Day 4: Man's Capacity for God (Part 1)

"Beauty in the world points to the beauty of the artist, the Creator of this world... We crave God, and that craving means we can realize that there is such a thing as God." (The Catechism In A Year Companion, Vol. I, p. 12.)

 

As you can see, the first Catechism companion arrived today. A bit pricey for the size, and considering that there are 4 for this podcast series, but so far I think it may be worth it. It takes each day and after the reading in the Catechism, offers 3 things: Reflect on the Faith, Take It to Prayer, and Dive Deeper. The first gives a summary of what the major points were in the reading, the second a transcript of Fr. Mike's daily prayer, and the last is extra related content. 

So today was the first part of man's search for and capacity for God. It does seem like a yearning for God is built into our DNA. Certainly, human history, even with all the primitive and false religions over the millennia, shows that. Yet, while I can understand how people can get confused and led into false religions in their search for God, atheism has always struck me as being nonsensical. 

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)

Yes, yes, I know that those who deny the existence of God say that we believers are fools for our "ignorance" and "lack of evidence" (to their satisfaction that is). It is a mindset that I find completely alien, foreign to the basic makeup of humanity, and just cannot understand it. I get being angry with God or lacking understanding of God, both of which we all have, the first at some point in our lives while the second has some variance impacted by age & education but in my opinion never fully goes away given that we're fallible mortals. Yet denying the very existence of God? No, that I don't get at all. One of the objections raised by atheists to believers "Which god? Zeus? Thor? Allah? Yahweh? Flying Spaghetti Monster?" in my view actually works against their disbelieving mindset. The question itself shows man's yearning for God (well, except FSM perhaps). Whether we believe in multiple gods or the One True God, we still have that desire within us to seek out the divine, our Creator.

In today's reading, the Catechism talks about how God created us out of love. I do believe that God is the ultimate source of love, and even that His creation of us was done out of love, yet what still puzzles me is why? He didn't need to. God being lonely isn't something I can wrap my head around. It's not as if God can have an equal to Him. Whatever good we have in us I can see coming from God, but we can also be such frail, spiteful, deceitful, and violent creatures as well. Something I think about now and then with no satisfying answer, but one to trust God about for now.

All in all, a thought-provoking first half of this chapter, as you can see, plus a pretty decent companion book to go with it.