May 27, 2018 Holy Trinity/Confirmation 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

(Preceded by the first five minutes of Cosmos series, Comet episode) There are lots of videos like the segment I just showed, and all of them can challenge our faith.  They make us feel like we must be ignorant simpletons to believe in a God at all.  They imply that an enlightened person should be beyond such silly nonsense as religion and faith and God.  These messages are the norm of our culture.  They are the religion of our society.  Never for one minute believe you live in a Christian society.  You don’t.  You live in a secular humanist society.  It’s been that way for decades.  And people love it!  There’s very good reason for why people love it, but we’ll come back to that later.

            It is true that it is impossible through scientific thought – or perhaps I should say, by using empirically verifiable data - to prove the existence of God.  Many take the inability to prove the existence of God as proof that there is no God.  Many suggest that religion is a leftover of the ignorant past, and that we would be better off if we got rid of it.  But books and  videos like the one we just watched play pretty fast and loose with their facts.

            What they are really doing is preying on your own ignorance of your own faith.  If you watch that video segment a few times and ask yourself some critical questions you discover that it falls apart pretty fast.  Indeed most scientific critiques of religion, especially Christianity, play pretty fast and loose with their facts.

            Among the most famous judges of Christianity is Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist from Oxford University.  Interestingly, when you read his works against religion you discover that while he is very thorough in his study of biology, he seems to leave his critical thinking skills behind when it comes to Christianity.  He chooses only that evidence which suits his predetermined views, and ignores that which contradicts him.  He’d never get away with that in the field of biology, but far too many Christians are too ignorant of their faith to be able to catch his bad scholarship in religion; and he sells books by the millions.

            There is something deep in human nature going on here – this desire to get rid of God – but again, we’ll come back to that.

            I want to make only one point with this sermon, especially for our confirmands.  That is that an educated, scientific, critical thinking person can use critical thought processes and conclude that Christian faith is a mature and rational belief system. (repeat)  That might seem like too simple a goal for today, but you’ll find that for most of the people in our society today, Christian faith is pure stupidity.

            Even famous faith critics like Carl Sagan can scientifically summarize the problem succinctly.  Every mature branch of scientific thought has run up against a barrier – the inability to push further.  Perhaps the easiest is the idea of the origin of the universe.  If the universe started with a big bang, or however it started, it must have an origin.  And what lies outside that origin?

            Critical thought processes bump up against the barrier all the time.  This is more than a lack of evidence.  It is a universal barrier.  Some people conclude that since we find no evidence of God that therefore there must be no God.  And I would agree with them that they have come to a rational conclusion.  However, I will insist that as they have made that conclusion they have made a faith statement.  Without knowing it they have created a faith statement - a conclusion without objectively verifiable data to support their conclusion.  And so from a critical thought process I fully respect the beliefs of an atheist.  But I also insist that that atheist recognize that they have made a faith statement and also recognize that a highly sophisticated religion like Christianity is also a rational belief system.

            Notice that video clip did not include ancient Hebrew religion – or Judaism.  It did not include Christianity or Islam.  Most likely they did not include such religions because they didn’t want to be outright offensive, but if they would have made such a statement they would have walked into their own slaughterhouse.

            I’m not an expert in the most primitive forms of religion.  But I do know that by the time ancient religions like Judaism came along, and they start to put their beliefs in writing, they were very rational and highly sophisticated.

            If you were worshipping with us last summer you’ll remember that we read through much of the book of Genesis.  We discovered that Genesis works at many levels.  It is vivid stories at a very simple level and can teach children very basic things.  But as you age you can revisit the stories and discover they weren’t written to be literal truths.  They were never intended to be.  They are images and allegories.  For example, Adam and Eve.  Adam is not a name at all, but a description.  It means earthling, or earth dweller, or even mud creature.  Eve is not a name either.  It means womb.  The whole Garden of Eden story is about exploring the root of human brokenness.  And then we discovered that not only are the stories allegories and images, but the ancient Hebrews wrote with complex structures that create comparisons and contradictions.  You may remember me saying that Genesis and other ancient Hebrew writings are the most complex writings of the ancient world – even more complex than the philosophy of the ancient Greeks; and certainly more complex than anything in current literature.  My point is that as far back as we can trace the roots of our religion in written form – about 3000 years, we encounter highly complex rational thought patterns.  Their worldview is different, and they didn’t have the precision instruments for measurement that we do today, but their deductive reasoning was no less sharp.

            And let’s actually let that 3000 year old Adam and Eve story speak to the world of today.  What was their real sin?  Eating the forbidden fruit?  Yes, that’s the literal story answer.  Disobeying God?  That’s getting closer.  Thinking they didn’t need God and they could do better on their own?  Yes, that’s the point.

            Modern day secular humanism and the sociology that is its foundation drives the idea that humans and the human intellect is supreme.  It can take care of itself.  It can and should be its own God.  But wait, that’s the whole point of the Adam and Eve story!!!  That’s a 3000 year old story, but modern day secular humanism acts like it’s a new thing.  It’s not.  In fact it’s a very old thing, and it’s a battle Christians have fought since the so-called Enlightenment of the 18^th Century.

            Look at these books.  Here’s a playful one from the 21^st Century: Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies – Youth Ministry in the 21^st Century.  Go back to the 20^th Century and you find A Reasonable Faith but Tony Campolo – arguing the same thing I am today.  Go back to the 19^th Century and you find Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.  And go back yet another century and you find Friederich Schleiermaker’s Speeches on Religion to its Cultured Despisers.

            The same issue, over and over again.

            There’s nothing new in people saying they’ve outgrown God.  But statistics bear out that atheism is a dangerous belief system indeed.  Alan Padgett from Luther Seminary notes that more people were killed by atheist movements in the 20^th Century than Christianity killed in the previous twenty centuries combined.

            And so to our confirmands and to us all I say, certainly keep a scientific head on your shoulders.  Use your critical thinking skills.  Apply them to everything, including faith.  I am saddened by how weak and pathetic much of popular Christian belief is these days, and it needs to be improved.

            But never think we’ve somehow become smart enough that we don’t need God.  That’s a fool’s thought that we can document has been tried for over 3000 years.  Instead, respect the rational conclusions of others, even when you disagree with them, and never let anyone convince you that your Christian faith is in any way lacking merit, strength, or reasonability.