Wednesday, December 08, 2010

....but...why?

Is asking "why?" dangerous? ...It is, sometimes, depending on your expectations.

God works in mysterious ways, and His character is made clear in the Bible, but the way He works remains largely a mystery. I had a conversation with my friend's dad about this and came to the conclusion myself that, although you can have faith and pray for something, really the best thing you can do (in addition to praying in faith) is ask God to help you understand why He worked the way He did in this situation; why things happened the way they did.

However, I began to think about how dangerous asking "why?" is. It is because I personally like to know things NOW, rather than later (It's the reason that Wikipedia can send me on so many rabbit-trials--a lot of subjects just catch my interest and I want to know it all, now). I also know that the information I do receive is rarely enough; and thus, always wanting more evidence, I'll begin to doubt, even the very tenets of my faith. Verification and the desire for empirical evidence can become an appetite like any other; that's why I believe some of the theological arguments that take place are unprofitable--because more evidence doesn't ever prove anything; it just provides due cause for doubt. And clearly, some things we're never going to know; should we have faith enough to allow it to be released in God's timing? I know that the universe is so infinitely big and our scope is so infinitesimally small that there will always be enough reason for two conflicting ideas to be true, at least as people perceive (and just speaking philosophically, one perception is equal and not greater than another perception); it's the nature of paradox, or as I would like to say, our limited understanding!

To be clear and conclusive, I believe you should ask God why, but you should not get angry when you don't get enough information (because, by definition of appetite, hunger is natural). A person should seek to get more information, but learn to accept our finiteness.

2 comments:

  1. One way to learn is to not hide your ignorance ;)

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  2. Your well balanced perspective never ceases to amaze me Kyle. I whole heartedly agree and often ask myself the same when I just want to know NOW. Accepting that hunger comes first, then relaxing into it. More evidence.....yes, it is what I ask for. Then follows the doubt. We are so limited in our understanding of the spiritual mysteries in life. Seeking with acceptance.

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