Chapter 25 July's Most Important Issues

From what I've been taught, there are at least three parties to any conversation: you, another person, and God. This teaching came to my mind one summer day.I was in that little office, and the Archmage and I were both in shorts.My bare legs were sweaty and stuck to the green leather chair.I raised my leg and made a snap. The Archmage is looking for a letter.He lifted a cushion, then an envelope, then a stack of newspapers.I know he'll never find it.I feel like the chaos in his office has become a way of life, a game that keeps the world interesting.While I waited, I glanced at the file on the lower shelf labeled God.We haven't opened it yet.

well.He said he decided to give up. Can I ask you a question? Ask, young scholar.he said happily. How do you know God exists? He paused.A smile crept onto his face. That's a great question. He pinches his chin with his fingers. What is the answer?I said. First of all, to prove his existence. OK, I said.I take up his challenge.Is it okay to say that?We live in a world where genes can be diagrammed, cells can be replicated, and looks can be changed.snort!With a few operations, you can change from male to female.Science tells us how the earth was born; rocket ships explore the universe.The sun has lost its mystique.As for the moon that everyone once adored?We bagged parts of it back to Earth, didn't we?

continue.He said. Then, why, in such a place where all the once extremely mysterious problems have been solved, do people still believe in supernatural existences such as God, Jesus, and Allah?Have we not transcended the level of belief?Isn't this like the little puppet Pinocchio, after he discovers that he can move without relying on a rope, will he still have the same opinion of the old carpenter? The archmage clapped his hands a few times. That makes sense. It was you who asked me to prove it. oh. He leaned over: Now, it's my turn.Look, if you mean that science will one day prove that God doesn't exist, I have to disagree.No matter how small they break things down, tadpoles, atoms, there is something unexplainable at the end of every research, there is something behind the scenes that creates it all.

And no matter how they go in the other direction, prolonging life, fiddling with genes, copying this, copying that, living to a hundred and fifty at some point, life ends.then what?When life ends? I shrugged. got it? He leans back.All smiles. When man comes to an end, God begins. Many great thinkers have tried to deny the existence of God.Sometimes, they retreat to the opposite point of view.CS Lewis, who discusses faith in words and writes well, wrestled with the idea of ​​God at first, and compares himself to the most discouraged and most reluctant proselyte in England.The great scientist Louis Pasteur tried to use data and research to deny the existence of God; in the end, the structure of the human body led him to believe in God.

A lot of books have been published lately proclaiming that belief in God is a foolish idea, nonsense, a panacea for the weak of heart.I thought the Archmage would be offended by these arguments, but he never was.He understands that the journey of faith is not an easy, straight line, and sometimes even against logic.He respects well-founded arguments, even when he disagrees with them. To me, authors or celebrities who yell that God doesn't exist always intrigue me.When they say this, they are usually healthy, popular, and the crowd wants to listen to them.I would like to know what will happen in the quiet moment before death?By then they had lost the stage, but the world was still turning.Who knows if, with their last breath, fear, or a vision, or a belated realization, they might change their minds about God?

The Archmage was a man of faith from the very beginning, there is no doubt about that.But I also know that he doesn't appreciate some of the things that God allows on earth.Years ago, he lost a daughter.The event shook his world.He often shed tears whenever he visited congregations who were once strong and now lying helpless in hospital beds. Why is there so much pain?He looked up to the sky and said: Take them away.What is the point of suffering? Once I asked the Archmage one of the most frequently asked religious questions: Why do disasters happen to good people?This question has been answered countless times and in countless ways; in books, in sermons, on websites, and in tearful hugs. (The Lord called her to his side He died while doing what he loved best She was a gift from God It was a test)

I remember an old family friend who had a son who suddenly came down with an incurable disease.Since then, at all religious ceremonies, even weddings, I have seen the gentleman standing at the door, refusing to enter.I can't hear that kind of talk anymore.He said.He lost his faith. I asked the archmage, why do disasters happen to good people?He did not come up with the standard answers listed above.He just whispered: No one knows.It amazes me that he can say that.But when I asked him if this had ever shaken his faith in God, he was firm. I can't be shaken.He said. Of course you can, as long as you don't believe that there is such an omnipotent God.

That is atheism.He said. Yes. This would explain why my prayers were not answered. yes. He looked at me carefully and took a deep breath. I once saw an atheist doctor.Have I mentioned this man to you? No. That doctor liked to poke my body, and he liked to poke my beliefs.He often deliberately made an appointment for me to see a doctor on a Saturday, so that I had to call the receptionist to explain that I could not make an appointment because of religion. Good boy, I say. Anyway, one day, I read in the newspaper that his brother had died.So I made a condolence call. He treats you that way, you still call?

In my line of work, the archmage said: it is not fashionable to take revenge on others. I laughed. So I went to his house and he received me.I could see he was upset.I told him I was so sorry for his loss.He said with an angry face: I am jealous of you. why are you jealous of meI said. Because you can curse God if you lose someone you love.You can growl.You can blame him.You can ask to know why.But I don't believe in God.I am a doctor!But he couldn't save his younger brother! He was about to cry.Who can I blame?He asked me repeatedly.There is no god.I can only blame myself. The archmage's expression was very serious, as if he was in infinite pain.

He did that, he whispered: a very serious self-indictment. Worse than unanswered prayers? Oh yes.In comparison, it is more reassuring to think that God has heard and refused to answer than that no one else can be trusted except yourself.