Intellect verses Conscience

In an article written for the Los Angeles Times titled “How many really don’t believe in God?” John Allen Paulo, who is a mathematics professor for Temple University in Philadelphia, contends that there are more atheists and agnostics in the United States than most would believe there to be. He takes a percentage approach when it comes to reporting the numbers, which I believe makes the truth sound worse, or better, than it is.

In his article, Paulo uses a poll that was conducted by the Pew Forum on the religious landscape of America. Two thousand randomly picked people were asked questions of their faith and of their beliefs in God. One particular question asked, “…whether they would disapprove of a child’s wish to marry an atheist?” Roughly 952 of the 2000 polled said “yes”. Although this number sounds low in my opinion, I had to ask where this poll was taken and in what context the inquiry was given.

Upon study of the location in question, I learned that the 2006 survey was from the University of Minnesota. Upon visiting the web site for the university, I quickly came to the understanding that the University of Minnesota supports, rather strongly, “an equitable and welcoming environment for people of diverse gender and sexual identities and expressions…”. There are multiple links to gay and lesbian student help sites and housing. One link even discussed how the university strives to work against all forms of oppression. For me this was a disturbing discovery. To poll a university that prides itself on sexual diversity and expressions of such practices, on subjects of religious matter seems rather dubious. Not to mention that Paulo uses surveys that throw the argument in his direction. I am certain there are comparable surveys that have been conducted elsewhere that would indicate a different outcome.

The second question posed to the respondents asked if they would disapprove if their child wanted to marry a Muslim or black person. The numbers respectively went down on this question, but I fail to see how this inquiry has anything to do with believing in God. This is more of a racial question than a religious one, and I believe he was simply stretching for some more statically supporting references.

Let’s visit the idea of the unbelief of God. I believe that when we discuss the choice of atheist or agnostic stances, we are dealing strictly with the intellectual side of the argument. Believing in a God you cannot see or touch goes beyond intellectual reasoning and enters the area of the conscience. Humans have a great gift (or curse) of explaining away anything they don’t understand. We present arguments as to why we should or shouldn’t believe in something, then stand firmly by our decision as though our life depended on it.

By reading Paulo’s article, I can clearly see that he has only dealt with the intellectual side of the issue of religion, and has failed to enter the conscience where our moral and ethical values reside. I do not recall it being written anywhere in the Ten Commandments, Thou shalt use only your brain and not your conscience. Paulo writes, “Some non-believers, it seems to me, are likely either to lie and say they belong to some established creed or to fudge their responses by saying they’re spiritual and believe in a nebulously defined God or are simply unsure.” As I read this statement, I got the mental picture of the intellect doing all the speaking and the conscience yelling out, HEY DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME! Other than the guilt they feel about ignoring their conscience, why else would people feel the need to lie about their belief or lack there of?

To summarize what I have learned from this article, allow me to say the following. There is no doubt in my mind that Paulo is a highly intelligent individual who desires to know all he can and use his gift of mathematics to help people understand what can be explained by numbers. However, to use this simple solution on an entity that is beyond understanding seems foolish. One can only begin to grasp who God is and decide for themselves if he exists, when they allow their heart to join in the discussion and balance out what the intellect has to offer. God created us with both a mind and a conscience for a reason. We can either allow fractions and percentages to decide our eternity; or we can use our whole being, which God designed, to help us discover the gospel truth.

A Dark Shadow

Have you ever felt like you were standing in the shadow of Goliath, and wondered how you were going to make it out alive? I did, on August 27th of 2006. I had just started a new position at a church across town as the Worship and Arts Director. I was in about my fourth or fifth week and was just starting to get used to the job, when I received a letter from the Bishop of our denomination asking me if I would consider being the point person for Worship and music for our first ever National Conference. Confusion set in first, as I tried to make sense of the letter. I couldn’t understand why they would be asking a guy like me, who leads a church of 120, to head up and organize an event, that had never been done before, for over a thousand people.

Then honor poked its head in the door. I felt very flattered that they would seek me out, and at the same time I was still confused, and asking “why me”. Ultimately, I agreed to the position and task at hand, and dove in headfirst. I knew nothing of stage lighting or Image magnification, which were two of the major components they wanted to be a part of the event.

It took nine months of planning, brain storming, banging my head against a wall, organizing music teams, drama teams, dance teams and being afraid of it all, to help me realize that I was in over my head. Instantly, fear stood up and cast a shadow over me. I came to the realization that I was not big enough, smart enough, or wise enough to do this job. After all, I was just the guy who leads a small group of people in worship across town.

It was at this point, I felt like I was standing in front of Goliath and looking for my way out. Then one day, I received a post card in the mail from a former bishop. It was a note telling me that he was praying for me and wanted to encourage me with a scripture. On the bottom of the handwritten card, was this passage. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” (NIV)

This prayer card was quickly followed by another prayer card from another former bishop. His hand written note also told me of his prayers for me and included this passage at the bottom. Isaiah 40:31 “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (NIV)

These passages of scripture, I considered messages from God. I felt Him telling me, that in spite of the shear size of this giant, He would sustain me. He would give me the strength to persevere if I would only seek Him first and wait on Him.

The remainder of the planning from that point on, fell into place almost on it’s own. God handed me the things I needed on a silver platter. There were over 1000 people from over 200 churches from across the country, and some from over seas, who gathered together in a room in northern Ohio, and found themselves worshipping together as one large family of God. Overall the conference was a huge success and went off without a hitch.

Through this experience, I realized that we don’t need to be strong enough or smart enough or even brave enough to look a giant in the face. We just need to be willing to let God use us as He chooses, working from His strength and resources. Sometimes when I don’t’ expect it, fear still stands up and cast it’s shadow over me, but being reminded of the scripture’s and God’s goodness, the giant of fear has no place to stand.