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Fooled Again: A Journey From Religion to Rationalism

Fool AgainRecently, I received an email asking me to review an account by a man who was relating how he had forsaken his faith in Christianity & instead was embracing what he is calling "rationalism".  To understand with what I am interacting here, you should first read the account found here: http://www.newrational.com/joy/journey.html (will open in new window).  The account is multiple pages long so use the NEXT button at the bottom of the page of the referenced website.

It is important to occasionally look at how a person can make the "journey" from belief to disbelief.  It can help us understand why we even believe in the first place.  It can either cause our faith to solidify, not out of fear of "losing faith" but out of knowing why we believe rather than not believe or it can reveal we never believed in the first place.  This reminds me of John 6:64-68 where we see Jesus telling His followers that basically some of them were following Him for self-serving reasons & not because they actually believe.  When these followers realized what Jesus was saying was true, they went away.  I think that is what happens to some people, even people who had appeared to believe for a long, long time.  When faced with the truth that unless God Himself "grants" a person to believe, not because they "chose" out of their own freewill, many people become disillusioned & dropout.  And you know, this is ok, because not everyone is supposed to believe -- only the ones granted by God are to believe.  Some people find this repulsive & elitist & cannot follow a God like that, so they don't.  Other people attempt to create a more "fair" god, but if pushed to the logical conclusion, this god fails & the person goes away in disbelief...at least a disbelief of the REAL GOD of the Bible.  Either way, whether a person embraces no god or a god of their own making, it is still disbelief in the REAL GOD of the Bible, the one that MUST grant a person to believe before they have the ability to do so.

Anyhow, here is my interaction with that man's account:

Back when I was younger, when I was making the shift from freewillism to God's sovereignty I too almost lost my faith...well actually I did lose my faith...I lost my faith in myself.  You see, in freewill Christianity you are told it is all of God but you must choose.  This inherent contradiction was wreaking havoc on my heart & mind.  I mean, if I am the one that chose (over some other guy that didn't) then why should God get all of the credit I thought secretly to myself.  After many years of this hidden self ego, it started coming to a head as I began to see more & more that I didn't really choose God, but rather God chose me.  This put me in a tailspin.  God really is a "puppet master" in the sky.  God really is merely an "Ego God", wherein it is all about His perfect ego.  I was on overload & was about to give up Christianity altogether.
 
I say all of that because like this fellow, for a while I toyed with a utilitarian philosophy built on "rationalism" as even this man keeps referencing.  The problem being that, if followed to its logical conclusion & contrary to what this man has said; it DOESN'T give "life meaning" -- it robs all meaning, when taken to its logical conclusion.
 
Without a divine source, we truly are merely hairless apes but the irony is that where a "rational" person thinks they are in a stronger position by rejecting the "myth" called "religion" they are actually weaker in their hairless ape world.  I mean look at their position now -- they are subject to other hairless apes, not because a God has designed it that way but because they are too weak to disobey & supplant the stronger hairless apes that impose upon them their laws, their rules, their punishments.  If we are truly nothing but a world of "rational" thinking hairless apes why not figure out a way to have that power for yourself?  If you want more possessions (be it things, money, women), find a way to take them & evade retaliation from the stronger hairless apes.  THAT is "rational". That makes sense in such a world.
 
More specifically, just because this man has seen similarities between other religions (such as Zoroastrianism) & Christianity is no reason to say then they all must be myths.  Every lie must have some truth or no one would believe it at all, thus when we find that other religions contain elements common in Judaism/Christianity, to conclude then that these other religions are the origin is...well..not rational.
 
This man speaks of reaching the edge of his belief "bubble" -- it appears rather he has been going through a series of subconscious efforts to find an escape hatch to his own self-constructed belief based on his freewillism & he thinks he has found one in his "rationalism".
 
He says:
 
I have not lost my faith, you see. I know right where I put it. It waits in that small box called Religion that I can no longer enter, for now I am much too large to fit inside.
If THAT is not the epitome of self-ego, what is?  He now makes his own universe & his own universe he thinks is too big to fit into the small box -- a box he created.  It is not by chance that many of these folks that forsake Christ are from a freewill background.  Who wouldn't forsake a god that doesn't give you credit for choosing right over wrong? That is the box he is referring to, for the REAL GOD of the Bible doesn't fit in that contradictory box which when taken to its ultimate conclusion can only lead to losing faith.  The REAL GOD does things because He is God the Creator & can do what He wants with His creation.  This is repugnant to many people & they could never worship such a God, so they don't.
 
Next he says:
 
There is a natural philosophy that underlies all other philosophies. It is that of the child before she becomes indoctrinated by religions or cultures. It is the simple philosophy of knowing only what we see and hear and touch. It is the mindset upon which all the storied accomplishments of scientific mankind is based. It is the philosophy of being rational.
 
This is sheer empiricism & will fail him.  Trusting only the things you can "see, hear, & touch" can & will be manipulated by others.  The media does it all the time, it is called marketing.  It is also interesting that he has not yet defined what "rational" means yet he keeps using it as an opposite of religion (which would have to be "irrational"???).
 
Before a person can make this journey to "rationalism" he must first discard one central truth that no human (religious or not) can deny.  That truth has been expressed by many religions in different ways, because even the mythical religions can't deny this truth -- mankind is basically self-serving & "evil". That's the reason we must have rules, laws, & governments.  We are NOT basically good. Left to our own devices, we'd destroy each other.  So to make the adjustment to "rationalism" a person must change this premise.  This is the reason it is so much easier for a freewill Christian to make the journey to disbelief -- they are half way there already.  The author proves this with this comment:
 
The Christian religion is founded on the concept that we humans are sinful, depraved, and worthless, and would be totally doomed except for the overriding and unfathomable grace of God. Even as a believer, I had overcome much of that idea in my preterist views, but the fundamental theme remained and filtered my assessment of myself.
 
He already stated his Christian background is Church of Christ which is notoriously freewill, where mankind is morally neutral & must choose right or wrong, whereas the Bible exclaims that the heart of man is deceitful above all things & desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) Which is a more accurate representation of human nature?
 
It is odd to see him even acknowledge that Christianity teaches the depravity of man, but that shows the contradiction between freewillism & God's Sovereignty which if  this contradition is taken to its logical conclusion will leave people in disbelief...just as we see with this man.
 
Here is a very sad quote by the author:
 
I do not intend to ever be fooled again.
 
It's too late, he has already been fooled -- he has been fooled into thinking without God there could even be a "rational" world.  Again, if we are simply hairless apes, nothing is rational.  Away with this lofty concept of "the better good" or the "good of the many" -- those phrases are mere sophistries because "good" & "evil/bad" cannot be defined by hairless apes -- those are merely relative terms in such a world.  It is "good" for one hairless ape to have more power & possession than another if & when he can obtain it.  It is irrational that any hairless ape must support another.  Survival of the fittest in such a world is the only "rational" thing. Self-imposed altruism is irrational.
 
Next he speaks of being interested in hallucinogenic drugs (he doesn't call them that, but that is what they are), yet this man want us to think he has made a shift to "rationalism"?  What can be "rational" about "fooling" the mind with drugs?  -- Again, he IS fooled.
 
Much of my current interest and (academic!) research is into the role of so-called “entheogens” in the establishment of the original religions of mankind, many tens of thousands of years in the past.
 
This man never does define what "rational" means because "rational" is used subjectively.  Rational to him & others that use the term in such a manner means anything that makes sense to them.  Their basis for believing anything is then a self-ego & a much smaller box than the one he has supposedly escaped.  He is truly a boy in a bubble now but this bubble is being created by his own mind from a buffet of ideas that he will no doubt string together to make sense...rational to himself.  He is in no better position than before.  There really are only two options for humans:
 
1. A Divine Plan, with something outside us driving it
2. Completely Random Existence, hairless apes on a planet without purpose
 
Trying to straddle these two options may make this author think he has reached a new "rational" position but in actuality, he is "fooled again" just as much as he was when he thought he was worshiping a freewill god.

 

 

READ MY OWN ACCOUNT INTO "disbelief" AND BACK: http://thekingdomcome.com/meaning_and_purpose.htm
Read also "The Weakness of the Hairless Ape" -- http://thekingdomcome.com/the_weakness_of_the_hairless_ape 

 

--Roderick--
By Roderick on 2007 Aug 3 - 11:17 | Hamartiology | add new comment | email this page | printer friendly version | 744 reads