“I just don’t get it!”

[saved1]

The Evolution of Faith
By Edward Grinnan, September 22, 2011
“I just don’t get it!”

That’s a quote from a profile of Richard Dawkins published in this week’s New York Times. You’ve heard of Professor Dawkins, right? An Oxford don, one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists and, most notably, a prominent atheist who has made a considerable reputation bashing religion? Not simply hidebound and self-serving religious institutions, mind you. That would be too easy. It’s the entire notion of spirituality and the worship of God that gets under his intellectual skin. It totally irks him.

Even now, at the age of 70, he is still lecturing on the absurdity of religious belief. He particularly likes to speak in the Bible Belt …which is in and of itself an act of faith, or at least fervent conviction. It seems that some atheists hold to their beliefs with the same zealousness of a religious fanatic.

Actually, I like Richard Dawkins, and I read his books, though I obviously don’t agree with him. He is honest, intellectually rigorous and very entertaining. His views challenge mine and that’s good. He perceives the world empirically and sees no reason for the existence of God. I see my life and find the need for God as absolute. Dawkins would call me a fool. Fair enough. He’s entitled, though not many people would agree with him, at least not on those particular grounds anyway. We are mostly a world of believers.

The article on Dawkins brought to light something amazing, though, something I never knew. One of Dawkins’s staunchest and most respected allies in his somewhat controversial theory of progressive evolution (the idea that most species evolve naturally toward complexity rather than simply evolving randomly) is Professor Simon Conway Morris, the highly regarded Cambridge paleobiologist and … a Christian. Morris is as outspoken about his faith as Dawkins is about his lack of it. How does Dawkins account for his brilliant colleague’s spirituality?

Dawkins fumbled for an explanation then simply shook his head, exasperated.

“I just don’t get it!” he finally told the interviewer.

Eureka!, as the scientists might say. Because that’s often how I feel. Not about atheists or evolutionary biologists but about my own sometimes faltering faith. There are days when I am a doubter. Not in God but in my ability to truly and fully accept God, to live my life from the perspective of the soul, to believe that what I can’t understand about the world God understands for me. I look at my spiritual journey with its twists and turns and seemingly uncertain direction and think, “I just don’t get it!”

The very complexity of it baffles me.

But today, at least, I do get it, as I probably will tomorrow. The piece on Dawkins helps clarify things. Belief reinforces belief. And my faith is a work in progress. The more I trust in something greater than myself, the deeper that trust takes root in my life. It is not a trust that can be explained scientifically. Yet it does evolve. And on that point perhaps Professor Dawkins and I both get it.

[Pythonpappy]

Hey Saved1, ... Sounds to me like this Dawkins fella needs to be more 'open-minded' ... Of course you know:

"The mind is like a parachute, it doesn't work if it's not open."

God Bless,
Pythonpappy

[JanetL]

The Evolution of Faith
By Edward Grinnan, September 22, 2011
“I just don’t get it!”

That’s a quote from a profile of Richard Dawkins published in this week’s New York Times. You’ve heard of Professor Dawkins, right? An Oxford don, one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists and, most notably, a prominent atheist who has made a considerable reputation bashing religion? Not simply hidebound and self-serving religious institutions, mind you. That would be too easy. It’s the entire notion of spirituality and the worship of God that gets under his intellectual skin. It totally irks him.

Even now, at the age of 70, he is still lecturing on the absurdity of religious belief. He particularly likes to speak in the Bible Belt …which is in and of itself an act of faith, or at least fervent conviction. It seems that some atheists hold to their beliefs with the same zealousness of a religious fanatic.

Actually, I like Richard Dawkins, and I read his books, though I obviously don’t agree with him. He is honest, intellectually rigorous and very entertaining. His views challenge mine and that’s good. He perceives the world empirically and sees no reason for the existence of God. I see my life and find the need for God as absolute. Dawkins would call me a fool. Fair enough. He’s entitled, though not many people would agree with him, at least not on those particular grounds anyway. We are mostly a world of believers.

The article on Dawkins brought to light something amazing, though, something I never knew. One of Dawkins’s staunchest and most respected allies in his somewhat controversial theory of progressive evolution (the idea that most species evolve naturally toward complexity rather than simply evolving randomly) is Professor Simon Conway Morris, the highly regarded Cambridge paleobiologist and … a Christian. Morris is as outspoken about his faith as Dawkins is about his lack of it. How does Dawkins account for his brilliant colleague’s spirituality?

Dawkins fumbled for an explanation then simply shook his head, exasperated.

“I just don’t get it!” he finally told the interviewer.

Eureka!, as the scientists might say. Because that’s often how I feel. Not about atheists or evolutionary biologists but about my own sometimes faltering faith. There are days when I am a doubter. Not in God but in my ability to truly and fully accept God, to live my life from the perspective of the soul, to believe that what I can’t understand about the world God understands for me. I look at my spiritual journey with its twists and turns and seemingly uncertain direction and think, “I just don’t get it!”

The very complexity of it baffles me.

But today, at least, I do get it, as I probably will tomorrow. The piece on Dawkins helps clarify things. Belief reinforces belief. And my faith is a work in progress. The more I trust in something greater than myself, the deeper that trust takes root in my life. It is not a trust that can be explained scientifically. Yet it does evolve. And on that point perhaps Professor Dawkins and I both get it.

Yep, I've heard of Richard Dawkin's and his book "The God Delusion." I read about it on the internet a couple/three years ago. The Brits, I read were gobbling it up. I wanted to purchase it but was afraid to, because my spirituality was already in the tank, as far as it could go at that time. All I needed then was some more reinforcement and I would have commited suicide.

Good for you Saved1, take from it what you can and leave the rest.

Life experience and the program have led me to realize that without some kind of spiritual life, that life is dead to me. I can't live that way anymore. It takes away my sense of purpose. It does not give me peace of any kind, nor comfort, nor courage...but blank nothingness and spinning of wheels. Then I'd be back to questioning, Is there a God or not. Look at the miracle of our world. This can't just be a fluke/a coincidence,a cosmic soup of happenings.

IMHO, Atheism is in itself a belief no different than any other.

Actually, I am not well enough to focus on such things now,lol. Still pretty new to my newfound higher power thingy. You guys go right ahead.

thanx anyway

janet

[Pythonpappy]

The Evolution of Faith
By Edward Grinnan, September 22, 2011
“I just don’t get it!”

That’s a quote from a profile of Richard Dawkins published in this week’s New York Times. You’ve heard of Professor Dawkins, right? An Oxford don, one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists and, most notably, a prominent atheist who has made a considerable reputation bashing religion? Not simply hidebound and self-serving religious institutions, mind you. That would be too easy. It’s the entire notion of spirituality and the worship of God that gets under his intellectual skin. It totally irks him.

Even now, at the age of 70, he is still lecturing on the absurdity of religious belief. He particularly likes to speak in the Bible Belt …which is in and of itself an act of faith, or at least fervent conviction. It seems that some atheists hold to their beliefs with the same zealousness of a religious fanatic.

Actually, I like Richard Dawkins, and I read his books, though I obviously don’t agree with him. He is honest, intellectually rigorous and very entertaining. His views challenge mine and that’s good. He perceives the world empirically and sees no reason for the existence of God. I see my life and find the need for God as absolute. Dawkins would call me a fool. Fair enough. He’s entitled, though not many people would agree with him, at least not on those particular grounds anyway. We are mostly a world of believers.

The article on Dawkins brought to light something amazing, though, something I never knew. One of Dawkins’s staunchest and most respected allies in his somewhat controversial theory of progressive evolution (the idea that most species evolve naturally toward complexity rather than simply evolving randomly) is Professor Simon Conway Morris, the highly regarded Cambridge paleobiologist and … a Christian. Morris is as outspoken about his faith as Dawkins is about his lack of it. How does Dawkins account for his brilliant colleague’s spirituality?

Dawkins fumbled for an explanation then simply shook his head, exasperated.

“I just don’t get it!” he finally told the interviewer.

Eureka!, as the scientists might say. Because that’s often how I feel. Not about atheists or evolutionary biologists but about my own sometimes faltering faith. There are days when I am a doubter. Not in God but in my ability to truly and fully accept God, to live my life from the perspective of the soul, to believe that what I can’t understand about the world God understands for me. I look at my spiritual journey with its twists and turns and seemingly uncertain direction and think, “I just don’t get it!”

The very complexity of it baffles me.

But today, at least, I do get it, as I probably will tomorrow. The piece on Dawkins helps clarify things. Belief reinforces belief. And my faith is a work in progress. The more I trust in something greater than myself, the deeper that trust takes root in my life. It is not a trust that can be explained scientifically. Yet it does evolve. And on that point perhaps Professor Dawkins and I both get it.

Hello Saved1, ... Thanks for the reminder ... Took me a while to put my finger on just what your topic stirred up in me ... but I think I got it now ...

I'd like to share a conversation I had with my sponsor early in sobriety:

My sponsor said: I know what your problem is.

I said what is it?

He said it's your thinking.

I said what about my thinking?

He said it's wrong.

I said how much of my thinking is wrong?

He said we always start with 'all of it'. And if there's any that's any good, we'll let you know.

He said this is the very thing that got you here and it's the very one thing that's going to keep you from getting all the things that God has for his children:

As long as you know that you know, you'll never know, but when you begin to do what we tell you 'not to do' and 'to do' then you'll begin to know that you don't know.

I said 'hell' you're crazy!

He said 'I know'!

He said here's what we're going to do: We're going to give you some things 'to do' and some things 'not to do', the things that we give you to do we're going to add to, and the things we give you 'not to do' we're going to take from. And when you begin to do what we tell you 'not do' and 'to do' then it's going to happen over here.

I said what's going to happen over there?

He said we don't know, but it always happens!

I said I've been listening to you and listening to you, now it's time for you to listen to me ... I said 'I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!'

He said ... and THAT'S IT AND DON'T YOU EVER FORGET IT!

He said that there's two things you must remember for the rest of your days:
1) No matter what's going on in your life, YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND! ... and when stop trying to understand, then you can enjoy it.

2) No matter what your situation is ... it's never Her, it's never Him, it's never Them, it's never God, ... It's YOU that must become different ... Different than you have ever been before.

I said how do I do that?

He said Aw, you can't.

I said what the 'hell' you tellin' me for then?

He said ... THAT'S WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU!

You know?, ... it's taken me years to come to know just what he was trying to tell me ... Some of my biggest road blocks were that I thought I knew everything ... and I thought I understood how life worked ... come to find out, my best thinking landed me into AA where now I'm only beginning to 'understand'!

Thank You so much for bringing back to mind the things I need not forget ... there's much more to the story but that'll do for now!

Love ya and God Bless,
Pythonpappy

[MajestyJo]

Great share. It reminds me of what a long-timer shared at a meeting. Humility means to become teachable. As long as your remain teachable and grateful, you will have no excuse to pick up.

I was told the same thing. I said, "What do I need to change?" My sponsor said, "Everything." I was told that every time I got a thought, I was suppose to do the complete opposite. I had to make a 180 degree turn and turn myself about. As you say, my best thinking got me to the doors of recovery.

Today what I share is my interruptation of what I heard at meetings. I is what I gained from reading the literature and listening to others. They are not JoAnne originals.

[saved1]

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

A Time to Think
Let no one come to you without leaving better and happier.–Mother Teresa

A Time to Act
Approach the day with a joyful attitude.

A Time to Pray
Lord, give me wings of enthusiasm.

[Pythonpappy]

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

A Time to Think
Let no one come to you without leaving better and happier.–Mother Teresa

A Time to Act
Approach the day with a joyful attitude.

A Time to Pray
Lord, give me wings of enthusiasm.


Hey Saved1, ... You seem to like quotes a lot ... here are a couple from my old memory banks:

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." -2 Cor. 3:17

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." -Mother Teresa


Love Ya and God Bless,
Pappy