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Shay & Biskot
The Art of Uncertainty
Feb 11th
“It is better to be silent and be suspected of being a fool,
than to speak, and remove any doubt.”
I don’t remember where I came across that little gem, but it carries a useful message. How often have you been involved in a discussion with someone who is absolutely certain about something, and you are equally certain that they’re wrong? You try to convince them. You call upon logic; you appeal to evidence; you cite witnesses; you plead for common sense, but nothing seems able to shake that rock solid (mistaken) confidence. Arghhhh!!!!
There are situations in life where it can be quite dangerous to be certain and wrong at the same time, and then there are situations where it hardly matters anyway. Does it really matter if my friend is convinced that George Washington was the first Prime Minister of Australia? It may be frustrating; it may betray a certain lack of patriotism, but in the big scheme of the universe, it makes very little difference to anyone.
Then again, a doctor learns very quickly how dangerous being overconfident in your opinion can be. To continue to believe in a diagnosis that is wrong could harm a patient, or in extreme cases, kill them. That is why doctors (the good ones, anyway) work very hard to train themselves in the art of uncertainty.
A gifted doctor will be able to tell you at any stage of the diagnostic process just how certain s/he is. They may not be able to put a figure on it – “I am 75.492% certain that we are dealing with melanoma here” – but they can usually tell you if they are definitely certain; quite certain with a little room for doubt; leaning towards one diagnosis rather than the other, or quite frankly flummoxed. Knowing one’s degree of certainty influences the therapeutic decisions one takes. Medication may sometimes be given on speculation, such as a case of suspected bacterial meningitis (infection around the brain) where administering antibiotics quickly is crucial and delay could cost lives. In such a situation, one need not wait for test results to improve the degree of certainty. On the other hand, if you’re thinking of administering powerful anti-cancer drugs that are going to cause horrible side effects, you’d better be pretty darn sure you’ve got the diagnosis right!
Now, there have been those who have tried to tame uncertainty using the whip of mathematics. There are mathematical strategies for putting a number on uncertainty that at least allows you to compare uncertainties, but to use these strategies as if they were completely accurate and infallible would be a mistake. The real world is just far too complicated and involves too many variables for any mathematical model to be more than a mere indication.
So the art of uncertainty is just that – an art. It is learned through experience: through observation and analysis of one’s mistakes, and the gradual accumulation of this data over many years. It often depends on a degree of informed intuition, rather than being a totally logical process. But I believe it is a very useful tool to have in one’s toolbox of life. Skill in this art will inform all your life decisions and increase your wisdom factor, which usually makes life more comfortable, successful and enjoyable. If nothing else, being skilful in the art of uncertainty will at least limit the number of people whose blood pressure you raise by arguing confidently for that which is false!
Fr Ant
Christmas … And Second Christmas.
Jan 22nd
Angela asks how to explain to a three year old why we are celebrating Christmas again - obviously she is discovering the joys of childhood curiosity. Hang in there, Angela: the questions only get harder from here on!
Anyhow, here are a few of my suggestions on handling this delicate situation. Please note that some of them involve the tongue being placed firmly in the cheek. I should point out that my own kids passed the age of three some time ago, so please forgive me if the answers below seem a little rusty. I’ve been dealing with teenage questions for so long I’ve forgotten how nice the simple enquiring mind of a toddler can be…
1. We mucked it up the first time so we thought we’d have another go.
2. I wasn’t happy with my presents so I asked Santa to come back for an exchange.
3. What? You mean it’s only been two weeks and not 12 months???
4. We’re practising counting up to 2.
5. We have our Christmas AFTER the Boxing Day sales so we can get our presents on special.
6. Jesus is SO special He is the only one in the world who gets TWO birthdays every year!
7. There’s Western Christmas and Coptic Christmas because our calendars have gotten a little bit confused. One day we’ll fix them and then we’ll all just celebrate Christmas on together on the same day. Maybe when you’re a grandpa.
Readers should feel free to make up for my poor efforts by contributing their own explanations as a comment.
Fr Ant
PS For those who’d like a more serious explanation for the double Nativity, I will post a detailed paper on the Coptic calendar shortly.
Behind Copenhagen
Dec 14th
As I write, the leaders of the world are gathered at Copenhagen to discuss what is to be done about the threat of global warming.
There remains a significant minority of climate change ‘sceptics’ in the world. The debate over the reality of global warming is a fascinating illustration of the human ability to ‘manufacture’ a preferred reality. At the one extreme you have environmentalists who have clamouring about the damage humans are doing to planet earth since the 1960s, and who now feel they have enough solid evidence to say a rather big “I told you so!” At the other extreme you have the vested commercial interests for whom saving the planet is just going to cost too much money, and who find it more convenient to believe that global warming is just a big conspiracy.
Both these extremes exhibit all the classic features of self-deception: picking and choosing the evidence that supports their case and ignoring the evidence that doesn’t; setting up ‘straw man’ arguments for their opponents and demolishing them; attacking the character of those on the other side; and so on. Their positions may be complete opposites, but sometimes it’s amazing how similar their tactics are! And none of those tactics are very likely to lead them to know the truth of the matter.
In the middle, of course, lies the real and objective science. As I understand the current state of play, the debate is able to continue because the evidence is not yet conclusive either way. It is simply not possible to say with certainty yet that man-made global warming is a perilous reality or to rule it out with confidence.
So the game becomes one of risk management. Sometimes, even if the risk of something bad happening is small, you may still want to invest a lot in avoiding it, because if it did happen, it would be disastrous. We do this every time we hop into a car. Your seat belt will be useless and inconvenient 99.9% of the time you are in the car. Yet you put up with that because that 0.1% of the time when you need it, when you are involved in an accident, it can save your life. The seriousness of the danger makes all that inconvenience worthwhile. That seems to be the argument of the more sensible and objective climate change believers at the moment, and I must confess it makes a lot of sense to me.
It also bears a startling resemblance to the argument about believing in God. Even if you believe it highly unlikely that God exists, the danger of being an unbeliever if God is real is so great that it actually makes sense to believe in God just in case. I suppose this is another variation on Blaise Pascal’s famous wager (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager).
Following the risk minimisation logic through, you will find some rather unexpected personalities on either side of the global warming debate. For example, while the Greens’ Senator Bob Brown is an avowed atheist, he sees the sense in taking the safe path on the environment. On the other hand, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell is a climate change sceptic!
That’s not to say that all Christians should be global warming believers. As I said before, the evidence remains inconclusive at this point. But it is interesting to see how people can change their standards for accepting things so drastically according to what they want to believe.
The gathering is interesting from another side as well. Nations have historically found it almost impossible to collaborate effectively on anything without selfishly seeking what’s best for themselves. Even friendly nations often will not help each other without getting something out of it, or at least safeguarding their own interests. The Americans have been the world champions at this game for some time now, although China seems to be challenging for the crown through its business ventures in Africa. But now, faced with a potential crisis that threatens the very existence of nations, and one that threatens the whole world without exception, will this selfish approach be continued? Or will the nations finally feel that they must put aside individual agendas and come together to save humanity from destruction?
I think it would be naive to expect that any real change in attitude is likely to occur, at least not until things get really, really bad. And perhaps not even then. And yet, it will be interesting to observe just how much change does occur, and how much of it is genuine rather than grandstanding on the world stage.
Meanwhile, think green! Hey, it’s a nicer lifestyle anyway.
Fr Ant
Awesome!
Nov 25th
The fourth annual Archangel Michael & St Bishoy Church Trivia Night last Sunday was everything it promised … and more (about 20 degrees Celsius more!) Yes, it was hot: and I’m not just talking about the competition. The scorching November Sunday evening had us wondering just how bad global warming might become.
Yet somehow, a couple of hundred dedicated quizzers managed to keep their grey matter from liquefying and focused on the challenging questions. It was great to see Team 2 Kool 4 Skool there for the first time, representing the teachers of St Bishoy College. While their spelling was atrocious (write that out properly a hundred times!) their general knowledge was dazzling. They just beat out Team Hectic Kebabs into third place overall for the night. No prizes for guessing what was on the minds of the fourth place getters, just two sleeps away from 43 days of fasting.
But in the final run, it was the syntactically challenged Team Awesomeness versus the imaginatively named Team Insert Names who battled it out for the shiny new trophy. And when the final scores went up on the electronic score board, it was an awesome victory for the awesome Team Awesomeness, while the second place getters were left to insert their names on the runner-up certificates. Well done to a team who have been there or thereabouts in every trivia night so far.
No doubt you will want to know how Team MIB fared. Yes, the team made up of the clergy and their families struggled bravely through questions from maths to nautical navigation. Had we known there would be points up for grabs for being able to catch a lolly thrown at you with your mouth, we might have practiced! It’s not that easy when you have to deal with the wind-drag on a moving beard. Then there was that hope-crushing crashing out of their entrant in the Speak-for-60 seconds-without-saying-the-word-‘and’ competition. 59seconds! We was robbed!
I’m not trying to make excuses, mind you. But I will point out that we did improve two whole places to come 6th this year. At that rate of annual improvement, I expect we should win the competition in 2012.
Not that it’s about winning, of course. It was a lovely night of good natured fun and fellowship, the kind of occasion that brings people closer together in love and Christian unity. Once again, I am left feeling incredibly honoured to be serving among a group of such dedicated and mature youth who designed and ran the night with very few hitches indeed – may God bless them all.
Now for next year, do you think we might have a few more questions about religion, and astronomy, perhaps?
Pretty please?
Fr Ant
A Very Precious Person
Nov 14th
Today is 14th November. It is the anniversary of the ordination of our own beloved Fr Botros in 1996 (Happy Anniversary Abouna!) but it is also the anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III way back in 1971. No doubt, a great deal will be written and said about this beacon of Coptic history, but I would just like to add a few personal little memories to the avalanche of praise that rains down this day.
You see, for me, it is not the more obvious achievements that inspire my love and affection for this man whom I have only met on a handful of occasions in my life. It is not the number of Churches he has established, nor ordinations he has carried out. It is not what he has done that impresses me, it is who he is; his character and personality.
I am not exaggerating when I say that Pope Shenouda has played a vital role in my being Coptic Orthodox Christian and in serving as a priest. Through his character and his leadership, he has created a Church where the Truth of Christianity is first and foremost, above all else. This may sound obvious, but it must not be taken for granted. There are sadly many Christian communities in this world where the Truth of Christianity takes a secondary role to material wealth, or politics, or power, or personal rivalries.
His Holiness also made the Church into a more open institution. He warmly welcomed people who do not fit the usual image of a Coptic Christian into the Church with open arms. His personal support for missionary work in Africa and elsewhere is a case in point. His concerted efforts to make the French and British Orthodox a part of the Coptic Church without losing their individual identity is another example.
My own service is yet another example. Who ever heard of a man being ordained a Coptic priest when he could not even say “Abana Allazee” (“Our Father”) in Arabic, but only in barbarous English?! In my early years, some people left our parish in disgust that this new-fangled priest was praying in English in the Sunday liturgy. Without the sense of support and confidence from His Holiness, neither I nor the many other Fathers and layservants who have grown up in Australia and other western lands could have continued in our service. His Holiness made us feel that we belonged in the Coptic Church, where many others in times past would have excluded anyone who didn’t fit the Arabic mould.
Even more influential has been His Holiness’ personal modelling of integrity and character. His courage and strength are now legendary, being displayed in the difficult Sadat years. His wisdom has been extraordinary and his theological and spiritual knowledge and ability as a teacher have had influence far beyond the limits of Coptic Orthodoxy.
But it is his meticulous and constant application of Christian morals that has inspired me the most. His Holiness is the kind of person who insists on the truth in all he does, big and small. He refuses to take shortcuts that are not in keeping with Christian morals and ethics, no matter how hard that might make things.
Added to this honesty is a compassion and selflessness that is astounding for one in a position of authority such as his. Patriarchs are bowed to and served hand and foot. How easy it would be to just take this for granted; he is certainly busy enough to just accept this and turn his mind to weightier matters. And yet…
It was very dark, and four new young priests were standing outside the Papal Cell in St Bishoy’s Monastery at 2am, waiting to welcome His Holiness back from Cairo where he had just delivered his weekly Wednesday Sermon to 10,000 listeners. They scratched sleepily at the itchy fuzz in their newborn beards. The car swept up the driveway, and the small figure of His Holiness emerged from the back door. With a smile beneath manifestly tired eyes he patiently greeted the small group, and after a little good natured banter, he began to climb the steps to his cell. Suddenly, he stopped and turned around. He called his secretary and sent him into the cell to get something for him. A moment later, he called up the four startled new priests and gave them each a little torch. “Here,” he said, “take these. I was told that the monastery generators have been breaking down lately, and you might find that your electricity cuts out every now and then. You might want to keep reading in the dark, so use these.”
I still keep my torch as a treasured memory of a love that cares for each and every soul individually. Even at 2am after an exhausting Patriarchal day.
That is but one example of many of the courtesy, the thoughtfulness and the genuine love that His Holiness lives in our midst every day. Most of our youth have never known the Church without Pope Shenouda. May they continue to be led by his example for many years to come. Fr Ant
The Greatest Challenge?
Aug 17th
Here’s a little brainteaser for you:
“In the next 20 years, what do you think will be the greatest challenge faced by the Coptic Orthodox Church?”
To be forewarned is to be fore-armed. Although our Lord Jesus commanded us not to worry about tomorrow, He did also command us to prepare, as a king prepares for battle before he sets out to join it. The difference of course lies between preparing and worrying: you can prepare without worrying if there is peace and faith in God in your heart.
So, that’s the exercise I’m asking the readers to try. Don’t worry; just think about it.
In recent years, the Christian Church in general and the Coptic Church in particular has faced many challenges. Here are just a few:
SECULARISM:
The invasion of worldly ideals and values and beliefs into the faith and worldview of the Church.
MATERIALISM:
The obsession with money and possessions, power, popularity and success leaving people with no time or no room in their hearts for God and Church.
COOLING OF LOVE:
People growing further apart, caring for each other less, caring for themselves more.
RELATIONSHIPS:
The loss of traditional Christian values in the area of sexuality, marriage and divorce.
ATHEISM:
The supposed threat to faith coming from the trend towards depending on science rather than belief.
DISILLUSIONMENT:
The disappointment of members of the Church with the perceived behaviour of the rest of the Church community.
CULTURE WARS:
Will we insist on linking faith to a particular culture, or will we allow the culture to change? Will the faith change with the culture? How important is it to maintain the uniquely Coptic identity in Australia? At what price?
TECHNOLOGY:
Will technology help or hinder our life of faith?
ECOLOGY:
What effects will global warming and overpopulation have on our lives, and will this impact on our spiritual lives?
LACK OF INTEREST:
Will future generations simply not care?
So can you predict whether any of these will be THE major challenge to face us in the next 20 years? Or perhaps it will be something totally new?
And WHY? Why do you choose that particular issue above all the others? What makes it special, or especially dangerous? Some issues may be mildly dangerous but widespread enough to infect the whole Church, whereas others may be quite serious but limited to only a small section of the Church. Which is worst?
I won’t give my own thoughts just yet – I would like you to think about it – so I’ll hold off from commenting for a little while. Think about your own experiences, good and bad, within the Church community and in the light of the society within which the Church exists. Think of your own generation, the generation of your parents and that of your children.
What dangers threaten the Orthodox Christian faith and way of life?
And what do we need to do about them?
Fr Ant
Please throw in your two cents’ worth on the related poll:
http://www.stbishoy.org.au/modules/xoopspoll/index.php?poll_id=3
Longing For Literacy
Jul 23rd
It has become something of a cliché. Serving at St Mark’s College has reinforced my impression that the average Coptic family leans very heavily indeed towards the sciences, educationally speaking. You know what I mean: Maths and Science are the real subjects, and other, humanities type subjects are Mickey Mouse material. The same seems to go for choosing a career. Many Coptic parents will do all they can to convince their children to follow a career in one of the “big four”: Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry or Engineering. All very much Science based. It seems that in the world of the Diasporic Copt, Science reigns supreme.
Well, I am going to question that perception.
You see, another thing I have noticed over the years is that so many of our youth are actually extremely literate, if not downright eloquent.
When you think about it, is that really so surprising, given that we are a Church headed by a Pope whose primary talents were literary ones? HH Pope Shenouda III was an historian, educator and journalist before entering the monastery. I don’t think anyone would ever think that he chose a career in the Humanities because he did not have the intelligence to do something like Medicine! His Holiness surely possesses one of the brightest most incisive minds in the world today. Why don’t more young Copts follow in his footsteps? Where do will the next generation of effective and inspiring servants come from? Where will they learn the art of communication, which is essential to sharing God’s Word?
What is more, Arabic literacy is generally highly valued in the Coptic community. How often we hear the older generation lamenting the fact that young people these days don’t seem to read books like they do. And yet, when a popular novel comes out, the same people will jump on the youth for reading it, because of its questionable morality or example.
These critics, well intentioned as they are, are missing something important here: our youth are not that stupid. The Harry Potter series is a case in point. There was (and still is in some quarters) an outcry calling for these books to be banned from our children at all costs. The general impression given is that once one of these evil tomes falls into the hands of a youth, the youth will immediately don their witch’s hat and cape and take off for the Headquarters of Wicca to go over to the dark side. Personally, I confess that my response when asked whether one should read Harry Potter has always been, “Are you aware that in reality witchcraft is a rejection of basic Christian principles and can never be compatible with Christianity? If you know this, and are able to tell the difference between fiction and reality, then by all means read it.” To date, I have not encountered one single case of conversion to the occult caused by reading Harry Potter. But I have seen many young people strengthen their reading habit because they found a story that engaged them. Some have even managed to read a strong Christian message into the Harry Potter saga!
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2009/07/christians_love_harry_hogwarts_and_all.html
Here are some common myths that are demonstrably false:
MYTH #1
You can’t get a good tertiary entrance mark doing soft humanities subjects.
Actually, just have a look at the subjects that were studied by the top Year 12 students in the state each year. You get the best results by doing subjects in which you are interested, and at which you are naturally gifted. You also have a much more pleasant life and a much more positive attitude choosing such subjects rather than forcing yourself to do a subject that isn’t for you just because it has a reputation for scoring big. Remember that wise moral: “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his soul?”
MYTH #2
Coptic children come from a non-English speaking background, so they can never be good at English or English based subjects.
Wrong! Research has shown that children who grow up learning more than one language are actually better at their main language than those who only learn a single language. That means that growing up in a home where Arabic is spoken actually results in the child becoming more adept at English.
http://www.multilingualchildren.org/getting_started/pro_con.html
My experiences at a Coptic College have borne this out. Our kids are great at English and the humanities, and proportionally more students at a Coptic School do tough humanities subjects like 4 unit English than in most other schools, public or private. And they score really well. Yet they are not as appreciated as those who do 4 unit Maths. They are also very good at speaking (surprise, surprise) and given attractive material, they generally love to read. If anything, we as a Church have largely failed to provide the young with attractive faith-based reading material. Where are the books for teenagers? Perhaps it will be this new generation of highly literate young Copts who will write these books?
In my own Year 12 graduating class (some time in the last century) there were 12 students I knew at my school who scored a mark that would get them in to Medicine. Yet I was the only one of them who actually chose to take that path. Some chose a scientific path, but others chose business or humanities, and I am sure that they are enjoying very successful and fulfilling careers today, doing all sorts of interesting things that doctors generally miss out on!
Another area to question is whether parents push for the “Big Four” because they think that they are licenses to print money. Get into one of those careers and it will make you rich. I have to question whether this is valid or suitable motive for a genuine Christian. Now please don’t misunderstand, I have nothing against a person profiting from their hard work and efforts to educate themselves, but should wealth be a high priority for the sincere Christian? Shouldn’t it come after other priorities, such as helping others, being content in one’s life (including career), curiosity and leading a balanced life? On the other hand, wealth brings with it all sorts of spiritual dangers. St James (James 1:11; 5:1), St Paul (1 Timothy 6:9), and Jesus Himself (Matthew 19:23; Luke 6:24) certainly did not think it an advantage to be wealthy, so what does that say to a parent who is motivated by wealth in the educational direction they give to their children?
Fr Ant
Hold On Tight…
Jul 22nd
Life can be a bit of a roller coaster at times…
A recent day was very much like that. One minute I was blessed to share in one of the happiest moments in a person’s life. The joy of the wedding was palpable; in the huge smiles of the family and friends, the even wider smiles of the couple themselves, and the exuberant ululations (zaghareet) that kept firing out of the nave of the Church from all quarters! The lovely couple were listening to every word of the marriage prayers, drinking the spirit of the rite and living the jubilation of this day of their unification in the spirit. The crowns and capes with which they were ornamented made them look truly royal, as befits the children of the King of Kings. With pure and simple hearts they gazed longingly at each other every now and then. No wonder the Bible likens Holy Communion to a marriage feast!
A short while later I was with another family in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital, struggling to help them cope with the imminent death of their mother. She was slipping away right before them, her physical body in tatters and her mind no longer present in the forgetfulness of unconsciousness. She was hardly recognisable as the ravages of disease, and of the valiant attempts to control that disease, showed just how fragile this human tent really is.
It is hard to accept death.
For the bereaved, it leaves behind a sort of numb blankness, an emptiness without reason, a darkness of the soul. Whether it is expected or not, it is never easy for us to accept, for we are too used to getting what we want. Yet here is something that is beyond our control.
And still, for the Christian, there is something that alleviates that agony. The loss is harsh, but the knowledge of the blessing that the departed is about to receive is a great comfort. In departing this mortal earth, in casting off this cage of flesh and bone, the spirit is freed to soar with angels to heights of glory and unimagined joy. The barriers between the creation and the Creator are finally lifted, and the spirit enters the undiluted Light for which she has longed all her existence. How can anyone not rejoice for the departed one they love?
Joy, and sadness. Sadness and joy. I sometimes wonder how we manage not to throw up on this rather extreme rollercoaster. Just don’t eat too much fairy floss…
Fr Ant
Fault Finding and Fallibility
Oct 12th
Hypothesis #1: We tend to notice most those faults in others from which we ourselves suffer.
This thought first struck me in High School, when a teacher pointed out that when you point the finger at someone else, you are simultaneously pointing your other three fingers at yourself (try it now if you don’t believe me. Just be careful who you pointing at, though). The message being, of course, that I am likely to be three times as guilty as the person I criticise, but am blissfully unaware of the fact. Oddly enough, I have found this principle to run pretty true, for myself at least. Yes, I am most frustrated by people who cut me off in the middle of a sentence. It really bugs me. Then one day I noticed that I do it all the time. Hmmm. Then I began noticing the principle in action in others. Being a priest, I get to hear people complain about lots of things. Such as, “I can’t believe how my wife goes around complaining about me to everyone!” Or this beauty: “I’m not wasting my time with Bill anymore and I’m not going to lower myself to his level. He’s impatient, and he’s a snob”. Yep. Even the best of us do it. Which brings me to another lesson I’ve learned:
Hypothesis #2: No one is infallible (with apologies to Roman Catholic readers )
I used to think otherwise. I clearly recall a sort of yearning, an innocent childhood fantasy that one day I would meet someone who was perfect. I don’t mean Miss Right, I mean someone on whom I could model my own personality, an ideal character, one who knew the right thing to say and do in every situation and always acted with sagacity and grace. Needless to say, potential candidates sooner or later disqualified themselves by revealing the selfish / cruel / stupid side of their nature. I still recall the deep and coldly bitter pain of these disappointments. Eventually of course I realised, as we all do, that no one is in fact perfect.
Then there was the period where I was going to be the first one to attain perfection. After all, I had the blueprint for perfection in my head, right? I knew how a perfect person should act. How hard could it really be? Those guys just didn’t try hard enough, or didn’t know enough. Well, I’m still trying, but I have to tell you that the older I get, the further I feel from perfection. And the more I fail, the more regard I feel for those fallen heroes of my youth who did, after all, quite a lot better than I have ended up doing, personality-wise. Maybe I was wrong to criticise them in my disappointment?
Hypothesis #3: People who are less critical of others tend to be a bit happier in life than people who are very critical of others.
Then again I sometimes wonder if I wasn’t wasting my time searching for the perfect person. Better to just do my best with what I’ve got and enjoy life. Again, experience would seem to bear this out. If you can keep your smile when all around you are angry, then you’re probably not critical. There are people who prove the adage “ignorance is bliss” daily by going about their affairs peacefully, apparently blind to the faults of others. It’s not that they can’t see those faults, mind you. More that they choose not to let them bother them.
Sometimes I have suffered from the delusion that as soon as I point out to this other person their fault, they will immediately raise a finger in the air and declare, “Why that’s it! That’s the very thing that has been making my life miserable all these years. How could I have missed it? And thank you, O thank you so much for pointing it out to me! I am eternally in your debt!” Needless to say, this has never happened to me in real life. So why waste my time, my breath and my blood pressure?
Of course, this principle has its limits. A bit of healthy criticism might well be well placed for a thug who’s mugging a little old lady as you walk by. Perhaps, one may even be justified in giving one’s criticisms a somewhat physical expression by way of intervening. But by and large, most people’s failings really have very little effect on me or on anyone else. If anything, it is the failings-owner him/herself that suffers most from their own failings, which is no business of mine. So why bother? Why get myself tied up in knots over something I can’t change anyway?
Hypothesis #4: Those who are most critical of others tend to be those who are least accepting of criticism, and contrariwise.
I think of this as a sort of litmus test for how critical a person is. Tell a person they are too critical of others, sit back, and watch their reaction. If they start criticising you for criticising them, that sort of proves your case. If they sit back and carefully consider if you are right, you can probably jump in and apologise for saying something about them that is so obviously not the case. It’s not foolproof, but it illustrates this hypothesis. Being overly critical is a kind of self-perpetuating condition. The one who suffers from it maintains their mindset by excessively criticising anyone who criticises their excessive criticism.
Or am I being too critical?
Fr Ant
The Evolution Enigma
Sep 24th
Last Night’s CCP Meeting was on the question of evolution. An intriguing and often highly emotional topic, it is one of those areas where, supposedly, science and fatih clash.
I’ve been doing a little bit of reading on the topic lately, and I have found there are a few conclusions that I think one is safe to draw about the current state of affairs. Please allow me to share them with you.
1. Evolution as a scientific theory is elegant, relatively simple, and in many ways quite a beautiful concept, if you look at it from a purely scientific point of view.
2. Looked at against the wider background of our existence, it can be a very ugly concept. I have no doubt whatsoever that some of the worst atrocities committed by humans in the past century were justified, whether consciously or subconsciously, by an evolutionary world view. Hitler’s purification of the German race is an attempt to take control of evolution. What gave him the right to do so? Because he was the “Fittest” and it is the fittest who should survive. The deaths of millions in the gas chambers is no more than the necessary by product of this law of nature, and we should not weep over it. Or so he thought.
3. Evolution still has many gaping holes. We started to look at some last night but time constraints meant we had to leave the rest for another session. Chief among the unresolved issues are the incredible probabilities against putting together DNA in the right sequence merely by chance, the vexed question of how the first life could possibly have arisen, and the lack of any sensible mechanism for the introduction of new genes into an organism’s genome. There are more, but these are my favorites.
4. Even if one day it should become apparent that evolution is the true cause of life on Earth beyond a shadow of a doubt, I cannot see how this would affect our faith. The Bible is interested in telling us what God did. How He did it is really His concern, and although we get a glimpse, we must not expect to be able to understand His ways. I still can’t understand how my mechanic diagnoses and fixes problems in my car, much less the mechanism of the Creation of the whole Cosmos! But to me, if the universe really can produce life all by itself, naturally and without any supernatural input, that would be an even greater miracle. I might be able to get some wood together and build a chair. Sure it would take some time, and it would probably wobble, but I think I could do it. What I don’t think I could do is build a machine that builds chairs without any help from me. Now that’s hard! So if God built a universe that can produce life without any supernatural input from Him, that would be a far greater miracle than if He had built each species individually.
5. There is, however, the case of microevolution as opposed to macroevolution. Macroevolution involves one species evolving into another species, and as such requires whole new genes to be inserted into the organism’s genetic code. There simply is no known mechanism for this to happen in most cases, and there does not seem to be any possibility for us finding one. But Microevolution involves the slightest fiddling with the existing genetic code, such as that which produces a tall or a short person, the colour of your eyes, or the resistance of bacteria against an antibiotic. Microevolution is implied in the Bible since all the different races of humans in the world are descended from just one family of eight people (Noah’s family). Clearly, all the variations between races must have arisen by a mechanism such as microevolution. But there is no evidence that I can see that can overcome the need for whole new genes in macroevolution.
6. Many people accept or reject evolution for reasons other than the actual science. If you want there not to be a God, you can use evolution as way of supporting your case that He didn’t have to be around to make us. And equally, if you want there to be a God, you can find the many, many holes there are in the theory of evolution. So how can one come to a genuinely objective Truth? I’m not sure anyone can. I admit freely that I am biased. I believe in God, for many other reason, and so I come to the evolution question expecting God to be a part of the true answer. And I find more than enough evidence to fulfil that expectation. But the fact is that the jury still out. Evolution is not fact, not macroevolution, anyway. So until we find unavoidably compelling evidence one way or the other, I suppose people will continue to choose their side on the basis of other factors.
7. I don’t think we should be ‘afraid’ of evolution. Sometimes Christians speak as though there was a demon called evolution, and we must not dabble with evil spirits, so stay right away! But evolution is not a demon, it is an idea, and ideas have no personalities or motivations. They can be right or wrong, they can tend towards causing evil or good, but in the end, they are just ideas. I think it is good for a Christian to understand the concept of evolution well, and to also be aware of all its shortcomings.
In the final analysis, our understanding of our universe is constantly changing, constantly being updated as new information becomes available. Personally, I suspect that in a few hundred years’ time the theory of evolution will have been replaced by some other explanation that we cannot even imagine today, much as Gallileo could not possibly have anticipated quantum physics.
But I don’t think I’ll be around to see it. Then again, by then I will be occupied with far more important things…
Fr Ant
www.stbishoy.org.au
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