The Enlightment

The Enlightment really screwed up our perception of what Christianity and reality should be about. If you have been following these blogs, you will know that earlier I posted a blog on the idea of God being irrational/rational at the same time and the idea behind it. Well I don't feel that I specified enough just how vital that is to the idea of Christianity, so here I am to do it again. If you read it once and didn't like it, I apologize, but I will be giving a recapitulation of what I said before.

One of the major reasons behind people's lack of faith is a lack of proof. Too often, people say they will believe in God when they can see Him, or when they can see him do some sort of miracle--they want God to be rational. It's a funny concept, for me to think that God can be rational: let me explain. Rationality, in a definitive sense, means to be able to be explained or understood. In other words, it's a human concept. Rationality was a term derived by humans to put meaning to the happenings of our lives. Now pardon me in saying, but I don't know whose God can be contained in the definition of a human word. The meaning was created by man, who are the ideas of God themselves, and it would make no sense for a creation to be able to describe or match its creator.

Irrationality, however, means that there is no capability of being understood. I think it is incredibly wonderful to think that my God is irrational. He is all-knowing, exceeding the limitations of the human mind; all-loving, outreaching the deepest sinews of the human heart; and all-forgiving, throwing sins as far away as East is from the West. For me, realizing that my God is completely irrational is a surprisingly rational and comforting thought.

As a matter of fact, it goes beyond just God as a creator. Like I said at the beginning, Christianity is based upon irrationality--and that is what distinguishes it from the rest of the world religions. Every major religion in today's society talks about freeing ourselves from sin and wrong doing, but of our own free will and trial, except for Christianity. Christianity requires its followers to understand that they are permanently flawed, and that they cannot be fixed by their own doing--from a worldly perspective, this is completely irrational.

So God as a creator, God as a religious-founder, and lastly, God as a Savior are all completely uncomprehensible. In no other faith will you find a God who is willing to give up his place of glory and perfection for an extended length of time to come to Earth, live in the form of His flawed creation, and die for their sins permanently, merely to show His untainted love. This, by far, is one of the most unfathomable concepts of them all. Rationality cannot contain the love that our God has shown to us through His son, Jesus Christ.

So I urge you, move away from the Enlightenment thought of "What can God do for me?" and start asking "What I can I do for the one who has already given everything for me?" And change the idea of denying God for lack of rationality for total dedication and servitude because of that very detail. Take the step of faith to believe in an entity who is powerful enough to exist outside of the confines of human definition and understanding, and experience a love that can be found in no other place. I love my God and Savior for the irrational being that He is, and it is the most rational thing I will ever do in this lifetime.