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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3271 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for April 28, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Which books, philosophy or theology, have filled in the gap between “the thought we can conceive of that which underlies [subsists, creates, causes, moves] all thinkable [created] things, [this uncreated non-categorical being] we shall call God”, and personal religion? This is the most interesting question, does anyone know who has explored it?

I can list philosophical books which helped me personally connect the two:

  • Your God Is Too Small by J.B. Phillips

  • The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff

As a lifelong fan of science fiction such as Star Trek, I’ve always been inclined to think of God in “thinking cosmic entity” terms, not “side-taking overseer” like Battlestar Galactica or “miraculous mystical force” terms like Star Wars. The Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, the chronological start and end of the fictional Chronicles of Narnia, along with his think-piece The Great Divorce, have also shaped my esteem for the Uncaused Cause, the Love Behind the World, the ineffable and infinite Mind Who has planned my eternity.

I haven't read Aquinas but I know he drew a distinction between truths that could be known by reason alone (e.g. the existence of God as first cause) and revealed truths that could only be known with the aid of faith (e.g. the divinity of Jesus). Is that the sort of thing you're talking about?

His position is that at some point you really do just need to have faith, but it's a type of faith that's consonant with reason, not opposed to it.

With a big emphasis on revelation there. There are plenty of things that we have only through revelation. Romans 1 lists a few things that can be known through creation, and then later in the book, Romans emphasized preaching. Psalm 19 goes from talking about creation to talking about God's personal revelation in his law (and uses different language for the two).

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