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IN PRAISE OF CERTITUDE
In a recent Newsweek recent
column, George Will reports telling University of Miami graduates that the world
in general and America in particular would be a better place if only those of us
with religious convictions would repent and adopt the amorphous values of the
secular world. He argues that the (to us) incomprehensible vastness and
complexity of the universe should move us all to embrace epistemological
despair.
I've no quarrel with the observation that the world is rife with misplaced
certitude--no doubt there are examples to be found in my own thinking. My
concern is with Will's cosmology and the resultant prescription for the violence
and incivility in our world. If tomorrow's leaders embrace his certitude
(ironic, isn't it?) that the universe around us is the product of "accidents,
contingencies, and luck", then in which direction should they lead us? Indeed,
what is the point in going anywhere? And, if some course of action is
arbitrarily chosen and labeled "good" (who says?), what hope is there that
anyone's efforts will allow us to make any headway against the vast and powerful
tides of chance which purportedly rule the galaxies?
None of us knows very much, but we can know a few things for certain. We can
be certain that the incredible information content on the six feet of DNA in
each one of our cells did not arise by chance. We can rest assured that the
Author of the DNA language and its marvelous translating mechanisms is more than
capable of communicating with us, and that in His Word He reveals the difference
between right and wrong, good and evil. Jesus' miraculous healing ministry,
atoning self-sacrifice, and resurrection from the dead speak volumes about His
concern for each one of us, and for our future. The world will be a far more
dangerous and unpleasant place if all of us give up the conviction that our
Creator is calling us to love our neighbors as ourselves--even when our neighbor
is our enemy. In short, we can know Who created us and what He requires of us.
In this lies our only hope for a better world.
No, the trouble is that so many close their eyes to the spiritual realities
of the universe we inhabit--pretending to know nothing in the vain hope they
will be held accountable to no One. Actually that's only half of the problem.
The other is that so many of us who claim to have our eyes open do such a poor
job of walking in the light. May God have mercy on us all.
Pastor Charlie Scott
c. 2005
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