I just read an excellent article, available here, which discusses the importance of magic, fairy tale, and myth to faith. We need fairy tales and myths to teach us how to have faith in God. The world is not explainable through rational means - we've been trying that for over 200 years, and we've failed. It fails our faith as well. Reducing our faith to logical sayings, archeological evidence, and Biblical harmonizations does violence to our ability to appreciate the mystery of God. The early church fathers and mothers knew this. Their best and most accepted definitions of mysteries like the Trinity and Atonement do little to actually EXPLAIN those doctrines. The best they can do is say what those mysteries are not.
I'm not rejecting the importance of the scientific method, or the value of logic. I am extolling the importance of fantasy, wonder, and mystery. We need more Fringe and less CSI. Not because of violence, because Fringe has plenty of violence. But because in Fringe (and earlier, in the X-Files), there is mystery and wonder and alternate explanations, miracles.
And so in 2009 I want to look at the Bible as a wondrous storybook of mystery, not a source of guidelines for life. I no longer want to know, or to reason out, or to prove. I want to believe.
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PS Atheist Richard Dawkins apparently is attacking fairy tales and stories like Harry Potter, as having the pernicious effect of making belief in God more likely. You can trust that the evil in this world will always attack fantasy fiction, no matter what side it purports to be on...
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