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-====== ... ======
+====== Is God there? ... ======
-Friday, Jan 24, 2020.
+Friday, Jan 24, 2020. As modern scientists we are trained to be very careful about reality.
+The basic point of science is to try to find the truth about facts. We try to understand. We
+try to find the rules and laws which govern some phenomenon. We try to understand what
+happens and why it happens. We try to gain insight. And we try to find ways to influence and
+use the phenomena and facts we find.
+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.
+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 ...
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-**   ... **
+** Physical and Spiritual Investigation ... **
+Clearly our brain is part of this world. Our eyes, our ears, our hands, ... the whole body
+with its senses. We try to explore the world as a part of the world. It is fascinating that
+we find laws within this world. Laws tell us how things usually happen. Today we describe
+the physical or chemical world by mathematical laws, by differential equations and
+variational principles. These equations model how things evolve, they give us the laws
+of behavior. Most parts of this world seem to follow differential equations - from macroscopic
+phenomena such as the climate of the planet to the microscopic world with atoms and photons
+and nuclear particles.
+We first remark that our ethics is outside of our physical investigations. The laws of
+this world do not tell us how we should act. They give us a framework of the type "if you want
+to reach this goal, than that action can lead to the desired result". But it does not provide
+an answer to the question what goals to choose.
+Further, the physical world does not tell us anything about values. Values are set by humans.
+We give a value to something or someone. Value is a concept which needs an active mind with
+thoughts and emotions.
+Third, our natural sciences try to investigate nature and its inhabitants. It does not investigate
+the spiritual dimension. The humanities investigate the human mind, culture, language and
+ethical questions. They describe the concept. Beyond that, religious studies tries to investigate
+the way humans deal with the spiritual world. They investigate the belief in spirits, in
+gods and in the one God of the monotheistic religions.
+It is difficult to investigate spirits directly. Usually, we can only investigate them by
+the response and actions of humans, which we observe. If you go to a Japanese temple, you can
+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
+it. We cannot hear it. Is it there? Does it exist? What we can definitely say is that people
+act as if it exists. It is part of their life, their actions, their life perspective.
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-**  ... **
+** 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:
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+Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
+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.
+</color> (Isaiah 59, 1-2)
+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)