CSotD: My lack of faith disturbs me
Skip to comments
Bizarro tackles the issue of logical consistency in Genesis, and, on one level, this is a little like criticizing Little Red Riding Hood because a wolf's forelegs would not fit into a woman's nightgown sleeves. Folk tales ought not to be held up to that sort of scrutiny.
Then again, nobody ever insisted that my biology class teach an alternative theory in which wolves could talk and wear clothing.
What made me smile about this that I actually posed a similar question to the monsignor who was quizzing my Confirmation class the day before the ceremony.
For those not steeped in the system, "Confirmation" is a coming-of-age ceremony in which Roman Catholics in their early teens reaffirm the commitment to God and Holy Mother Church that was made on their behalf by Michael Corleone when they were baptized as tiny infants.
I was confirmed smack in the middle of Vatican II, which meant we were either at the end of the Bad Old Authoritarian Church or the beginning of the Good New Accepting Church, depending on the moment and the celebrant.
In our case, we were set the old-church task of memorizing the Seven Deadly Sins and the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit, and told that if we couldn't recite them to the bishop, we'd be rejected for Confirmation.
Then the bishop, being snowed in, sent us a new-church monsigner who proceeded to chat with us rather than conduct an Inquisition. (Yes, we had, in fact, been expecting the Spanish Inquisition.)
So, while there was a sense of having wasted time preparing to cough up the Seven Deadly Fruits of the Holy Spirit, at least we didn't seem headed for Hell.
Still, the possibility was out there, and, when the monsignor asked for questions, I asked one that mirrors today's Bizarro, only at the next level of Thomistic sophistry:
Given that Hell is reserved for those who have committed Mortal Sins rather than the less serious Venial Sins, which are shreaved in the temporary tortures of Purgatory,
And given that, for a sin to be Mortal, it must be of a serious nature, the sinner must know that it is of a serious nature, and the sinner must commit the sin with full consent of the will,
Therefore I asked, "Wouldn't knowing that the sin was of a serious nature imply a mental reservation and, thus, a lack of full consent?"
If I'd asked an old-church priest, the roof would have parted and I'd have been fried by lightning, but this guy was new-church and he agreed that it seemed impossible to actually commit a mortal sin as defined, then went on to quote a Church Father from the ancient past who opined that, if there was a Hell, there wasn't anyone in it.
The next question came from a puzzled 14-year-old and concerned the way priests, in distributing communion, could reach into the chalice and produce a host for each recipient.
After a bit of confused back-and-forth, it developed that she had missed the part of the Mass where the priest put away the demonstrably empty chalice and brought out the ciborium, which was full of hosts.
It struck me then — and it still strikes me — that most believers are neither Thomists or Anti-Thomists, and that, if I believed our parish priest was walking down the communion rail each Sunday reaching into an empty chalice and alakazamming hosts, I'd have no trouble accepting that a considerably more powerful God the Father could reach into an empty cosmos and produce a universe.
But that's not how "I believe because it is absurd" was intended to be applied.
Tertullian was actually more closely aligned to Anselm's proof of the existence of God, which relies on the principle that "You can't make this shit up."
Wanna bet?
Mandatory Star Wars Reference
Wumo provides a depiction of my potential as a Jedi.
I say that as someone who consistently flips the wrong light switch, cannot remember which side of a USB plug should face up and too often signals his intent to make a turn by flipping on the windshield wipers.
Your mileage may vary. I'll bet it doesn't vary as much as you'd like us to believe.
Enjoy it until the Apocalypse
Finally, I've had some pity for cartoonists who, working on long lead times, are currently running cartoons about snow, written, drawn, inked and colored back before we realized that Christmas in Connecticut would have a likely high of 58 and a low of 45.
Today's Frazz is more in keeping with the season so far, because we have had a bit of black ice making roads and sidewalks a little dangerous. As it is in New England, so is it apparently in Michigan where Jef Mallett is based and, as the kid suggests here, the real danger is that you aren't expecting it.
Yesterday's Frazz also reflected the current season. It just didn't touch off scary thoughts, to wit:
A little while ago, someone posted a comment that he hoped everyone who is enjoying the El Nino winter would enjoy the flood of ticks that would emerge in the spring, and, curious skeptic that I am, I did a quick search that confirmed that, yes, mild El Nino winters bring forth more ticks.
The example given — 1998 — rang a different bell indeed, because I was smack in the middle of the Ice Storm of '98 and it also was a function of that delightfully, unusually warm El Nino winter.
I lucked out and was only without power for four or five days, but I knew people for whom the camp-out stretched over two weeks.
The mayor of Plattsburgh accompanied a few truckloads of free firewood across the border to Iberville, Quebec, and came back telling us that we should be grateful, that the devastation we had was nothing compared to what was going in the Eastern Townships.
I'd sooner have frigid, snowy weather than another round of this:
Comments 5
Comments are closed.