God's Existence

During week three of Theology we learned about good arguments and reasons for why God exists. Here are some that I listed throughout the week.

God exists because….

• Everything is in motion. There must have been something that put everything into motion. God is the act, the determining principle, that gives everything else potency, the ability to change. Everything has a potential to move, but does not actually move without a mover. The first cause must be unmovable in order to qualify for being the ultimate, first mover.
• If there are possible beings, then there is a necessary being. There are possible beings, therefore, there is a necessary being. I have the possibility of not existing, but I do exist, because I was born. Something must have given me that possibility. Everything that exists has the possibility of not existing, so at one time, nothing existed. There must have been something that made all those things exist.
• Some things are more true or good than other things that are less true or good. There must be something that is the best or the truest, a maximum that sums up everything. You can’t give what you don’t have. God can’t give us things that he does not have.
• All natural things, humans, animals, plants, act for a certain end. Everything wants to get the best that they can get, food, water, material things, etc. This cannot be caused by chance, but by design. We all lack knowledge in some way, so something directs us towards an end.
• The design and function of the universe requires a maker like God. Just like a watch, the universe has intricate parts, a pattern, a form, a design, a function, and a purpose. You would not say that the watch just appeared out of nowhere without a designer, so why say that the universe which is so much more complex than the clock, appeared with no designer.
• The universe began to exist. Whatever begins to exist has a cause. Therefore, the universe has a cause. Some say, “Who caused God?” But this makes an error in the first premise, for God did not begin to exist, so he does not have a cause.

I am really excited to be discovering all these truths that support my beliefs instead of just believing without knowing why. But, I still have a very long way to go in this journey of discovery. With God's patience and guidance, I will continue on this path.

Loving Church History

I am definitely not a scholar of Theology, which is the module I started this week, but I love learning about it. Church History was my favorite class at Summit Semester, and I am already incredibly interested in it here at Rivendell.

At the beginning of this week, our class read and discussed The Westminster Confession of Faith, The Ninety Five Theses, Excerpts from the Council of Trent, The Augsburg Confession, and the Puritan Catechism. It was so intriguing to compare the different traditions, customs, and beliefs of the church throughout the years. However, as I listened to the discussion, I began to realize something. The church is so divided. Look at the hundreds of different denominations of the Protestant church. Look at all the beliefs and traditions that the church disagrees on. I know that beliefs are very important to people, beliefs about baptism, salvation, mass, sacraments, etc. However, I kept asking myself, why can’t we be humble? Why do we have to be so stuck in our ways that we can’t come to a mutual agreement? All these confessions were written in order to form a unified church. But the church has never been unified. The church has had disagreements since it began. Are some of the beliefs we have even important? Take eschatology for example. Why argue and fight over it when we will never know what’s going to happen to us in the end times? What’s the point? And transubstantiation. Does it matter if Jesus’ body becomes alive in us? Why can’t we just do what the disciples did by taking the bread and wine to represent Jesus’ body and continue to do it in remembrance of Christ? And again baptism. Why does it matter if you are dipped, sprinkled, or dunked three times for baptism? The Bible does not say that Christ was put in the water three times, so why should we? Why can’t we just go back to Christ and the way he did things?

Then I was struck with another thought. I wondered, would I ever give up the beliefs that I think are true and biblical in order to come to a unified agreement with other churches? My beliefs are important to me. And every other Christian's beliefs are important to them. So how can I ask them to do something that I wouldn't even do? I know of course, that many things we disagree with today are not mentioned in the gospels from Jesus’ words, which is why we have disagreements. Although I may not agree with them, the beliefs I critiqued above are valuable to other people. Other Christians may look at my traditions and belief and think of mine just like I'm thinking of theirs.

Therefore, what I've come to understand this week is that we are weak, proud human beings, myself included. I doubt the church will ever solve all of the disagreements it has, but hopefully we will learn to love and work with each other to further God's kingdom by coming to a middle ground on beliefs all of us hold. In the mean time, I will continue to read, study, discuss, and learn as much as I can and formulate the beliefs I hold most dear to my heart.

My Mind...

...is exploding

Only four weeks into classes at Rivendell, and my mind is bursting with new facts and truths. I have been wanting to write a blog about this new information, but whenever I try to put together a sentence of what I have learned, I find it quite difficult. I picture these facts floating in my mind, but not connected into an understand of how everything fits together. These facts include truth, being, fact corresponding with reality, relativism, post modernism, fallacies, and much, much more.

My time inside class and outside of class during our studying consists of reading various articles by authors such as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Bertrand Russell, Richard Rorty, and others. Usually I will read, re read, re re read, high light, and mark up an article while discussing it with most of the girls in my dorm in preparation. This past week we have been focusing on fallacies. The professors had each of us write various fallacies and present them in front of the class. These were some I came up with:

Fallacy of Ambiguity:

(Amphibole): I chased the girl around the bakery with the bread. Does the “I” have the bread or does the bakery have the bread?

Attack Fallacy:

(Appeal to Force): You weirdos! Go! Or I’ll get out, and punch your car, so you’ll go.(Only those who watch Kid History will understand this one.)

(Argumentum Ad Hominem abusive): We shouldn’t obey Paul’s commands regarding living the Christian life, because he once persecuted Christians. Using Paul’s past circumstances against the authority he now has through God.

Inappropriate Authority:

(Appeal to Pity): Please pay for my college tuition, or else I will have to sell my kidney to earn money. I try to get my way by making you feel sorry for me.

Fallacy of Stacking the Deck:

(Begging the Question): These perfectly normal pancakes are perfect because they are normal. This uses the conclusion to support the premise. (Kid History again)

Fallacy of Diversion:

(Red Herring): “Abi, why don’t you have a contention in your map?” “I don’t believe in maps”. The reply avoids and does not answer the question.

Fallacy of Generalization:

(Cliché): Don’t leave because absence is to love as wind is to fire, it extinguishes the small and kindles the great. The cliché does not support the statement. (I found the cliche on the internet. I think it's quite amusing)

Reductive Fallacy:

(Faulty Analogy): Persuading someone to eat dinner with you is like screaming spaghet in their face. The analogy is faulty because it does not correspond with the premise.

(Nothing Buttery): Kid History is nothing but a show for children. It is a show for children, but is not only for children because I watch it and I’m not a child. So there!

Other types of Fallacies:

(Faulty Dilemma): If I had stayed at home this semester, I wouldn’t be learning about all these fallacies. There is no point in thinking about what would have happened if I had done something differently.

(Fallacy of Composition): Reading sentences is simple and flipping through pages is simple so understanding a book is simple. he conclusion is not necessarily true even if the premises are true.

And just a bonus: Snuggle you back to health. Irrelevant conclusion. Snuggling doesn’t affect health.(Only a select few of Metzgers would understand this).

I spent two hours formulating these fallacies, and it was quite entertaining.

For the next couple of days, I am preparing for our final tests(already?) next Tuesday and Wednesday covering the material we have learned in our Critical Thinking Module. After that, we will begin Theology! I am stoked for that.

The academic life at Rivendell is more challenging than I ever imagined. Understanding the concepts and arguments and having to map those arguments is quite a feat. My professors, however, are incredible. They go sentence by sentence in the articles, explaining them and making sure all of us are understanding the difficult concepts. Sometimes we spend over two hours on an article while at other times the class is split in half and we get through two pages in an hour. Paying attention and forcing myself to think deeply is vital for class time. At times, if I miss one minute of the discussion, I am lost for the rest of the time. Although I am being challenged immensely, I am loving the challenge. God has definitely blessed me by allowing me to come here. I am so thankful to him for this time.

Thanks for reading!