(October 27, 2017 at 9:09 am)Catholic_Lady Wrote:(October 26, 2017 at 10:56 pm)Whateverist Wrote: Yeah, I don't care about the arguments about all the ways God allows people to suffer. Of course, I can't begin to imagine such a thing existing at all so I just don't go on to worry about why He allows evil in the world He is supposed to have created.
I just don't know how you and other believers go from "works in strange and wonderful ways" to limitless knowledge and power and created everything from nothing. I mean wouldn't it be more humble to just say knowledge of God is beyond us and therefore a mystery. You can continue to count your relationship with God as being important but then just admit you don't know just how omni-anything He is -let alone how He came to be or exactly what role He may of had in creation. To my way of thinking that would be true faith, revering God but accepting His mysterious ways as beyond our pay grade.
But I just always feel like I can ask you about these things when they come up without you getting mad or feeling threatened. Glad you're here.
You are correct that of course we should admit that there is a lot about God we don't know and don't even have the capacity to comprehend. We should also admit that even though we believe strongly, there is always a possibility that we could be wrong about Him existing at all. So you are correct on that, sorry if I gave the impression that I feel otherwise.
Believing in the Christian God, thpugh, means believing that certain things about Him have been divinely revealed to us through Christ. So while we don't even come close to claiming to know everything about God, we do believe we know some things - like that He is all good, that He is love, that He is infinite, the Father of creation, etc.
I don't see it as "unhumble" to believe that. It's just what we believe in, you know?
And yeah, I'm not mad or threatened.
I admire people of faith who maintain humility while being truly open to the otherness of others without judgement. You do one hell of a job of this. So when we talk about areas of disagreement keep in mind that I do so with some trepidation of upsetting the balance of traits and beliefs that make you you.
I get that as a Christian you believe the story of Jesus tells you things about the Christian God. I just think it is possible for someone to interpret that and other stories differently. I'm frequently impressed that people associated with the Catholic church at the vatican seem to hold that meaning in far more subtle and sophisticated ways than the laity do. I guess I'm a bit of an iconoclast in wanting to see that kind of understanding shared more widely. Your current pope has often expressed liberal values and progressive political positions. I wish he would write out his own personal understanding of the Christian stories which inform his religious beliefs, but then he is charged with the well being of the institution of the church.
