The Solar System, Faith and Arrogance

I am always fascinated by how arrogant we can be as humans. This whole “debacle” with our understanding of the solar system has been a strong reminder for me that we don’t have everything figured out.

Christians are always labeled as arrogant because we claim that we believe what Jesus said when he said “I am the way, the truth and the life”. Fascinating when science says that it has provable and testable truth on its side, and yet the truth has to be “tweaked” from time to time. Now, I don’t have a problem with science (I am quite fascinated by it), nor do I think that it is not valuable. I just think we need to be honest that our faith, science, reason and experience do not guarantee us exhaustive knowledge of the universe and how it works.

As I have reflected on this it has reminded me of something that Rob Bell writes in his book Velvet Elvis. I include this as an encouragement to those of you that are struggling with questions and doubts. Rob is talking about responding to some questions that people had asked him:
“Most of my responses we about how we need others to carry our burdens and how our real needs in life are not for more information but for loving community with other people on the journey. But what was so powerful for those I spoke with was that they were free to voice what was deepest in their hearts and minds. Questions, doubts, struggles. It wasn’t the information that helped them—it was simply being in an environment in which they were free to voice what was inside.
And this is why questions are so central to faith. A question by its very nature acknowledges that the person asking the questions does not have all of the answers. And because the person does not have all of the answers, they are looking outside themselves for guidance.
Questions no matter how shocking or blasphemous or arrogant or ignorant or raw, are rooted in humility. A humility that understands that I am not God. And there is more to know.
Questions bring freedom. Freedom that I don’t have to be God and I don’t have to pretend that I have it all figured out. I can let God be God.”

Bell goes on to say, “It’s not so much that the Christian faith has a lot of paradoxes. It’s that it is a lot of paradoxes. And we cannot resolve a paradox. We have to let it be what it is. Being a Christian then is more about celebrating mystery than conquering it.”