This afternoon I began reading The Shack by William Young. I've only read ninety pages or so, so I don't want to recommend the book yet, but I must confess it is intriguing. The novel, which claims to also be a true story, describes Mack's encounter with God in the shack. Mack's youngest daughter is killed by a serial killer, and the book deals with his struggle to cope with what he's been through. I find that what's most difficult to believe in regarding God is his existance. The belief in God seems absurd - uncomfortably similar to the grown up version of Santa Claus. One might claim that this is because we are brainwashed by popular culture, though in order to percieve the belief in God as rational I experience that one must be brainwashed to another extreme. However brainwashing has never sat too well with me. If you can put yourself in my shoes for a minute you may understand why the following paragraph grabbed my attention."There are times when you choose to believe something that would normally be considered absolutely irrational. It doesn't mean that it is actually irrational, but it surely is not rational. Perhaps there is a superationality; reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that only makes sense if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in."
The scientist in me is not comfortable with believing in the irrational. Yet is embrasing the irrational any worse than ignoring the issue? I am also left asking myself whether I truly want the universe to be rational, in a way I think I might just prefer that it isn't.
I like to prefer that it isn't. If it were rational, then I wouldn't fit in at all.
ReplyDeletefirst of all, i was pretty sure that the author asserted that the story was not true... that said, i haven't read it:)
ReplyDeletei read something really interesting the other day in the SDA commentary. it basically said that faith is not a blind trust in spite of a lack of evidence, but simply a belief in the unseen. when you look at it that way, you realize that we go out on a limb SO much in so many ways with our beliefs in everything around us. i guess when i think of it that way, a faith in God doesn't seem so irrational.