Okay, I meant to start on my Dawkins’ review this evening, but went out for a photo-walk instead. It was a good choice, as it was a beautiful evening, and there was a wonderful sunset:
Call it God’s art, as I do, or call it a byproduct of the accidental laws of physics, it was beautiful all the same.
Growing up on the plains of northwestern Minnesota, far, far away from city lights (or even neighbors), I am used to looking at the big sky (it’s not just in Montana, no matter what they try to tell you) and being amazed at what God has made. Nature, to me, has always reflected the glory of God. I agree wholeheartedly with Paul in Romans 1:20:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
I can comprehend many things, but one thing I cannot comprehend is to look at nature and not see God. Richard Dawkins and others have theories about that, but to me it is just foolishness. The so-called wisdom of the world versus the foolishness of God (I think Dawkins would agree with that line). The Apostle Paul, one of my favorite authors, was obviously a very intelligent and wise man (the 2 do not necessarily go together); at one point he wrote, “I chose to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Wisdom, or foolishness? Both, perhaps.
Today the Internet Monk has a great post, “For Smart Guys Like Me,” where he talks about this very issue. It’s a very wise look at the foolishness of men, or vice versa, depending on your point of view. To me, it was a breath of fresh air, as spiritually refreshing as my walk around the lake.
I sometimes understand the foolish wisdom of God. At times, I think I understand the foolish wisdom of men. But, as I have said before, sometimes thinking too much makes you stupid, and we can easily miss the obvious, the God who is our creator as well as our shepherd, who leads us beside still waters.
The wisdom of man, however, at least according to the ‘New Atheists,” would say that this thinking is foolish, even dangerous. Today at Prosthesis, Macht writes concerning the “new” wisdom:
The new atheists view of man is that we are all, at the core of our being, reasonable. That’s what makes us human. That’s what makes us special. There is an ideal, rational person deep inside every one of us. But we all have religions and traditions that surround us and prevent us from being rational. All that baggage prevents us from being reasonable and leads to all the things that are wrong in the world. Atheism, in their view, then, is a “natural state” of man. We are all born atheists, they tell us.
But, again, this view is just wrong.
The wisdom of men changes, but as the writer of Ecclesiastes said, “there is nothing new under the sun.” Wisdom? Foolishness?
Perhaps a little of both.