February 2015 – Page 2 – Faith Seeking Understanding

What the Meaning of ‘Is’ Is

Posted on February 16, 2015 by hlesbrown

“It all depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is,”1 said President Bill Clinton during testimony for his impeachment hearing. It was a statement that echoed around the world and caused much scorn to be heaped upon him. The statement may be typical of legal hair-splitting, but, in the world of Understanding, that statement is absolutely critical. It does all depend on “what the meaning of ‘is’ is!” The verb ‘to be’ (‘is’) is at the same time both the simplest and most complex concept. It is a verb and so it refers to an action — the action of Continue Reading →

Shockingly Wrong?

Posted on February 15, 2015 by hlesbrown

If you were from another planet and were exposed to Christianity for the first time from all the available media, chances are excellent that you’d think Christianity was an ethical system that focused on good and evil, right and wrong. You’d be in some very good company, too, without a doubt. From the time that Christianity started to spread over the Greco-Roman world, apologists have been trying to use Christian “principles” to influence human behavior. This is not to say that even the Christian Scriptures aren’t replete with moral guidance: they are. Yet, sadly, when Christianity is distilled down to Continue Reading →

What’s in a Name?

Posted on February 14, 2015 by hlesbrown

“I don’t believe in God.” I’ve heard this so often in 12-Step meetings, that it no longer surprises me. I just wait for the inevitable, “but I do believe that there’s Something out there that’s bigger than me.” Somehow, the name “God” has gotten to be confused with some childhood image of the Big Man Upstairs with a long, white beard, sitting on some throne surrounded by angels, cherub-babies, etc., while He points His fingers randomly at folks and says, “You go to hell!” Am I right? If we want to grow in understanding, we’ve got some relearning to do. Continue Reading →

Why ‘Faith’?

Posted on February 9, 2015 by hlesbrown

St. Anselm of Canterbury in the 11th century defined ‘Theology’ as “Fides Quaerens Intellectum” or “Faith seeking understanding.” Thus the title of my blog. Some want to dismiss this understanding as somehow superstitious and at odds with science (which we might dare to define as “observation seeking understanding”). Yet, the apparent dichotomy between faith and science is only just that: apparent. Although they have similar methodologies, the subject matter of the two are distinctly different: the scientific method gleans understanding from observations of the natural world; the theological method draws understanding from observations originating beyond the world of nature. People Continue Reading →