Deer and Sex

I went canoeing last week, and saw a bunch of herons and only a single deer.  I'd gone in hoping to see deer in abundance, but I came out glad I only had seen one.  Why?  The herons were exciting to see at first, but after a while the excitement and value began to wear off.  "Another heron..."  Looking back on the day, there's no one heron that I saw that I can remember fondly.  No powerful moment to recall.

The deer on the other hand, I will remember for a long time.  I was floating downriver in advance of the canoe (my dad was in it, and don't worry--I had my life jacket on), and I looked up and saw the deer standing above me on the bank staring at me.  As I floated downstream, I stopped paddling (aside from trying and failing to maneuver over to a log so I could look at the deer longer) and simply stared at the deer as it stared back at me.  It was a very neat moment, and because there was only that one deer, it was unique and extra special to me.

I realized as I thought about that that I am also thankful that God has only one woman planned for me "to have and to hold, to love and to cherish" as long as I live.  This is just another example of how God knows best and man is good at messing stuff up, because the attitude that is prevalent today (and one that I've been tempted to succumb to) is that marriage is not expected to be life long or to be waited for, that spiritual matters are unnecessary for commitment and love, and that sex is only good for physical pleasure and entertainment.

Instead, I know that God intends for me to find one woman whom He fitted me to match with emotionally, spiritually, and physically, to commit myself to her alone for life, and to grow our relationship spiritually, emotionally, and physically as time goes on.  When I view a sexual relationship as a powerful bond designed by God to connect two people into one, and not to be cheapened or possibly damaged by sharing it with many people for quick pleasure, I realize God's wisdom and blessing.

I also have faith that God has good plans for me, and that if I enter into a loving marriage ordained by God, He will bless us--so there's no need to test the waters to make sure my future wife and I are "sexually compatible."  Where love and emotional (and especially spiritual) intimacy are present, then sexual compatibility is sure to follow.  Thank You, God, for knowing us better than we know ourselves, and informing us of the wonderful designs you have for us!

The Purpose of Bunches of Atoms

The “evangelistic” atheist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion (a book I’m still hoping to read this summer), is quoted in the book I’m reading now, Education for Human Flourishing: A Christian Perspective:

What has theology ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody?  What has theology ever said that is demonstrably true and is not obvious?  I have listened to theologians, read them, debated against them.  I have never heard any of them ever say anything of the smallest use, anything that is not either platitudinously obvious or downright false.

There is a great deal wrong even with this short bit of Dawkins’ “wisdom,” but before I jump into it, let me say briefly Dawkins’ purpose in life, from what I’ve gleaned from the first four or five chapters of his book.  Dawkins holds a strictly naturalist view of life, meaning that he is anti-supernaturalist.  Only the things in this universe that are within the grasp of empirical, scientific investigation actually exist, which means that a supernatural Creator of any kind is out of the question.

You might think that it would be enough for him to believe this for himself and live his life, but instead he has made it his mission in life to encourage atheists in their unbelief and discourage religious and spiritual people of any background from their beliefs.  When religious people try to change others’ beliefs, words like “exclusive,” “narrow-minded,” “arrogant,” and “judgmental” usually come up.  Yet Dawkins considers himself a hero, because he insists that religion is not only pointless and without benefit, but a plague upon humanity. 

It is understandable that a person might come to believe this, having few or no positive religious experiences and learning from history books and the evening news all the tragedy and cruelty that man’s religious has wrought on the earth: human sacrifices, crusades, the Inquisition, terrorism, and hypocrisy. 

But to witness a destructive tornado and promptly say that wind is evil, or to see a gruesome chainsaw massacre and immediately say that chainsaws are evil is a touch irrational.  This could only be unequivocally said if nothing good ever came from wind or chainsaws.

The same goes for religion.  The other day, I had a conversation with a girl who is earnestly trying to seek out God, and she told me of a time recently when atheistic reasoning had taken such a grip on her that her mind was convinced of the truth of their arguments.  Did she immediately find joy in the fact that her existence had been reduced to two, possibly three digits’ worth of revolutions around the sun before she dies and the basic particles of which she is composed return to a state of entropy and she ceases to be? 

No, she did not.  She told me that a great sadness came over her.  “Depression,” I think is a word she even used.  Why is that?  She did not go into any detail, but I assume there were several reasons: her existence had been reduced to nothing; her self, a bit of the periodic table of the elements; her purpose, snuffed out; any hope she had for anything that would last, obliterated.  This is because religion is the only source of any real hope, and the Triune God of Christianity is the only object of faith That can actually offer results.  I do not mean a hope that I will get a promotion at work next week.  That is not a hope worth considering, because in another forty years I will be unemployed, retired, or perhaps deceased.  What then?  What good did my dream job really do me? 

I mean a real, reasonable hope that there is something to look forward to after leaving this world.  A hope that the small things I do in this life can actually have a purpose, and make a difference.  A hope that the love I feel in my heart and mind and soul is not simply a chemical reaction developed over millions of years so that I can reproduce most effectively.  A hope in Christ.

What motivation do I have to do good if I know that all of my efforts will only be a drop in the ocean against the hurt this world is seeing currently, and that I only have another forty or fifty or sixty years to live?  What motivation do I have to better myself, aside from greed, or desperation, or pride? 

On the other hand, if my motivation is to gratefully do my very best for a Rescuer Who loved me deeply enough to bear otherwise unbearable torment in my stead, and has given me a true purpose in life—that seems like a true motivator.  One that Dawkins’ atheism has not produced and will never produce. 

What good things has Christianity offered us?  Among many others (including reasonable answers to the fundamental questions of human existence—ones that science must necessarily ignore because they lie outside the empirical realm of investigation), hope, purpose, and love.

As far as Dawkins’ gripe about theologians’ “supposed” truths being false, or not demonstrably true, consider this: theologians, by the very nature of their field, deal with questions of heavenly, supernatural things.  Of course the Triune nature of God is not demonstrably true, using the scientific method!  What a scathing indictment of religion by Mr. Richard Dawkins.