Is ignorance bliss?

[GeauxLSU]

You know, I'm going to admit something that is probably not going to sit well with some folks but that's familiar territory for me so hopefully we'll all still be best friends.

I tend to be a little analytical. Some of you may have noticed? I work with numbers and do various types of analysis and forecasting and modeling etc.... Things have to 'add up' for me to make 'sense' out of it all or to give it my stamp of approval. I'm also that way in my recreational life. When I was first getting into shooting/hunting I studied ballistic charts and their related drop tables because their had to be 'best' cartridge for each specific potential hunting scenario etc... When I was more into motorcycling I could tell you all the features of most every current model offered and most previous ones and tell you the difference in HP and torque across brands, what an additional pound of rider weight corresponded to in additional needed HP etc...
Really liked Chemistry in school. You know that whole 'scientific method' thing where at the end, you actually PROVED something.
Being analytical is just the way I was wired. I'm much less that way as time goes, I guess having a child does that to a person, but anyway....
When it comes to RELIGION, I guess at one point in my life I was analytical about it to. WHY, HOW were all very important questions to me. But I soon realized, if I tried to make 'sense' out of it all, I was way out of my league. I mean, how could I make 'sense' of the Omniscient One? How arrogant is that? (That's where a few of you might get start to get annoyed ). Seriously, am I supposed to be able to make sense out of God? We are talking about God, omniscient, omnipotent. Just the definition of those two words is more than my sparse gray matter can comprehend so how am I supposed to understand any reasoning for His actions? So if I can't makse sense out of it maybe I can at least 'prove' it? Well, 'proof' is an interesting word to isn't it? Does dropping a pencil and watching it hit the floor PROVE gravity? How do you PROVE God?
Here's what I know as indisputable fact. He has answered my PRAYERS and given me more than I deserve by the fact I opened my eyes this morning. By force, I understand mathematical probability and statictics better than I do most things and I assure you, they don't answer things that have occured in the world and more importantly things in my life.
So, yes I KNOW there is a God and I know the path He has set me on (being a Christian) is TRUE. I've unconsciously tested it, I've proven it, it's a fact. HOWEVER, I do not UNDERSTAND much about it but.... (again, some of you may wince) I just don't care. I don't understand EXACTLY how my truck starts when I turn the key (save the Chevy jokes for another forum), I don't understand exactly how typing a colon, the word 'huh' and another colon gives an animated picture of this little dude but I KNOW it works.
I am not concerned with understanding something that is that much bigger than me. I'm just interesting in knowing Him.
I know my wife, I love her dearly, and for some strange reason reason she loves me. I am not gonna' pretend to understand her. The time I spend trying to accomplish that, would be much better served appreciating her. I know she'd agree. Exact same thing with my 3 year old.
The clock is ticking. What are you doing with your time?

 

[leroy]

great post!

 

[Madsnooker]

Phil,

when can we have lunch and I will help you understand how it all works. And of course, a little college football

Very good post!!

 

[SBG]

Great post Phillipe!

 

[Dixie Dawg]

Really liked Chemistry in school.

I always did think you were a little strange, Phil!!

Of course, I am just kidding

Very good post Phil, I have to say I agree with you 100%. Believe it or not

Love, light & blessings,
Kerri (who also KNOWS there is a God )

 

[Double Barrel BB]

Excellent Post!! I am with you there 100%!!!!

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


DB BB

 

[PWalls]

I agree Phil.

I don't think we are ever going to know all there is to know about God. I don't think we are supposed to. I think it is a test of our faith to the fact that we have to have faith in some things that we can't understand.

 

[Branchminnow]

There is scripture to back up your thoughts Phil. And Im not talking about one verse either there are many.

 

[gordon 2]

Phil if you had studied literature or communications like you studied #s, that is with your analytical bent, you would have answers to more of your "unknowings" or "making sense" as you say. Not that it would provide for all understanding, but much of scripture is language, composition and what we could call literature. It was written by prophets and evangelists, story tellers, and their desciples.

People communicate in set ways and once you study with analysis and discipline spiritural works as to how they are set up and composed your understanding might just get a little closer to truth. And I mean the spiritual truth of man and God. How we say is very revealing and often the body language that says more than what is logically presented.

My favorite example about how scripture works is to ask someone to communicate love. How they do it is often the best explanation of the subject. What is said however often misses the mark by a galaxie or two.

For me for example Isaiah is a great work of art. It is beautifully edited, epic, poetic and more. The "way" the work is presented speaks volumes about God to me. Revelation is also beautiful artistically and the composition reads like an epic poem or as a kind of literature. I glean a very different perspective reading it as such as if I read it for its logical communication or as if I was reading a recipe. As a spiritual work of art it makes great sense and logic, as accounting or a historical text of the future it is a near dud to me. Now another thing..

For the we take....2 Corintians 12:9&10 Paul says this about what God said to him.

"" But he said to me, " My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why , for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.""

I think Paul studied Love with analysis and notice how he says it here.

Gordo

 

[SBG]

Phil if you had studied literature or communications like you studied #s, that is with your analytical bent, you would have answers to more of your "unknowings". Not that it would provide for all understanding, but much of scripture is language, composition and what we could call literature. It was written by prophets and evangelists, story tellers, and their desciples.

People communicate in set ways and once you study with analysis and discipline spiritural works as to how they are set up and composed your understanding might just get a little closer to truth. And I mean the spiritual truth of man and God. How we say is very revealing and often the body language that says more than what is logically presented.

My favorite example about how scripture works is to ask someone to communicate love. How they do it is often the best explanation of the subject. What is said however often misses the mark by a galaxie or two.

For me for example Isaiah is a great work of art. It is beautifully edited, epic, poetic and more. The "way" the work is presented speaks volumes about God to me. Revelation is also beautiful artistically and the composition reads like an epic poem or as a kind of literature. I glean a very different perspective reading it as such as if I read it for its logical communication or as if I was reading a recipe. As a spiritual work of art it makes great sense and logic, as accounting or a historical text of the future it is a near dud to me. Now another thing..

For the we take....2 Corintians 12:9&10 Paul says this about what God said to him.

"" But he said to me, " My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why , for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.""

I think Paul studied Love with analysis and notice how he says it here.

Gordo

Okay.

 

[brofoster]

I find it all hard to understand at times myself. If most people are truthful they will admit feeling the same way. Guess what? That is the way God wants it. He has told us to look at the skies and heavens to prove that he exists because no one else could do it. Sometimes I wonder where God came from. Did he just appear or what? I guess that is where faith comes in!

 

[gordon 2]

I guess that is where faith comes in!

Good point brofoster.

Being with is perhaps understanding enough. So true. Many have lived by this...alone.

Gordo

 

[CAL]

Phil,
I understand where you are coming from because I am like you to some extent.I seem to disect everything I deal with to know the ends and out too.

I just don't think God intended for man to know all there is to know about him nor do I think the human mine could handle all the complexities involved in knowing all there is to know.If we did,just like here at Woody's,there would be argueing and fault finding and more judging.Lets don't forget the complaining either.Therefore,I think God intended for us to live by "faith and faith alone".Anyway,I live by "faith".

 

[Cward]

All I know is that there is a lot of blessed people in this world!