has been a decrease in my searching, a lack of desire to pray and read scripture, or just the business of summer, but I have been very successful at just ignoring my doubt recently. On one hand it has been good, because I’ve spent more time with my kids, relaxed more, enjoyed some comedy shows, etc. But on the other hand, the summer has been going by fast, and I feel like I have made no progress with my doubt.

But the sermon was good in refocusing me. Something I took out of the sermon was that I still need to be a doer. I need to ask, seek, and knock. Sure it feels like I’ve done my share of that, and God should have listen to me a long time ago, but maybe I have been so focused on what I think answers to my prayers should look like that I don’t see His answer in plain view. Maybe my pleading for faith requires this doubt. So I will try again to be more persistent in my asking, seeking, and knocking.

So, thank you mosquitoes. . . (I think?)