t redone – fr. francis xavier r. salcedo. our senses are very limited. they even sometimes fool us
TRANSCRIPT
TREDONE – Fr. Francis Xavier R. Salcedo
Our senses are very limited. They even sometimes
fool us.
The fact remains that Science and Mathemathics are still not able to explain
many things about this world and much more, outside of
this world.
How do we deal with the life's
questions and mysteries?
How do we make sense out of existence?
How do we find meaning out of the seeming
randomness of things?
Is there a Creator?
Why is there evil / sufferring in this world?
Is there a next life?
Belief: An adherence to something or
someone despite the lack of proof or evidence - Penguin Dictionary
Michael Jordan credits his basketball court mastery in
part to his gym shorts. Jordan wore a pair of University of North Carolina shorts (the
university he attended) beneath his Chicago Bulls and Washington Bullets / Wizards uniforms in every
professional game he played. This is the reason why he sported long shorts which
was adopted later on by his contemporary NBA players up
till the present.
Faith: The assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen.- Hebrews 11:1
Faith is a very basic element of any relationship in life.
- barber
- cook
- driver
- doctor
- banker
- investor
In an attempt to express their faith,
human beings, since time immemorial, have erected
“altars” to mark sacred “places” where they have encountered the mystery
and the sacred.
* Faith tells us that the universe does not operate by chance:
- beauty and order of nature-complexity of the human body
- natural phenomenons
* Faith tells us that the universe does not operate by chance:
-There must be an Intelligent Designer
Religion: a personal set or institutionalized
system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices; a cause,
principle, or system of beliefs held to with faith.
- Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
The word religion is derived from the
Latin noun "religio," which denotes both earnest observance
of ritual obligations and an inward spirit of reverence.
Religion has played a part in all human
culture and so is a much broader, more complex category than the set of
beliefs or practices found in any single tradition.
Belief Religion
Faith
EXISTENCE OF GOD:
Believers Nonbelievers
Believers or Theists
Monotheists Polytheists
Unitarians
Trinitarians
Non-Believers
Atheists Agnostics
Skeptics
Atheism, the denial of or lack of belief in the existence of a
god or gods. The term atheism comes from the Greek prefix a-,
meaning “without,” and the Greek word theos, meaning “deity.”
In the Western intellectual world, nonbelief in the
existence of God is a widespread phenomenon with a long and
distinguished history. For atheists, a better explanation for the
presence of evil in the world is that God does not exist.
Agnosticism, doctrine that the existence of God and
other spiritual beings is neither certain nor impossible. The term,
derived from agnostikos (Greek for “not knowing”), was introduced by
Thomas Huxley.
Although usually regarded as a form of skepticism,
agnosticism is more limited in scope, for it denies the reliability
only of metaphysical and theological beliefs rather than of all beliefs. The basis of modern agnosticism lies in
the works of David Hume and Immanuel Kant.
Skepticism (Greek skeptesthai, “to
examine”), doctrine that denies the possibility of attaining
knowledge of reality as it is in itself, apart from human
perception. It has also come to signify doubt about what is generally accepted as true.
The Greek Sophists of the 5th Cent BC were for the
most part skeptics. Their maxim is “Nothing is; or if anything is, it
cannot be known.” Thus, the Sophist Gorgias declared that all
statements concerning reality are false and that, even if true, their
truth can never be proved.
Believer & Non-Believer at the same time
Pantheists
Acosmic
Cosmic
Pantheism, doctrine that identifies the universe
(Greek pan, “all”) with God (Greek theos). Acosmic
Pantheism starts from an awareness of the divine
reality and then speculates on the relationship of the nondivine to
the divine.
Cosmic Pantheism starts from an apprehension of
the full reality of finite, changing entities and then give the name
God to their all-inclusive totality. The most typical presentations of
acosmic pantheism come from the Hindu tradition.
For those who believe in God, religion is
important because:
1) It offers some background explanation (or theory) for the
origin of the universe.(Where did we come from?)
3) It attempts to explain the wrong stuff (sin, evil) in the world. (Why is the world so messed up?)
2) It provides a basic doctrine or theory about
human nature.(What are we as humans?)
4) It offers solutions to put things right in the world.
(What should we do?)
5) It has some vision for the future. (What may we hope?)
Religious inquiry, is something that nearly all
humans share in common. In all corners of the world and in all eras of history, people have wondered about the meaning of life, how to make the best of it, what happens afterwards,
and if there is anyone or anything "out there."
Sources:
Aune, David E. and John McCarthy (eds). The whole and divided self. N.Y: The Crossroad Publishing Co. 1997
Birch, Charles. Participatory Evolution: The Drive of Creation, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 40. 1972
Meredith, Susan. World Religions, London. 1995.
Netland, H.A. Dissonant Voices: Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 1991
Parrinder, Geoffrey. Ed. World Religions.From History to the Present. 1971
Pedersen, P. Multiculturalism as a generic approach to counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70(1), 6-12. 1991
Pedersen, P. A handbook for developing multicultural awareness (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association. 1994
Schwartz, Linda. Taking Steps Toward Tolerance and Compassion, London: Penguin. 2001.