Don’t Throw the Baby Out With the Bath Water

I have been through what I was told was true, what for a while I believed was true, what I was afraid was true, and am now left with what would be nice if it were true, but...

My struggle with “...faith...the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 1:11 KJV) began in the Christmas season of my 10th year. For five decades I have wrestled on and off with the claims of fundamental Christianity. I have studied the Bible, its doctrines, and the claims of various systematic theologies from more than one perspective.

I have recorded two translations of the Bible from Genesis 1:1 all the way through to Revelation 22:21. Recorded... that means that with at least one practice read before turning on the microphone, I have been through the entire Bible from cover to cover at least four times. That does not count any of the reading, section by section, that was done during other periods of study. My struggle with faith and my ultimate ability to embrace, “I don’t know,” as the ultimate truth is not for lack of having read the Bible enough.

What I ran away from was the iron-clad cock-sureness of fundamentalist who believe they understood every jot and tittle of their Bible. I ran away from the fundamentalist’s inability to say, “I don’t know, I could be... wrong.” I have yet to meet a fundamentalist of ANY faith who can distinguish between “don’t know” and “disbelief.” Fundamentalists of all faiths live in a world of false dichotomy: “Either you believe as I do, or you are wrong.”

“Not believe” is not the same as disbelief. There is an entire range of human knowledge, opinion, and questioning that lie on the continuum that is defined by absolute disbelief on one extreme and absolute faith on the other.

The baby was the faith of a child who had yet to be washed in the learning of scientific principles, critical reasoning, and logic – including the logical fallacy of CIRCULAR REASONING – which is what many of you who believe that I am going to go to hell are practicing right now. “The Bible is true because the Bible says it is true” just doesn’t cut my spiritual mustard anymore.

Throwing out the bath water is not to throw out the science, reasoning, and logic. It is to refill the tub with fresh water so that my baby, the maturing mind that is able to say, “I don’t know,” can have a nice warm soak. To throw the baby out with the bath water would be to abandon some of the most instructive literature, most profound philosophies, and the grandest ideas that keep hope alive in the hearts of millions.

Please, do not be offended, but please DO consider: I believe that if there is an almighty creator God to whom I am ultimately responsible, that that God is not petty, is not malicious, is not ego bound, nor is he unable to understand that I have honest doubts, but am open to learning more, and more, and more... on into existence on a plane that I do not presently have the capacity to comprehend. I don’t know... I could be wrong.

All “God” has given me is NOW, and the EVIDENCE at hand. 

Nighthawk, Vernita Bridge Rest Area

Marmots at Palouse Falls

ÿ

Embrace Nothing and Have Everything

 

What do our accomplishments amount to when placed on the scales of the cosmos? Do our lives count for anything in the face of eternity? Where will the museums and libraries full of the most celebrated works of art and literature be in ten thousand years? Nothing lasts forever, not even the earth and sky.

What will the achievement of lofty goals matter when the earth is a charred cinder orbiting a red dwarf? Was Shakespeare correct when he wrote, “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more... a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing."?

This is not a dirge; it is a celebration! If our accomplishments and our very lives ultimately signify nothing, we are truly free. Free to stop worrying about product and embrace enjoyment of process. Free to be who we will; free to value what we choose to value.

The value of a single day does not dwindle to nothing on the scales of the cosmos and our lives matter, even in the face of eternity. If we are ultimately nothing and our past is unalterable and our future uncertain, then all we have is today. Today is all we ever had or ever will have.

Today is everything. We are not valueless and our days do not signify nothing. On the scales of the cosmos, in the face of eternity, and possessing nothing but today, each one of us and each one of our days is of incomprehensible rarity and singular preciousness.

My nothingness does not depress me; I embrace it. It gives my mind the freedom and the wings to ride updrafts of unbounded joy and priceless beauty. I can let misfortune and grief drag me out of the sky and chain me down, or I can embrace misfortune as the measure of the worth of good fortune. I can bear my grief as the measure of the value of what has been lost.

So, whether that hand is young and supple and strong, or old and stiff and weak, reach out and lay hold of as big a chunk of today as you can, because by tomorrow, today will be irretrievable. Lay hold of your only possession, seize the day.

A smattering of images from learning the capabilities of my new Fujifilm S6800 camera.

(Excluding the aircraft carrier)

 

 

Billionaire House, mouth of Robinson Canyon from Craig's Hill

 

One of my neighbor buddies, Cinnamon

 

Canadian Goose, lake at Irene Rinehart Riverfront Park (IRRP)

Waiting for lunch on Brick Mill Road

The creek at IRRP taken from bridge into upper park

 

From across the river on the IRRP trail to upper park

 

Good ole whatshisname, backyard

Old Vantage Hwy, center left

Panorama of low river from Ginkgo

New river bridge at New Vantage

Position of caves in relation to bridge

Just a couple of holes in the wall

Up river and across from Ginkgo

 

Too lazy to have learned all these species yet

Ditto

 

 

 

Now, imagine yourself in a rowboat...

(Not my picture)

From my back fence

From my back fence

From my back fence

 

He's really very interested in my lunch

 

 

Sir Thomas Gibb, The Gray Hobbes