Oh, I remember teenagerhood, and all its attendant doubts. It was no fun.
Here’s the problem with stupid arguments: it takes a lot more words to refute them than it does to make them. For instance, I read the editorial page every morning. Without fail, there is at least one gormlessly bad piece of argument somewhere on the page, usually at a word count of 650. A mere surface rebuttal takes 650 words in reply; a full response several times that. And, the dumber the argument, the more needs to be said to show the problems.
This article you’ve posted is 6,500 words long, and is
fathomlessly stupid. A full response could easily top 20,000 words, and, not only would that take me several days to write, it would also be
very tedious. And then the counter-arguments, and the counter-counter-arguments… you know how it goes on the Internet. So many people need help, and there’s not enough time for the few helpers to help everyone.
So here’s the thing: if you want answers, you’re going to have to do most of the legwork yourself. I guess that’s pretty much like life. Here are a few of my favorite starting places when dealing with the existence of God, Christian belief, and Catholicism in particular:
(1) If we follow our reason faithfully, it will lead us to truth. If religion is true (and, by gum, it had better be), reason will lead us to it. If religion is false, then religion is worse than useless. If religion is false, then religion is the enemy.
(2) If what troubles you is that you do not believe in God, try looking over some of the
arguments for His existence. If you’re especially brave and especially smart, dip your fingers into the great
Summa Theologica, especially
Q2A3,
Q3A1, and
Q6A1. If you are not especially smart (most of us aren’t; I certainly wasn’t) and you find Aquinas’s arguments difficult or even stupid, I suggest Ralph McInerny’s brilliant introduction to Aquinas,
A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas: A Handbook for Peeping Thomists.
(3) If what troubles you is the possibility that Jesus was not the risen son of God, look into Peter Kreeft’s
possible explanations for the story of the Resurrection or even his general discussion of
the divinity of Christ.
(4) If what troubles you is the teaching of Christianity in general, especially on moral matters, I recommend C.S. Lewis’s
Mere Christianity, which can be purchased
here or read for free online
here (I’m sure C.S. wouldn’t mind).
(5) If what troubles you is the idea that the Catholic Church is the one, true, and infallible Church of Christ, try one of Catholic Answers’ own tracts on the subject. I’m personally partial to
this one, but there are
many others.
(6) If what troubles you is the existence of evil in a universe ruled by a good God (and human accountability for evil acts)–and this
does seem to be your main problem, based on my quick skim of the article you linked–try these:
Mere Christianity, which I linked above, has some discussion of the problem, and proves fairly accurately (I think) that the mere existence of the “problem of evil” proves the existence of God. Lewis goes into much more depth in his earlier book,
The Problem of Pain (which you can get from Amazon
here, although I’m sure you can find it illegally on the Internet if you look for five minutes). The great Catholic disciple of Lewis, Peter Kreeft, has an brief but insiightful examination in chapter 7 of his
Fundamentals of the Faith. This chapter has been happily and legally excerpted in its entirety
here.
(7) Having read these works, you will hopefully find many answers. You will also find, in the end, that some of your questions have not gone away, but your reading will have helped you to sharpen and refine your questions, then pointed you towards still more reading to answer the more intelligent questions you’ll then have. Then you will have to go out and look some more, and, over a lifetime, you’ll understand more and more answers while at the same time forever uncovering more and more new questions. Such is life in a church rooted in reason. You won’t always have these doubts, but you will always be searching for new answers. The fact that you have to do this first round of searching on your own is a scandal against our Catholic high schools, but, hey, we all knew Christianity was going to be hard work when we signed up for it. Some of the hard work is intellectual.
(8) As Spock said, “Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end.” Faith begins in reason, but it doesn’t end there. Keep praying, and devote yourself always to Christ.
can someone please explain this to me? jameshartforcongress.com/prometheus/socvsjes.htm
