Reading Windar12q’s latest post reminded me that we all look at the world a little differently. We see the same facts but don’t recognize the same meaning in them. I do not believe that this makes it impossible to see accurately. Truth is still out there, and God has made it understandable to us. I believe that our beliefs about God, the world, and ourselves give shades of meaning beyond the obvious to facts, events, and stories.
Below, I have consolidated some favorite/recently read books (in no order of favoritism). My faith gives me a certain way of seeing in which I notice Biblical and spiritual themes in books, whether the book was intended as a Christian book or not. I have listed the title, author, and a few words to describe the genre in case you want to read them yourself. The bottom row of each entry describes Biblical ideas that the book expresses or gets me to think about.
How do your beliefs affect how you see the books you read? I would like to see some good book recommendations from this!
Title
Author
Genre + Topics
Themes
Underlands: a deep time journey
Robert Macfarlane
Nonfiction, science, history, adventure
Humanity’s place in time and space, the glory of creation
The Simple Faith of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: religion’s role in the FDR presidency
Christine Wicker
Nonfiction, history, biography
1 Corinthians 13, faith in action
Space Trilogy (series, which I have not finished so the list of themes is not complete)
C.S. Lewis
Fiction, other worlds
Fear vs. trust, sinful nature
Star Wars: from a certain point of view
Ben Acker (and many others)
Fiction, short story, drama, action, humor
Hope, courage, baptism, purpose
Reckoners (series)
Brandon Sanderson
Fiction, superpowers, science fiction
Courage, redemption from the sinful nature (and the lengths that God will go to do it), strength in weakness
Mistborn (series, also one I haven't finished)
Brandon Sanderson
Fiction, superpowers, fantasy
Trust, power of faith
Warrior Cats (series)
Erin Hunter
Fiction, animals, fantasy
Purpose, contrast between the divine of Warrior Cats and our God
The Innocence of Father Brown
G.K. Chesterton
Fiction, mystery, crime
Sinful nature, human ability to reason
Harry Potter (series)
J.K. Rowling
Fiction, magic
Sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, good conquering evil
Black Beauty
Anna Sewel
Fiction, animals
Kindness, day of rest, responsibility
Hello ekrause, you have got it spot on, we do as individuals see the world differently, but - there's always a but - we even see differently if we are all in the same bubble. Religious people worshipping the same God still have their differences and that is why there are thousands and thousands of different beliefs. These differences are noticeable in the Bible where many of the stories contradict one another - the four gospels are a perfect example. These differences play an important part in our evolving and it is not just religion, the diversity happens in all walks of life. An intelligent species could not evolve without these differences, we need to bounce off one another to feed that intelligence. I know you won't go along with what I say, but just stop for awhile and think what it would be like if everyone agreed with each other - read the Stepford Wives and you will get a pretty good idea. It doesn't matter whether you are an atheist, Christian or a football player competing against others, we are all dictated to by the laws of nature; you can't get away from the logic of intelligent evolving. We need to differ!
You are familiar with Einstein's theory of relativity; Mass + energy = 0. All is energy. Our consciousness and subconscious are pure energy and are part of a one energy system. Every individual is a one energy system, even down to its micro existence. A star is the same and so is the universe, all are a one energy system supported by individual energy systems. Evolution as I have explained by its diversity is also a one energy system supported by many other one energy systems. (The Species) This pattern of energy is constant and cannot be changed - bringing in the supernatural to explain the natural is a case of not seeing accurately. We are all on the same side, we are doing what evolution has designed us to do ( differ) it's time to make a pact.
You ask if I can suggest any good books, and I hesitate because one man's meat is another man's poison. From school age to when I got married I covered a lot of what were good books to me at that time, I read all Edgar Rice Borough's Tarzan novels, I read all Smith's Biggles stories, along with Tom Sawyer, some Shakespeare which I never liked and still don't , his sonnets were not the surge of expectation that I expected, it left me with a feeling that Will was capable of a little cheating. Apart from the Bible the only supernatural story I have ever read was Bram Stoker's Dracula which I found to be excellent in its orderly dictation of a very complicated format. I did try Shelly's Frankenstein, but found it lacking and gave up.
At the age of 25 I got married and except for a newspaper I never read another book until after my wife died, some 50 years later. By this time I was nearly 80 years old and my reading had changed, I wanted to find out what life was all about. This changed my choice of books, I was reading Richard Dawkins 'The Selfish Gene' and The Blind Watchman, along with Stephen Hawkins' A Brief History of Time, plus The Grand Design and I have just finished reading his last book Brief Answers to the Big Questions. I have just read Dracula once more and a few Tarzan stories, trying to capture a bit of nostalgia, but my periods of relaxation now, is cuddling in front of the fire with something more substantial.
Keep well and keep safe ekrause.
Thanks for the book ideas. I just placed a hold for Brief Answers to Big Questions at the library, so hopefully I will pick it up soon. I have never read an argument against God by one of the significant atheist scientists, so this will certainly be interesting. My goal in reading it is to better understand the beliefs and attitudes of people who don't believe in God so that I can speak about my faith in a way that responds well. In the meantime, I am reading more from some series I started earlier.
It feels a little awkward to try to read something that I know is trying to argue against God, but you may be interested to know that the daily devotional I get in my email sent me a very timely reminder today: God remains true even when people say untrue things about Him.
What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” (Romans 3:3–4)
Hello ekruase, the best Stephen Hawking's book if you want an argument against God is Brief Answers to the Big Questions, but what I would like to know is, what made you choose that one? Good choice.
Look up quantum mechanics before you read the book, it will give you some insight into the reason why a God is not needed. Like I pointed out in my last post - the pattern of energy is constant and not even a God can change it; otherwise he would have changed it by now. We wouldn't be arguing over the what is right and what is wrong, we would know.
The energy of a system, including the sum of kinetic energies, is proportional to its function. This also must apply in the case of quantum physics and Einstein's theory of relativity; the two appear not to be compatible, yet they must be. Whenever there is a problem, there has to be an answer, the one justifies the other. Think of the excitement of eventually coming up with the answer - Eureka! This is what religion stops you from experiencing, the euphoria moment that only knowing the truth can bring. When you think of the buzz that religion brings, it is nothing compared to a demonstrable truth. You won't have to change the facts to back up that which you have no evidence for, your mind will be set free.
Finally ekrause, think about this debate and the reasons for it; we are following the dictates according to the laws of nature - we are differing in order to evolve our intelligence. We are all part of evolution, which adheres to the pattern that is set and no one or no God can change that. The energy that drives us forward is also indestructible.
Commenting on Romans 3;3- 4. I am not judging you, I am judging your religion and the chains that bind your thinking. What Romans is ordering you to do is don't think for yourself.
Goodnight, I am off to bed now.
Keep safe.
I chose that particular book from your suggestions because I looked up information on the books and Brief Answers to Big Questions had chapters on many different topics. It seems to be about not only religion but also technology and speculation about the future. I will probably be able to pick it up from the library tomorrow, if I remember to stop there after class.
It does touch on religion, but that is not the main object of the book, it's the part that relates to quantum physics which suggests that a super power is not likely and not needed.
I finally picked up the book!
Good!
I find a good way to describe quantum physics as follows - if you take a billiard table full of balls and you know their position and momentum, ( mass times velocity) of each ball at some time, then you know all there is to know with the system at that time. With quantum physics this is not known.
It's so easy to see why relativity and quantum physics appear to be incompatible, but in reality they can't be, they have to be compatible or it makes no sense. Can you see how exhilarating, the search to find the solution - what wonders are out there waiting to be discovered?
According to the principles of quantum physics, which is an accurate description of nature, a particle has neither a definite position nor a definite velocity until these quantities are measured by an observer. Therefore it is not correct when a measurement is stated, the measurement only applies at the time of measuring.
It's sounds like a crazy mixed up world, but where would we be without these wonderful conundrums, they are blessings in disguise and we mustn't waste them, because we do so at a cost and that is why the mind must be allowed to wander free from indoctrination. The future of life may be rosier than anything religion offers, but we will never find our Shangri-la, because a closed mind can only lead to a closed place, a place with no way out.
Our subconscious and consciousness works in the same way as the attributes of quantum and relativity, they too appear to be incompatible, but the trade marks are there for all to see. Dreams are an accurate description of nature, in the same way as quantum physics, they are not from God,as stated in the Bible. Dreams also can only be measured has they happen to the observer, and only the observer can give a measurement. How do we find the observer? The only way I can find an answer to this is if we conceive that life is a one energy system. Then the observer becomes us. I am 100% sure, that when we find the correlation between Q and E we will be on the next step into a world that can only be accessed up till now, in our wildest imagination.
Enjoy your read ekrause and stay safe.
Stephen Hawking’s point in Brief Answers to Big Questions seems to be that God is unnecessary. He describes his theory that the Big Bang could make something out of nothing because of “negative energy”. If I have understood correctly, it works something like this:
If we represent the energy and space before the Big Bang as “0”, the universe after the Big Bang could be “-1+1”, where the +1 is the energy/matter in the universe and -1 is empty space (a vast store of negative energy).
-1+1=0, so Hawking theorized that the universe did not require any being to create matter, because there was no net change. For support he uses quantum physics, in which subatomic particles can appear and disappear without cause. The Big Bang would have started with an extremely small particle (a singularity), so quantum physical laws would apply to it. Naturally, I wonder how the quantum physical laws could have been in place without anything causing them.
Hawking also theorized that it was impossible for the Big Bang to be caused because there was no such thing as time before the event in which a cause could exist. He uses the way time distorts and slows around black holes as evidence that this is possible.
I thought it was fascinating reading these ideas in the words of someone who actually believed them. It gives me a better idea of what interests those who don’t believe in God. I was especially interested to see Hawking’s idea that there was no creator because there was no time before the universe began.
We know a few things from the Bible about the relationship between God and time.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” - Revelation 22:13
Here, God directly claims to be eternal, living before time and even beyond when time will end. It is one of the truths of the Christian faith that is equal parts wonderful and incomprehensible. Just try to imagine what it would be like living without time! The sense of wonder you experience when thinking about physics and the subconscious sounds similar to the wonder I experience when I think about God.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” - Genesis 1:1
This is the very first verse of the Bible. It seems true that time as we know it began when the universe began. However, God is indeed there to create it. His eternal nature means that he did not need time in order to exist.
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:8-9
In this passage, Peter reminds believers waiting for Jesus’ second coming of an important truth about God: he is not bound to time. He is free to act whenever he knows is best.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 6:23
From the verses we have just seen, we can tell that God is eternal and beyond time. From this passage in Romans we learn something incredible: God has made a way for us to spend eternity with him. By trusting in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to redeem us from what we do wrong, we receive God’s gift of eternal life, for free. God doesn't need us, and we have wronged him, yet he still wants to spend eternity with us. Now there is another wonderful mystery to think about.
Take care Windar12q, and thanks again for the book.
Hello ekrause.
Can't you see the futility in making decisions based on faith alone? Where can it lead us, except to a place we would not survive in. Would you really like to be the someone that religion teaches - a person with no free will and if there was free will it would be an extension of the life we already know; the life that you think will be better serving a God that denies giving the evidence, to prove himself? I don't see what your God has to offer.
The mysteries thrown our way by science are much more exciting and worthy of our attention - it is forever opening new doors to test our ability and feed our knowledge. In your supposed Heaven you would just stagnate, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Religion makes the most amazing boasts, but has no substance to its claims. We can go on forever making claims that don't hold up to scrutiny. We can make up any story we like to fit with what we don't understand, but that is the dreamer's way out, it's akin to the tales of The Arabian Nights, unless you can demonstrate it to be true.
There are two more books of Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' and 'The Grand Design' they may help you to understand more about the our world, plus the universe beyond and time in particular. I find it very hard to get my head around time; it's lurking in almost everything we do or say and also in the cosmetic mayhem that is not really mayhem; it is all about time. How could anything exist before time, even a God - the mind boggles. If there was no time, then that God would have no purpose, so God could not have created the universe, it could have only happened another way. - it is only time that allows us to have purpose. This is what it would be like in the Heaven described in the Bible, there is no purpose in that Heaven. (Time would be meaningless). The purpose of living in complete harmony may sound promising in theory, but would be disaster in practice. Don't go there! If your God had purpose, why did he wait over 13 billion years to achieve that purpose? An omnipotent and omnificent God could have created intelligent life in an instant and would have done so if he had needed some purpose for his existence. What purpose could he have had before he created the universe when there was no time? Only a natural beginning to the universe fits everything we know. A conscious entity could not function before that.
I will never understand why people choose to believe in something that cannot be demonstrated to something that can. Though we cannot show how the universe began, the evidence is stacking up on the scientific side.
Keep safe ekrause.