This entire summer I have been anticipating the semester that begins on Tuesday. I have poured myself out time and time again in my thoughts about this semester. And now that I stand on the brink I feel entirely unprepared. Coming off of last semester, I anticipate the semester to strike my life as a storm as brutal as the last, and my defenses are not in place.
I am reminded of a moment I just read of in The Return of the King. Gandalf and Pippin ride into Minas Tirith after a restless gallop all the way from Rohan to the North. This haste is brought about when Gandalf realizes that the enemy (Sauron and his armies in Mordor) are further in their plans then Gandalf had thought them. When Gandalf enters The City of Gondor, he passes a force of men working on building up a battlement of the outer wall. He says to them that the storm is already upon them and it would be better for them to begin sharpening their blades.
Later in that same chapter, Pippin goes to the gates of Minas Tirith with a newly acquainted friend to watch the arrival of armies that are coming to help. The armies ride in with glorious cheering from the people of Minas Tirith, but after they pass there is a murmur through the crowd, "too few have come". As I read there is a troubling sense that the battle that is being brought to Minas Tirith, the storm that is about to be unleashed upon the stronghold is more terrible then could possibly be prepared for.
I feel that I cannot prepare much further then I have, that I am expending all of my resources, yet the storm is coming upon me more violent then I could have predicted. I feel as ready as I could, yet not prepared enough; that I am standing on a diving board, facing backwards and all that is left is to jump.
So I look upon this storm, and I say "do your worst" for I would have nothing else. I jump and I run head first into the pouring thunder.
It's a good thing I have some great friends who will pick me up when I fall, and who will push me forward when I am discouraged. I suppose that the best thing to remember is that the storm never falls upon just one person.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Logic is Flawed
My niece is quite ignorant of the world. She does not understand concepts that are so elementary and necessary for the continuation of humanity. She is selfish, and does not understand anything outside of herself. She does not understand how her decisions and action effect the people around her. I often am frustrated with her because of this. My Niece is four. Of course she does not understand any of this. It cannot be expected for someone of that age to have an understand of any of these things, and my frustration is purely that of selfishness myself. But she brings an interesting thought to the table.
Children of a young age cannot comprehend these simple concepts, and so there are authorities in the children's lives that govern them and tell them what is good to do and what is not good to do. And children learn that they must trust these authorities, and obey or be disciplined. One of my sisters has a very good discipline system. She asks her son if he is going to choose to obey or choose to have a time out. He does not know why he must obey all of the time, but he knows his choices, and the consequence of each because his mother has told him.
Jesus says of children that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as them.
Logic is a flawed system. Perhaps it is one of the best systems that we have available to ourselves, but it will often lead us astray. Would you let my four year old niece act as judge in a murder trial? Would you let her write laws for a state? Would you let her choose your outfit for a day? But how much do we, or rather "they" (for I must discount myself as one who has understanding) truly understand about the world?
If you believe that anything in this world is flawed, then you ought to be able to acknowledge with me that everything, if looked at from the right vantage point is flawed. Only if you believe that everything in this world is exactly as it ought to be, that we are like the animals and there is no higher calling for us, only then do I believe that you can disagree with my statement.
I believe that this constant flaw is because of the human's desire to understand everything combined with the human condition of only being able to see some things. It is the job of a jury to convict, and a noble one at that. But it is the worst job I could imagine and I hope never to be put in that position. The problem is that there may be information that is not presented or understood, and a decision must be made in the example of a court. Perhaps 99% of cases yield a verdict that is true based on the happenings, but it is still flawed if there is 1% that is mistaken. But in that situation a decision must be made, and it is often logic that comes to the fore in order to make that decision.
What about science? Science in a way is a venture to understand the world around us. We have found that if we perform these experiments, and record results under different circumstances, we can often conclude a concept and it will be understood and believed by most. This is what I understand to be scientific fact. And while this seems to hold up in many situations, what are we supposed to do with ideas such as the speed of light? The speed of light is a mystery that I do not suppose we will ever understand, and though many theories will be formed, perhaps none of them will really be accurate.
What about evolution? Based on the laws of science, it is logical to conclude that the world was created by evolution. That seems to be man's best guess.
What about the world ending in 2012?
What if all the signs of logic, all the scientific discoveries, everything points towards a conclusion? Does that make that conclusion accurate? Does that make it true?
The Bible tells stories of a God that cannot be understood creating in a way that cannot be understood to form this universe that we now know to be a place that cannot be understood.The Bible tells stories of a loving God who told a man to kill his son. The Bible tells stories of the God of compassion who destroyed entire cities and killed all of the people within. Christianity has seen people declaring a prince of peace, then killing in the same name.
Do those stories follow logically to support the case of the divine?
Perhaps logic is flawed. Perhaps understanding and knowledge are folly. Perhaps wisdom is incomprehensible.
Children of a young age cannot comprehend these simple concepts, and so there are authorities in the children's lives that govern them and tell them what is good to do and what is not good to do. And children learn that they must trust these authorities, and obey or be disciplined. One of my sisters has a very good discipline system. She asks her son if he is going to choose to obey or choose to have a time out. He does not know why he must obey all of the time, but he knows his choices, and the consequence of each because his mother has told him.
Jesus says of children that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as them.
Logic is a flawed system. Perhaps it is one of the best systems that we have available to ourselves, but it will often lead us astray. Would you let my four year old niece act as judge in a murder trial? Would you let her write laws for a state? Would you let her choose your outfit for a day? But how much do we, or rather "they" (for I must discount myself as one who has understanding) truly understand about the world?
If you believe that anything in this world is flawed, then you ought to be able to acknowledge with me that everything, if looked at from the right vantage point is flawed. Only if you believe that everything in this world is exactly as it ought to be, that we are like the animals and there is no higher calling for us, only then do I believe that you can disagree with my statement.
I believe that this constant flaw is because of the human's desire to understand everything combined with the human condition of only being able to see some things. It is the job of a jury to convict, and a noble one at that. But it is the worst job I could imagine and I hope never to be put in that position. The problem is that there may be information that is not presented or understood, and a decision must be made in the example of a court. Perhaps 99% of cases yield a verdict that is true based on the happenings, but it is still flawed if there is 1% that is mistaken. But in that situation a decision must be made, and it is often logic that comes to the fore in order to make that decision.
What about science? Science in a way is a venture to understand the world around us. We have found that if we perform these experiments, and record results under different circumstances, we can often conclude a concept and it will be understood and believed by most. This is what I understand to be scientific fact. And while this seems to hold up in many situations, what are we supposed to do with ideas such as the speed of light? The speed of light is a mystery that I do not suppose we will ever understand, and though many theories will be formed, perhaps none of them will really be accurate.
What about evolution? Based on the laws of science, it is logical to conclude that the world was created by evolution. That seems to be man's best guess.
What about the world ending in 2012?
What if all the signs of logic, all the scientific discoveries, everything points towards a conclusion? Does that make that conclusion accurate? Does that make it true?
The Bible tells stories of a God that cannot be understood creating in a way that cannot be understood to form this universe that we now know to be a place that cannot be understood.The Bible tells stories of a loving God who told a man to kill his son. The Bible tells stories of the God of compassion who destroyed entire cities and killed all of the people within. Christianity has seen people declaring a prince of peace, then killing in the same name.
Do those stories follow logically to support the case of the divine?
Perhaps logic is flawed. Perhaps understanding and knowledge are folly. Perhaps wisdom is incomprehensible.
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