There is an increasing conviction found among intellectuals that even if research and science provide the answers to all known questions, all answers to all questions will not have been found. The eminent writer, E. L Doctorow, quoted the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. If all possible scientific questions are answered, our problem is not touched at all. Following a life of study and experience, I have become a believer in the arrest for fresh consideration one gains in such an observation. We do not even know some questions, but with those found and answered we will continue to have problems. Even some knowns may be elusive, avoided because they are so difficult to address. Modern complex life may have jaded the population, including the wisest among us so our time is given to lesser things. Perhaps it has always been so. Solomon’s remark that all is vanity (vapor) suggests it. A major disappointment is that when dealing with matters presumed to have transcendent context there is contradiction in what persons say they believe and demonstrate. They tell pollsters they go to church, but careful studies concluded outside of oral testimony suggest there is less attendance than claimed. The issue can be extended to scores of conducts that contradict lives and lies. The responses are not what we would like to hear or see, and the conduct is even less acceptable. Consequently, faith in God, which bears a truth premium, is contradicted in life’s mix. God despises falsity. How do we get to solid conclusions with each other with such confusion between claim and conduct?
If all our questions about the natural world were asked about society and marriage, about nature and material wealth, about work and pleasure, about life and death, about character and emotions, we would need more than the answers we might receive. What analysts are saying, even beyond that burden, is that our efforts turn to easier matters that are not very important. In the end, those efforts don’t count for much. The dying man or woman does not believe: that another hour at the office or mill would make any difference; that a million dollars more would make any difference; or, that a better body, house or reputation would make any difference. There is something out there that seems to elude us. And it will as long as we are determined to remain earthbound in all aspects of our lives. Honest persons of faith bear some doubts in accounting for some eternal verities. Even Augustine took seriously the doubt issue in himself. Earth does that to us. It is better to have faith in God, with some doubts about the context, than to have emptiness.
We can wrestle free, but relief cannot be found in the natural world. Privately human souls may soar in the ephemeral, even when they are uncertain of heaven. Our souls break out of life’s environment, even when we are depressed. We gain hope for transcendence when we become seekers. God permits us to find him. Many persons of significant integrity have affirmed it so. We see God and immortality in them. They are the loving ones; prayer believers; servants of hope to mankind in Christ’s offering; seekers after righteousness, moderation practitioners; and, peacemakers, servant communicators of joy and freedom. Christians include many large factors from Scripture that come from no other source. The magnificent world is seen as transitional – to be delivered to other generations for safekeeping. If without escape from personal lostness, we have nothing worth holding. If he had not found Christ, even the Apostle Paul would eat, drink and be merry to death. Our relief is in seeking God, and faith that he has found us, and we him. All else, as Solomon asserted, is vapor. For me, faith has become substance for who I am. It has visited to me: life, love, comfort, hope, culture, and personal/family legacy. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020