thumbs up!

Last updated on: August 6, 2008 at 4:46 pm by David Hayward

thumbs up! 2008-08-06T16:46:18-04:00 David Hayward

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I’ve been thinking about opposable thumbs. While I was on vacation Lisa and I were browsing through a Chapters in Ottawa. As I was walking slowly through the aisles I noticed a title out of the corner of my eye. I can’t remember the title now, but it had something to do with opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs is something that humans and a few other mammals have, and that is a thumb that will oppose the other fingers on the same hand to be able to form a grip it otherwise would not be able to. The two opposing digits together create a new dynamic and energy.

Which got me thinking about faith in this world. Here’s two opposing ideas: one is that by all appearances there is no god; the other is that there is, nevertheless, a god. These are opposing ideas. In fact, I suggest that these are opposing realities. By all appearances there is no god. There is no proof and the evidence is insubstantial. Fact! However, as the creed says, I believe in God the Father Almighty, in spite of the lack of proof. To hold these two opposing realities together in the mind creates a new dynamic, a new energy and a new reality that cannot exist without the opposing realities.

It is questionable to resort to concluding there is no god based on the evidence. It is just as questionable to conclude that there is a god based on the evidence. I question it when we decide there is no god and totally disregard the whole realm of faith. I question it just as much when we assume there is a god and totally disregard the whole realm of this world. To turn a blind eye to faith and to turn a blind eye to this world are both faulty. Both these opposing realities must coexist in the mind. This makes a person of faith who lives fully in this world.

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