I don't like the word supernatural. Or more specifically, I don't like making a distinction between what is "natural" and what is "supernatural." The distinction between the two often goes something like this. The natural world is the one we can perceive with our senses. It is the one where we use science. The supernatural world is all of the things that are not perceivable, or explainable by natural means. But differentiating in this manner raises some problems. People who don't believe in god discount anything that is claimed to be supernatural. There can be nothing other than the natural world. Believers often pull back and conclude that the natural world is the 'less real' world. That the supernatural world is somehow what is really real. Only we cannot perceive it in the normal way.
In my view, there is truth beyond our perception, because our perception is limited. But what makes that truth more real than what we can perceive with our senses. Why would God create us to be able to only sense what is less real? Maybe a better question is this. Why would God create a world that operates on a very strict set of rules that are able to be learned through sensory observation and God given reasoning only to violate them in the name of the supernatural? If God set up the natural order of the universe, why break those very laws. Perhaps there is no such thing as supernatural in the strict definition of beyond the natural order of things. Perhaps there is only supernatural in the sense that we have a limited understanding of the natural world. Supernatural is just unexplained natural.
This is exactly the kind of argument that skeptics will use to disprove God. But I don't use it from that perspective. I'm not arguing that there is no God because there is no supernatural. I am arguing that the idea of God is intrinsically natural. Does this mean that God is provable? Maybe. Or maybe the idea of God is something more metaphysical. That is to say that God is not what we expect. We tend to think of God as a being that is like man, he just happens to know everything and has the power to do anything. But what if God was something very dissimilar from that. What if God was the glue holding the universe together? "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Col 1:17). What if the physical laws of the universe were manifestations of who God is? We can attribute every phenomenon we encounter to God, while simultaneously being able to find a physical reason for why this happened.
One argument, and a reasonable one at that, that skeptics will often employ is the God of the Gaps argument. What happens is that unknown events are attributed to some supernatural force, or to God. Scientists find a physical, naturalistic explanation for said event. Now the domain of God has been reduced. With every scientific achievement, God shrinks. Eventually, science leaves no room for God to hide. But I want to change the subject a bit when tackling this argument, because it is a good point. I think we have to stop attributing the unexplained to something that is unexplainable. For example, people used to believe it was a god that caused the sun to rise each day. Why? Because there was no better way to explain it. Now we know that there is not some god actually causing the sun to rise. Science has given us a much better explanation. Except I submit that God is causing the sun to rise each day. God uses natural causes to keep the universe in order. Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't everything about the universe be explainable by science? Science reveals the glory of God and the wonders of his creation. It does not cause God to shrink but rather to expand.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Friday, October 23, 2009
meanfreepathapdedia?
Wikipedia has certainly changed the way knowledge is gathered, shared, stored and retrieved. In fact, wiki is usually my first source when looking for information on a topic, and I'm sure many of you are the same. Of course, now it seems that every subject imaginable has it's own dedicated wiki site. It's really easy, too. Just set up a wiki and call it _____apedia and you are good to go. There's wookiepedia for you star wars fans, uncyclopedia for you satire (among other less sophisticated styles of humor) fans, even bulbapedia for you Pokemon fans.
But I have found a new one: Conservapedia. Now, I'm a somewhat conservative leaning person, but this site is the very definition of right wing nut job. As an aside, go there and search for liberal for a good laugh. However, there is a more serious concern that I wished to address. There is a project they have titled the Conservative Bible Project, the goal of which is to "re-translate" the bible to remove liberal biases. We have apparently gotten to the point where not even the Bible is conservative enough anymore. They claim that all current translations of the Bible suffer from a liberal translation bias. Now I would agree that it really is impossible to translate anything from one language to another with absolutely no translation bias, but it seems like translating the bible with the intent of making it more conservative is the very definition.
And by re-translate, the authors mean looking through the King James version and changing words and phrases they feel are too liberal into more accurate conservative ones. They're even nice enough to post some examples for us. My favorite is this line. "Socialistic terminology permeates English translations of the Bible, without justification. This improperly encourages the "social justice" movement among Christians." Go ahead. Re-read that sentence. Yeah, it really does say that. Now I haven't actually read any of the re-translated version. I know, shame on me for criticizing what I haven't actually reviewed. But I feel the one example I shared is sufficient. Besides, this isn't really the point I want to drive at.
I guess the point I really want to make is this: we are probably all guilty of this very same thing ourselves. Not the whole re-translating from an existing version to fit your principles bit. But we can't help but put our own biases on what we read. It's human nature and we do it without even realizing it. It's almost impossible not to interpret what you read in order to fit into your world view and justify your actions. And one of the hardest things to do is to read the Bible and allow it to change your perceptions, your mindset and your life.
All of this reminds me of a quote from Shepherd Book. And I think I'll end with it.
"You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you. "
But I have found a new one: Conservapedia. Now, I'm a somewhat conservative leaning person, but this site is the very definition of right wing nut job. As an aside, go there and search for liberal for a good laugh. However, there is a more serious concern that I wished to address. There is a project they have titled the Conservative Bible Project, the goal of which is to "re-translate" the bible to remove liberal biases. We have apparently gotten to the point where not even the Bible is conservative enough anymore. They claim that all current translations of the Bible suffer from a liberal translation bias. Now I would agree that it really is impossible to translate anything from one language to another with absolutely no translation bias, but it seems like translating the bible with the intent of making it more conservative is the very definition.
And by re-translate, the authors mean looking through the King James version and changing words and phrases they feel are too liberal into more accurate conservative ones. They're even nice enough to post some examples for us. My favorite is this line. "Socialistic terminology permeates English translations of the Bible, without justification. This improperly encourages the "social justice" movement among Christians." Go ahead. Re-read that sentence. Yeah, it really does say that. Now I haven't actually read any of the re-translated version. I know, shame on me for criticizing what I haven't actually reviewed. But I feel the one example I shared is sufficient. Besides, this isn't really the point I want to drive at.
I guess the point I really want to make is this: we are probably all guilty of this very same thing ourselves. Not the whole re-translating from an existing version to fit your principles bit. But we can't help but put our own biases on what we read. It's human nature and we do it without even realizing it. It's almost impossible not to interpret what you read in order to fit into your world view and justify your actions. And one of the hardest things to do is to read the Bible and allow it to change your perceptions, your mindset and your life.
All of this reminds me of a quote from Shepherd Book. And I think I'll end with it.
"You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you. "
Monday, September 7, 2009
Waterfalls, Bad Puns, and Groceries
I have decided that I would give a brief update on my life.
-As you probably know, I have started a Ph.D. at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This means that sometime in the next 4 to 12 years you will be able to start calling me Dr. Jonathan Steffens.
-Ithaca is beautiful. I have seen some wonderful waterfalls and wooded trails through state parks and amazingly high rock formations. Ithaca is rather famous for it's gorges. While they can be quite spectacular to look at, the gorges also lead to what is most definitely the largest drawback to living in Ithaca, which is summed up in the next point.
-Ithaca's motto is a pun, and it's everywhere. I won't even lower myself to state it here, but you probably know what it is anyway. If you don't, consider yourself a truly blessed person. I see at least a dozen shirts and bumper stickers a day bearing this monstrosity. You know how animal rights activists sometimes go around splattering paint on fur coats? I've lived here two weeks, and I am considering doing that to people wearing these shirts.
-Luckily there is one place in Ithaca that makes me forget all about the horribleness of the previous point. And that place is Wegmans. Living in Rochester I have grown to love this supermarket. But the Wegmans in Ithaca is awe inspiring. That is really the only way I can describe it. It could swallow 4 normal Wegmans whole and still have room for dessert. You should visit Ithaca if for no other reason than to shop at this majestic place.
-Also I'm taking classes. Unlike RIT, I started a week and a half ago. I did still have class today, Labor Day, however. My two classes are Foundations of Fluid Mechanics and Asymptotics and Perturbation Methods. Fluids should be mostly a review of classes I've already taken. Asymptotics is just fun.
-In addition to classes, I have to TA a senior heat transfer lab. I start tomorrow. The first experiment is taking various measurements of a truck while it's running, like engine speed, power output, etc. It's not terribly exciting but it's how I pay the bills.
-I am also starting research. My current project is focused on developing a model to analyze the effects of roadside obstructions (walls, trees) on pollutant dispersion patterns. It mostly involves computational fluid dynamics.
-I've started making friends. I have been going to activities hosted by the Graduate Christian Fellowship, which is loosely affiliated with IV. We played some Frisbee Golf variant around Campus on Saturday. It was like disc golf but with teams that you had to relay the Frisbee to without dropping it. My team won.
That about sums up my time here thus far. You should come visit me. We'll go grocery shopping.
-As you probably know, I have started a Ph.D. at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This means that sometime in the next 4 to 12 years you will be able to start calling me Dr. Jonathan Steffens.
-Ithaca is beautiful. I have seen some wonderful waterfalls and wooded trails through state parks and amazingly high rock formations. Ithaca is rather famous for it's gorges. While they can be quite spectacular to look at, the gorges also lead to what is most definitely the largest drawback to living in Ithaca, which is summed up in the next point.
-Ithaca's motto is a pun, and it's everywhere. I won't even lower myself to state it here, but you probably know what it is anyway. If you don't, consider yourself a truly blessed person. I see at least a dozen shirts and bumper stickers a day bearing this monstrosity. You know how animal rights activists sometimes go around splattering paint on fur coats? I've lived here two weeks, and I am considering doing that to people wearing these shirts.
-Luckily there is one place in Ithaca that makes me forget all about the horribleness of the previous point. And that place is Wegmans. Living in Rochester I have grown to love this supermarket. But the Wegmans in Ithaca is awe inspiring. That is really the only way I can describe it. It could swallow 4 normal Wegmans whole and still have room for dessert. You should visit Ithaca if for no other reason than to shop at this majestic place.
-Also I'm taking classes. Unlike RIT, I started a week and a half ago. I did still have class today, Labor Day, however. My two classes are Foundations of Fluid Mechanics and Asymptotics and Perturbation Methods. Fluids should be mostly a review of classes I've already taken. Asymptotics is just fun.
-In addition to classes, I have to TA a senior heat transfer lab. I start tomorrow. The first experiment is taking various measurements of a truck while it's running, like engine speed, power output, etc. It's not terribly exciting but it's how I pay the bills.
-I am also starting research. My current project is focused on developing a model to analyze the effects of roadside obstructions (walls, trees) on pollutant dispersion patterns. It mostly involves computational fluid dynamics.
-I've started making friends. I have been going to activities hosted by the Graduate Christian Fellowship, which is loosely affiliated with IV. We played some Frisbee Golf variant around Campus on Saturday. It was like disc golf but with teams that you had to relay the Frisbee to without dropping it. My team won.
That about sums up my time here thus far. You should come visit me. We'll go grocery shopping.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
