He nails the fundamental problem and point that I've been considering about the sovereignty of God with the concept of Providence itself and how all of us invariably require it:
I think Dennett’s use of the language of evaluation and purpose is evidence of a deep-seated metaphysical belief (however caused) that Providence exists in the universe, a belief that few people, confronted by the mystery of beauty and of existence itself, escape entirely.
I think maybe you could just replace all statements about God with simply the word "Good."
"So I hoping that 'Good' will watch over my safety on this trip."
"I pray to 'Good' that I can find a descent job."
"Thank 'Good(ness)' I've found a job and made it safely!"
I could live with that. Maybe.
Of course we've watered God down into some vague universal conceptual power of the "Tendency towards Life" that somehow runs through the ecological blood of nature itself.
(Which is kind of what everyone now a days really thinks what God is anyway.)
And maybe that is what we sense and feel and mean and maybe even project into a personal image of ourselves when we pray/talk about/sense "God."
I could live with that. At least it means that man is still created by God. (I think.)
Only one thing is left - the "Father" that Jesus talked about, understood, and explained.
Does he exist as an entity that I can personally know and trust? Is He more the face of this entity/concept of this universal "Tendency towards Life" that attracts and enthralls us all? Is he both? Do the limits of my mind require that I can sense this universal "pull" to Life and Good but can only think of it in terms of a personality.
So maybe God does and doesn't exist.
So I'm back to propositional nonsense and relative everythingness.
That sucks!
Who will free me from this non-sensible whimsical yet torturous merry-go-round ?
God. Do you hear me?
Well,
ReplyDeleteperhaps the question remains
How can the unknown be known?
If all that is sensible is just that sensible.
Doubts will continually rob us.
The subjective experience is just that and can be constude as relative or presumtion.
How with all of this in mind can the unknown be known?
Our humaness and sensiblity points us in this vauge direction.
It is as though we are blind, deaf
or maybe like Paul would say"dead
in our sins.
Thus the groping we do in this darkness we wonder to the fire of "spiritual" passion and
this helps us understand or come to know.
This to takes the next step trust?
Can we trust in"faith" in what little we think we undertand?
What do we do? I think this Belief is the only and next reasonable step.