January 9, 2004
TO THE PARCHED, HE SAYS DRINK:
Coveting Luke's Faith (DANA TIERNEY, January 11, 2004, NY Times Magazine)
When I was a child in Sunday school, I would ask searching questions like ''Angels can fly up in heaven, but how do clouds hold up pianos?'' and get the same puzzling response about how that was not important, what was important was that Jesus died for our sins and if we accepted him as our savior, when we died, we would go to heaven, where we'd get everything we wanted. Some children in my class wondered why anyone would hang on a cross with nails stuck through his hands to help anyone else; I wondered how Santa Claus knew what I wanted for Christmas, even though I never wrote him a letter. Maybe he had a tape recorder hidden in every chimney in the world.Posted by Orrin Judd at January 9, 2004 8:00 PMThis literal-mindedness has stuck with me; one result of it is that I am unable to believe in God. Most of the other atheists I know seem to feel freed or proud of their unbelief, as if they've cleverly refused to be sold snake oil. But over the years, I've come to feel I'm missing out. My friends and relatives who rely on God -- the real believers, not just the churchgoers -- have an expansiveness of spirit. When they walk along a stream, they don't just see water falling over rocks; the sight fills them with ecstasy. They see a realm of hope beyond this world. I just see a babbling brook. I don't get the message. My husband, who was reared in a devout Catholic family and served as an altar boy, is also firmly grounded on this earth. He doesn't even have the desire to believe. So other than baptizing our son to reassure our families, we've skated over the issue of faith.
I assumed we had stranded our 4-year-old son Luke in the same spiritually arid place we'd found ourselves in.
Well, I know of many a miserable believer. Just goes to prove that some people just need to feel sorry for themselves. I'm sure that she will be invited to speak on the 700 Club. Silly woman.
Posted by: Robert D at January 9, 2004 9:15 PMBut that's the sad part. She doesn't need to feel sorry for herself, just believe.
Posted by: oj at January 9, 2004 9:18 PMThe NT speaks of the faith of mothers 'saving' their children. Perhaps the faith of children can do the same for some parents.
After all, Jesus says no one will enter heaven without the faith of a child. Academics and professionals need not apply.
Posted by: jim hamlen at January 9, 2004 9:27 PMNo, she'll be just as sorry as a believer. She'll look at the stream and be disappointed that the ecstasy doesn't seem as great as she imagined it would be.
She probably needs to be on Prozac.
Posted by: Robert D at January 9, 2004 9:30 PMIt reads as if she knows exactly what she's missing, just can't open herself to it. Rationalism has had that effect on many people.
Posted by: oj at January 9, 2004 9:35 PMThe great thing about being Jewish is that you do not have to believe, you have to do. After you have done for a while you may begin to believe.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at January 10, 2004 1:45 AMIt's not just Judaism Robert. C.S. Lewis speaks of the same phenomenon for Christians in "Mere Christianity" and defends obedience on just that basis.
Posted by: Jeff at January 10, 2004 7:58 AMOne problem with the modern notion that is promoted by many evangelicas is that faith comes
into you like lightning bolt and heceforth never
waivers. I think real faith obviously ebbs and
flows.
I guess I skimmed this too quickly but is this guy
just missing the "social benefits" of belief or
is he actually experiencing a bit of Pascal's
wager.
JH, I think that she is surrounded by family members who are believers, and feels left out. You do give up this sense that "I'm just like everyone else" when you lose your faith.
Or maybe she is just suffering from depression.
Posted by: Robert D at January 10, 2004 2:06 PMShe makes two error of assumption:
First she assumes all true believers, as distinguished from mere churchgoers, fell this ecstasy. Well, maybe they do. But it seems a bit, well, cruel, to effectively denigrate any reader of that article who, up to that point, felt themselves to be a true believer, but now knows better because they lack that ecstasy.
Secondly, she assumes non-believers incapable of experiencing nearly overwhelming wonder at the world. As a member of the non-believer cohort, I can most assuredly say she is wrong.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at January 10, 2004 4:39 PMDoggone if I have noticed anyone experiencing that kind of ecstasy. Maybe I've never met a genuine true believer. Maybe they're all frauds.
I do think her literalist outlook serves her well. I didn't wonder about the pianos in the clouds but I had similar questions about guardian angels. Nobody could ever answer them.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at January 12, 2004 12:21 PMHarry:
Well, you could walk with me a bit; I drink in the world with passion.
The downside is, I'm slower than everyone else, which does bring a bit of discord in.
Posted by: THX 1138 at January 12, 2004 3:53 PM