~News Flash~
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was switched at the home of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) below the Franco-Swiss border this morning and it indeed has proved the existence of the god particle. The elusive and historically invisible has been made visible and know. God does exist.
~Reporting live, now back to you…~
So what would change? The existence of God is proven. God not is the opium of the masses, God is not the crutch for the weak minded, God is not the fanciful imaginations of religious and fanatical people. God is real. God is proven. Science, modern thought finally has indisputable proof that rings out in the face of all faithlessness, skepticism and doubt.
In the midst of this proven reality what would we do? Would we abandoned the perfect pursuit of our Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte and give the money to the homeless man who stares all day into the corporate windows of the affluent and well off. Would we abandon our still born jobs that fill our time with complaint, grief and worry and abandon ourselves to the reckless passions of our youth? What does the science of God existing change? Would we have increased passion and desire to mend broken relationships, not to speak of a broken world?
In all reality, when, if, the God particle existence is ever proven. If there comes a time where existence of God is an indisputable truth. We will just find other ways to ignore the truth. New pills to put us to sleep from the insomnia of God’s beauty declared; in the birth of a new friendship, to the mist crawling over a mountain range that imposes a sense of reverence and awe.
So, while the world waits with baited breath to the discovery of the God particle to prove something that they will in the end ultimately refute. I recognize that me proving or disproving God’s existence does not change God in the least. For He just is. And He has chosen to be elusive and hidden and yet calls us to seek and find. And with that pursuit I am ok.
More news at 11.
September 11, 2008 at 10:20 am
For me personally, it would not make a difference. It would not make a difference because my faith is not based on evidence that proves the existence of God. Several years ago, the John it was discovered and even brought to Toronto. It was heralded as the oldest object, closest to the time of Jesus. Proof from Jesus’ time on earth. Later, it was discovered to be a fake.
I’m glad I didn’t try to convince anyone of Jesus’ existence by talking about the John Ossuary in this way because when it was found to be false, so would their faith be found false. In the end, the discovery, research, and in the end the realization that it was a hoax didn’t change my faith at all.
September 11, 2008 at 10:50 am
I do wonder if there are those physical, provable things that do make it easier for some people to believe. I would imagine that some historical/science minded people need support in their pursuit. Yet I agree at some point everything is still a leap of faith.
September 11, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Yes, I agree. My point is that nothing, including science and especially history, is certain. Apparently most people used to believe that the world was flat many years ago – it was a fact of science, perhaps. So, if someone’s faith in God is based on something “provable” it is actually standing on pretty flimsy grounds because one day what is “provable” may prove to be false. I would like to encourage those “science minded people” to explore God from a different angle . . . maybe. (?) Still working this through so I don’t always have the right language to express it.
I like N.T. Wright’s vocabulary in Simply Christian because he writes that the four voices do not lead anyone to God but they provide echoes or hints (hints is not Wright’s vocabulary) of God.
September 12, 2008 at 12:02 am
It’s interesting, I would say sadly, that for perhaps millions of Christians who already ARE convinced, who already tote around God like a handbag filled with conviction and certainty, it has made little difference. Certainty of God’s existence has never seemed to stop mans open rebellion against him.
In fact…one scholar I was just reading made an interesting observation that I was pretty blown away by, Scripturally there are times of God’s immanent presence (Garden of Eden, the Exodus…) and then there are times of his transcendent hiddenness (Esther, Nehemiah, Ezra)…isn’t it curious that the times of his special closeness also correlate with moments of his people’s greatest rebellion? And the times of his distance correlate with our moments of obedience. In some ways, this guy points out, the closer folks get towards the experience of God–the more child like–reactionary and petulant–they become.
So…maybe in the light of that it would be best if there was always that (un)certainty that Irreligious Life referred to…fact and reason are always misleading and mythical in the end. The leap of faith is indeed a crutch–but what one of us would tell a cripple to throw away his crutch and spit upon him for having his wounded leg in a split? We are cripple…broken…we are in need of God as cure.
At least thats how the post and the comments struck me tonight…sorry I went on too long man. Good post, thought provoking for me.
Cheers,