Your Faith This Week: December 22, 2008
The news headline was catchy: "Atheism vs. Religion debate at Colorado campus." The report itself simply announced a debate, between a prominent Christian thinker and a well-known atheist, to be held in late January. The most fascinating portion of the page, however, was the "Comments" section.
Four comments had been published about the report: two by certain theists (presumably Catholics) and two by self-proclaimed atheists. With abundant passion, each commentator made assessments from his viewpoint. Some were quite valid; others bordered on historically inaccurate and fallacious. One comment, in particular, initiated the thought that initiated this post.
"It is very easy," wrote one atheist, "to invent claims with no evidence so unless you have good evidence your beliefs are a tragic and dangerous waste of time." What, then, might be considered "good evidence"? One can only assume that the data set requested by the author should be limited to natural evidence since he discounts the existence of anything supernatural. So it shall be.
How about the perpetual changing of seasons on our globe? How about the fact that our globe doesn't spin out of control or off course? How about the universe itself? Better yet, let us consider the example of black holes. It is likely that a professed atheist believes in the scientific reality of black holes in outer space. However, he could never provide direct, suitable evidence for the existence of a black hole. The only evidence that could be provided would come from the black hole's effects on surrounding matter. So, we must accept on scientific principle that there are some things in existence that we cannot measure directly.
Let us come closer to home. What about the natural functions of our human bodies, such as immune systems, blood circulation, and food digestion? All of these are very natural things, but certainly couldn't be sustained with such order in and of themselves. What about medical miracles, in which people who have had zero-percent chances of living and yet exist still? Such could be explained away by the advances in medicine. However, advances in medicine are nothing more than the ability to understand the inner workings of the body; and they were certainly allowed for great benefits. The ultimate truth is that even physical, scientific principles must be wrought by some hand that has more power and intellect than our own.
What about scientifically-documented cases (some even by professed atheists) of the transformation of Eucharistic species in which they cease to look like bread and wine; in which they take on the sensible characteristics of what they really are (i.e., the Body and Blood of a Human)? There are only two possible explanations: sorcery is one (but, it is highly doubtable that most Catholic priests would consider themselves sorcerers); the second is that there is a Reality beyond natural perception.
The line of thought above led to an important realization. It is well for Catholics to realize that God, the Supernatural Reality, saw fit to reveal Himself through natural means simply because those are comprehensible to humanity. Natural means have been God's primary method of revelation, not the exception, for all of human history. The greatest example of this truth occurred when God humbled Himself, took on human flesh, and walked on the very earth He created. Indeed, to open the minds and hearts of humans to the Supernatural Reality, God had to become like them. Let us remember that essential truth as we go about our daily, average lives; that every natural thing could be some minute revelation from on High.
Immediately following Christmas, the Church will celebrate the Memorial of St. Stephen (December 26), the first martyr. Stephen, the convert from Judaism and first deacon of the Church, never met Jesus, the God-Man. Yet, he was inclined to believe that Jesus was truly Who He claimed to be; that Jesus was the Incarnation of that Supernatural Reality. In fact, he believed so heartily in what he had never seen that he gave praise upon his death, refused to fight back, and even prayed for those who persecuted him (Acts 7:54-60). Without a doubt, St. Stephen did not think of his Christian activity as a "tragic and dangerous waste of time."
Let us always remember to act as St. Stephen did, to believe fully in that Reality which we cannot see. St. Augustine, the great patron of this site, remarked: "Faith is to believe what we do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what we believe." Yet, some still refuse to believe because of a lack of "empirical" evidence.
During the upcoming Christmas season, give glory to God that He has seen fit to reveal Himself in ways that are understandable to our feeble minds. And, pray for those who cannot believe or refuse to believe.
