jn_en_2020_01_24
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Science has these two main target points: insight and know-how. Insight tries to understand. | Science has these two main target points: insight and know-how. Insight tries to understand. | ||
Know-How tries to find methods to use and employ the knowledge. | Know-How tries to find methods to use and employ the knowledge. | ||
- | |||
Where do we see spiritual questions in this framework? How to deal with faith, with ethics | Where do we see spiritual questions in this framework? How to deal with faith, with ethics | ||
and with the reality of God? Let us think deeper ... | and with the reality of God? Let us think deeper ... | ||
Line 55: | Line 54: | ||
discuss and observe the behavior of the people. But it is difficult to judge whether there | discuss and observe the behavior of the people. But it is difficult to judge whether there | ||
is a spiritual being involved in the processes of the temple. We cannot see it. We cannot touch | is a spiritual being involved in the processes of the temple. We cannot see it. We cannot touch | ||
- | it. We cannot hear it. Is it there? Does it exist? | + | it. We cannot hear it. Is it there? Does it exist? |
+ | act as if it exists. It is part of their life, their actions, their life perspective. | ||
{{ 2020: | {{ 2020: | ||
- | ** ... ** | + | ** Biblical Position |
+ | There are very basic difficulties in dealing with the spiritual world. Humans seem to be a part | ||
+ | of it, in the sense that humans are spiritual beings. There seem to be people gifted to sense | ||
+ | spiritual phenomena, some more than others, as it is with all human talent, which is widely and | ||
+ | diversely distributed. But beyond the human mind it seems to be difficult to pin down the | ||
+ | direct effect of the spiritual world. | ||
+ | What is the cause of it? Is it impossible that the spiritual world and the physical world as | ||
+ | we know it interact? No, I do not say that. But I say that we have difficulties of proving | ||
+ | the concept in the same way as we prove other scientific concepts. What can be the reason? | ||
+ | To some extent this seems to be the effect of living beings. If you would not be able to observe, | ||
+ | touch or hear some being, you would only be able to investigate it if it causes effects | ||
+ | in a repeatedly observable way. If it changes its behavior, if it even hides itself from you, | ||
+ | you will not be able to do much. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are further points which complicate the relationship between the spiritual world and | ||
+ | the human world. Let us have a look into the words of the prophet Isaiah, talking about the | ||
+ | separation of God and mankind: | ||
< | < | ||
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; | 1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; | ||
2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. | 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. | ||
- | </ | + | </ |
+ | |||
+ | Even if God is able to do what he wants, if he is the Lord, the most influential power of | ||
+ | the universe, if he hides himself, you will not be able to find him. You will not be able | ||
+ | to detect him. All your observations will go vain. He can play the cat-and-mouse game with us, | ||
+ | but we have no chance of ever catching him. | ||
+ | Does that mean we should give up, as many scientists have given up today? No, we should not give | ||
+ | up. We should play the game in a reasonable way. The only reasonable step here is to address God in a | ||
+ | proper way, to get him to answer us. And he has promised to be open to that. When we come to him | ||
+ | in an appropriate way. It is a personal way. It is a way which starts to realize who he is and | ||
+ | what he is. His holiness and his justice are a constitutive part of this process. There is much | ||
+ | to learn and to explore here, for scientists, and everyone else as well. | ||
(Roland Potthast) | (Roland Potthast) | ||
jn_en_2020_01_24.1579830244.txt.gz · Last modified: 2020/01/24 02:44 by potthast