A particularly nerdy essay I apparently wrote to... myself.
On Faith
Hebrews 11: 1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
A moderately skilled logician would render the previous word problem thusly:
Faith = null + null.
Null, according to Webster, functions as an adjective, as in “null set.” It connotes “having no legal or binding force, invalid”; “amounting to nothing, nil”; “having no value, insignificant.”
The Apostle Paul is quoted often in sermons and motivational lectures without the impact of his statement clearly understood in the current lexicon. Further analysis from Webster also states null as “having no elements, mathematically, a null set.” In the refrain of a seventies song I recall with fondness: “Nothing plus nothing leaves nothing. [And] you got to have something if you want to be with me.”
Since physics jobs are testily unavailable to undergraduate degreed applicants, and engineering pays better, the following definition caught my fancy: “null is a measurement in which an unknown quantity (as of electric current) is compared with a known quantity of the same kind and found equal by a null detector.”
The problem that Paul introduces is in his formula for faith, without which, it is impossible to please God.
THE UNKNOWN GOD
What is unique about the Hebrews of early Palestine was the lack of representation of a physical body in art. Moses, the lawgiver, whose gravesite is purported to be Mount Nebo in Jordan (See “The Memorial of Moses at Mount Nebo, http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/fai/FAInebo1.html), made the stipulation for the early believers that they construct “no graven images.” This influenced Hebrew artists until after about the 10th century AD when they began to depict the human body, and the first earliest physical descriptions of what they looked like.
Europe and literally the entire known kingdoms of the earth at that time did not share this peculiarity. Their gods had physical, human forms, beautiful and handsome. The gods had specific functions they carried out in their respective pantheon (notably the Egyptians, Greeks, Norwegians, and Romans gods bore striking resemblance in their functionality). There were gods of the rain, wind, frost, mist, water, thunder, love, war, and harvest. Their gods had sex with each other and humans. Their gods became jealous and had wars. They demanded ritual sacrifice of bullocks and lambs at their altars: some sects also sacrificed humans.
The Hebrew God had no form. He demanded devotion, characteristically of the other gods with ritual sacrifice, but called for no human sacrifice save twice in written text.
“What proof do I have that God exists?” None… null… nada… zero.
Scientific method dictates “Principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.” (From Webster.) Interestingly, the phrase came into usage in 1854; its Etymology is Greek, from hypotithenai to put under, suppose, from hypo- + tithenai to put (circa 1656).
All that to say, I’d have to put God in a test tube; pour into a crucible, break down by way of some decomposition experiment and evaluate the discrete parts. That would not be deity: it would be an element on the periodic table.
Related to the Scientific Method are tools utilized to reach conclusions: hypothesis, theory, and law.
HYPOTHESIS implies insufficient evidence to provide more than a tentative explanation, e.g. a hypothesis explaining the extinction of the dinosaurs.
THEORY implies a greater range of evidence and greater likelihood of truth, e.g. the theory of evolution.
LAW implies a statement of order and relation in nature that has been found to be invariable under the same conditions, e.g. the law of gravitation.
Acts 17: 18, 22 – 23
“Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? Others say, he seems to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
“Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, [You] men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.
“For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, Him I declare unto you.”
This is a lively chapter. Paul, after having turned the city upside down, according to the Judaic factions there debated the key philosophers of the day.
Epicurus lived between 341 – 270 BC, a Greek philosopher who taught that “pleasure is the only good and the end of all morality, through a life of simplicity, prudence, honor, and justice.” He’s best remembered in the phrase “eat, drink, and be merry.” (A real party animal.)
Stoics were members of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium about 300 BC holding that “the wise man should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submissive to natural law; one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain.” (For all you Trekkers out there, this is the inspiration and job description of Mr. Spock.)
Verses 29 & 32:
“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
“And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this [matter].”
After which, Paul leaves.
Poverty and the 1st Null set
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for…”
I am not a rich man. I grew up lower middle class in a segregated neighborhood of the segregated South in North Carolina. Forced bussing introduced me to light brown skin, blond, brunette, and redhead friends. I met my share of rednecks, too.
Modern day Epicureans, in my estimation, are probably not hungry. That which they conceive they and their lofty American and Swiss bank accounts can achieve.
Conception would be an inhibitor to conversation with such an individual(s). If you cannot conceive living a poor existence, you tend not to look at systems in effect for centuries, oversights of human government, or just plan bad luck. Such a person would probably blame the individual in the impoverished situation. They’d be right part of the time, but not all. Until they’ve hoped for their next meal, prayed for a sick child, found that their wealth couldn’t address the most perplex of human issues – death – they wouldn’t get it because they wouldn’t have to. They would consider me, as Paul, a babbler.
Schrödinger’s cat and the 2nd Null set
“…the evidence of things not seen.”
Erin Schrödinger is best known for an equation that describes the wave nature of elementary particles, and is fundamental to the description of the properties of all matter. Sometimes referred to as particle/wave duality: it is the basis for the branch of physics known as Quantum Mechanics.
To illustrate this, Schrödinger used a technique called a Gedankin, German for “thought experiment.” Here, in a nutshell, it is thus:
“If you place a cat in a perfectly sealed box and break a bottle of Radium with a remote trigger device, is the cat living or dead?”
Most would say, “it depends on the amount of Radium”; or “it depends on the time of exposure.” Erin probably didn’t intentionally want to anger any animal rights activists. Remember that this was all in his head.
The answer in Quantum Mechanics is “both,” i.e. the cat is living and dead until the reality of its fate is substantiated by an observer.
For our Stoic/Mr. Spock mentality, “this is not logical.” Such illogic, such uncertainty is the realm of Quantum Physics. Light can be observed as a photon or a wave. Electrical energy can be observed as an electron or [radio] waves. The perspective is based upon the observer, or witness. S/He reaches their own conclusion based on their own…faith.
A [paraphrased] joke from my pastor:
“A believer lived next door to an atheist. She was a poor woman without money. Nightly, she prayed for food from God. The atheist, ever eager to prove his point bought the woman food. She began to shout for joy, praising God. The atheist triumphantly entered her apartment saying ‘You see? God does not exist. God didn’t buy you those groceries. I did!’
“She praised louder and longer. ‘Didn’t you hear me, you silly woman? God didn’t buy you those groceries, I did!’
“She looked at the atheist and said ‘God not only provided groceries, he made the devil pay for them!’”
“Human existence in the saga of the cosmos can only be explained as an act of a God who intended to create beings like us.” Stephen Hawkings, Nobel Laureate Physicist, “A Brief History of Time.”
