This blog will, hopefully, help me to explore what it means to be a Christian from an intellectual perspective. Before that scares you off, let me explain. Many people know theDonnybrook from In the Grey. In the Grey typically focuses on political and social issues, taking a moderate and secular approach to issues involving politics and society. This blog will do something completely different. As a philosopher and lawyer, I have struggled long and hard with my Christian faith. I walked away from the Church because I lacked the tools with which to answer the questions that raised my doubts. Now I feel I have the tools to answer these questions, or at least confront them knowing that my faith is not in jeopardy. These rantings will be a medium by which those questions may be posed, answered (or not answered), and posed again.
The intention is not to question whether God exists, this is taken as a presupposition based on an existential argument for the existence of God. I am a Christian because I feel, believe, and generally have an idea that this is the truth. My aim is not to offend or provoke doubt in others. My purpose here is simply to explore, intellectually, the ideas I have about my faith, and attempt to resolve doubts that may arise in the process. Faith, though, stands up in the face of doubt.
Ultimately, the goal is not to fall away, but to strengthen my faith by understanding exactly why faith is necessary. Feel free to join me in this thought experiment.
About Me
- theDonnybrook
- I think, I write, I ponder the what and the why. These blogs aim to pose questions and seek answers where possible. It is more about the journey than the destination as the former begets the latter.
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FEAR, THE FOUNDATION OF RELIGION
Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing -- fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things. In this world we can now begin a little to understand things, and a little to master them by help of science, which has forced its way step by step against the Christian religion, against the churches, and against the opposition of all the old precepts. Science can help us to get over this craven fear in which mankind has lived for so many generations. Science can teach us, and I think our own hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supports, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make this world a better place to live in, instead of the sort of place that the churches in all these centuries have made it.
http://users.drew.edu/~jlenz/whynot.html
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