Sorry everyone the scheduled Agnostics Anonomous at the Swan pub on Tuesday 24th April will have to be cancellled -I'm sorry this is short notice - I had hoped that we would look this month at the general topic of faith and doubt,
ie
are some people more pre-desposed to faith than others, what do we mean
by certainty and doubt - can we ever 'prove' God exists etc
However falls, illness, hospital operations, work shifts and holidays (for some lucky ones!)
has meant that it appears we would be very low on numbers, and I can't
guarentee to be there as I am having to take each day at a time with
regard to pain relief and a trapped nerve.
But I'm sure that Dave at theSwan would be more than welcome you for an informal pint! (and Tuesday is curry night too!)
But for now a few random rambelings....
Faith is a strange thing - I wonder whether some people are more pre-dispossed to belief than others? Atheists might say that some are just more gullible, but there are a variety of things that we can't individually prove, but we do believe exist. For example I don't have the scientific knowledge to be able to follow the logic on sub atomic particles and the work on the so called God particle (Higgs Boson but for those of you with more scientific knowledge there is an easy to read explanation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson) but I believe what I am being told by the scientists who have devoted their lives to studying these things.
If we were able to 'prove' God existed - would God then 'dissapear in a puff of logic' as described in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (when the likelihood of the babel-fish being purely natural selection 'proved the existence of God) - in other words does God need faith to exist?
We have labelled one of Jesus' followers as the doubter - Thomas is reported to have said 'unless I place my hands in his side then I can't believe' but we are told by other Gospel accounts that he was really only asking for the same amount of 'proof' that his friends had recieved. My husband reckons that Thomas should be the patron saint of lawyers!
So is the opposite of faith doubt - or is it certainty?
Personally I am worried by those who are absolutely certain in their beliefs - whether that is in the infallibility of the Bible, or that God absolutely does not exist, because for me that leaves no room for exploration, journeying and discovery. The history of science is littered with failed theories, which can now be disproven. Some would say that now we have greater knowledge at our disposal we have no need of ancient myths and stories relating to the Divine.
Others (like myself) would want to say - yes there needs to be an initial step of faith - putting ourselves beyond our comfort zone and then after this there is often a personal experience which speaks to the depth of our humanity - to our souls if you want to put it into religious language. Christians would want to say that the divine spark we believe is within each one of us is most fully realised through the teaching of Jesus and trying to follow that way of love.
What do you think - I'd very much like to know
