Latest Audio


PopUp MP3 Player (New Window)

Spitfire Sessions

Spitfire Sessions - C.A.R.E. Ministries of Winnipeg
  • Beginning on day one of creation, Genesis 1:1-5… part 2 of 2
  • Beginning on day one of creation, Genesis 1:1-5… part 1 of 2

Who's Online

We have 6 guests online
If Only I Had Faith... (part 1) PDF Print E-mail
Written by Arron Bergeron   
Tuesday, 28 July 2009 19:00

If only I had faith...

 by Arron Bergeron

Pursuant to the death of God, all spheres of human experience tend toward despair and meaninglessness. I do not say this solely on the basis of my faith. If you happen to be tuning in to our spitfire series as of late (sessions 17-18) you should have already heard quotes from men like Bertrand Russel and Richard Dawkins, both staunch atheists, who corroborate this claim. If there is no God, there are really only two possible options; all ends in despair and we either must accept it, or we must, against reason, take a blind leap of faith and create our own meaning. It is this second option, commonly referred to as existentialism, which is the paradigm, or the lenses if you will, by which many today interpret the world around us.

A couple months ago someone suggested I pick up a copy of a certain magazine, and it just so happens the copy I picked up provides a perfect example what I’m trying to express. With intention to offend, it is so poorly reasoned I hesitate to mention the title, nonetheless…

The April/May issue of Adbusters includes an article entitled “They believed, why can’t I?” The article is in reference to an ad which highlighted a picture of rioting protestors from Paris, France, in 1968. In his commentary on the ad, the author unabashedly professes his non-belief in God. After all, “Believing is what the other side does: the Christian fundamentalists who believe in the rapture and the righteousness of their cause…”1 Listen to what else he has to say…

“Can belief and skepticism, rationality and faith, be reconciled? I don’t think so, for each cancels the other out. Belief is an edifice built upon ephemeralities like hopes and dreams. Rationality demands a firm foundation that is constantly tested through inspection and deconstruction. Rene Descartes found this centuries ago when he fruitlessly tried to prove the existence of God…Combine the flames of faith and the icy waters of calculation and you get a sodden pile of ashes.”2


I find it interesting; the author equates belief in God with having hopes and dreams. Elsewhere Duncombe admits the ad campaign in question is so alluring because the “young protestors believe in something. I don’t know exactly what they believe…but the details of what they are saying and protesting are largely immaterial. They believe.”3

So let’s add this all up; belief is linked to hopes and dreams. No God equals no hope, and ends in despair. Yet belief, impassioned belief, in something is alluring, so much so the author proclaims “We need to believe…”4 And so Duncombe attempts to trick himself into belief, since rationality supposedly can’t be reconciled with belief.

It seems man is incurably religious. If “We need to believe”, maybe the problem is not belief and skepticism, but that the philosophy these people hold to is wrong since it so obviously can’t be lived out in the real world. The difference in my faith is that it has a logical foundation for it, whereas the faith of Duncombe is blatantly absurd if not deceptive. Think on this, as you wait for more on this [in two weeks].

 Notes:

1.  Stephen Duncombe. “They believed, why can’t I”, Adbusters, March/April 2009, #82, vol 17, number 2.

2. Ibid

3. Ibid, italics in the original.

4. Ibid
 
© 2009 - 2011 C.A.R.E. Ministries of Winnipeg