Letter to a philosopher

Ray from church (he did read the bible study on Rom 8:4, btw. I will get feedback from him and another soon and post it up) has an athiest philosopher who leaves him things to read. He shared one with me. I don't feel like transcribing the letter, and I lost it anyway, so I have an excuse for not putting it up. ;-)

Anyway, if you have an interest, here is what I wrote back to Ray's philosopher.

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Hello Sir,

Ray gave me the opportunity to read your paper on whether God was able to make 2+2=5. I enjoyed it. I'm afraid I have since mislaid it, so I will not be able to quote it in my little note here, but I think I remember the gist.

Keep in mind, I am no philosopher - I'm an ex-diesel mechanic who found his way into the software world - so I won't be chatting about this from a deeply philosophical perspective. Maybe a blue collar cogitator's perspective.

I appreciated your reasoning. The number 2 certainly cannot swim the English Channel, and a square root is not yellow. God cannot make these things be, or they would be other things. We use language to attach words to perceptions, so that we can communicate with each other. If we perceive a thing, we must be able to describe it, in order to share its experience to some degree.

So, you talk about a little island on which 2+2=5. Given our language, I expected you to describe a situation in which two people, each holding one coconut in each hand come together and combine their coconuts to end up with one more coconut than their 4 hands could carry.

You did not do that.

You described a situation in which 2 people each carrying 2 coconuts combine their coconuts and end up with one coconut in each hand but use the word/number "5" to describe the situation.

OK. That's odd, but if they can understand each other, who am I to whine. If they are able to communicate in such a way, then I will be the last to change their language. Just don't require me to understand it.

The denouement comes only in the last paragraph.

You admonish the reader not to drop their most cherished beliefs merely because their human understanding of God might lead them to doubt those beliefs. It may happen that God is simply trying to teach us how 2+2=5, and we are too busy being "right"to listen.

Again, a very cool thought. One with which I agree. I hold some views of God that are very unpopular, both with those who love Him, and with those who do not. In order to hold these beliefs, though, I had to drop some other cherished beliefs.

There are cherished beliefs that are wrong, and dropping them is required to lay hold of freedom. It is important to know how to discern between cherished truths and cherished falsehoods. Combining 4 coconuts does not create a 5th from nothing, and distributing the energy of this universe by a big bang does not create intelligence. Yellow cannot swim to Australia, and God cannot be created by my conception of Him.

Jesus Christ changed everything when He rose bodily from death. Things about which there once was legitimate doubt are now beyond disbelief. God cares for people, to the extreme of dying to transform them. Now is the time of learning what that transformation is.

May the Holy Spirit bless your contemplation of these things.

Kevin