Magic is the Key
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:40 pm
It seems to me that there are only two broad categories of people, and these categories determine whether or not you value rationalism over all else: Either you believe magic is possible (to one degree or another), or you don't.
What else is there?
If you're a young earth creationist, magic is all that matters. The earth was magically created in 6 days and all the evidence against that proposition was magically placed around to fool people. It makes the impossible global flood possible. No death before the fall? Easy. Virgin mothers? No problem. Talking snakes? Of course! Creating passable paths through large bodies of water? Child's play. If you could, why wouldn't you hang out in a whale's stomach for a few days? Not happy in your marriage? Too bad you aren't faithful enough to have god turn your wife into a pillar of salt, huh? Heck, faith will move mountains. Plate tectonics have nothing on us!
If you believe in miracles, you basically believe that the physical laws of the universe can be magically bent for the will of the divine.
If you believe that god intervenes, you believe he can magically change what's going on in the world to cause a different outcome.
And all this god stuff seems to happen when we're not looking. It's like when we look away, the angels and fairies work their magic, bending the measurable universal laws to their will.
Essentially, this kind of worldview is Toy Story on a grand scale. If we look away, all the toys come to life.
If we take magic out of the equation, we're left to assume that the physical world has consistency and natural cause and effect, and we can make reasonable inferences and predictions about the universe. It's little wonder that people who believe in magic have a negative attitude toward many of our most solid scientific theories.
What else is there?
If you're a young earth creationist, magic is all that matters. The earth was magically created in 6 days and all the evidence against that proposition was magically placed around to fool people. It makes the impossible global flood possible. No death before the fall? Easy. Virgin mothers? No problem. Talking snakes? Of course! Creating passable paths through large bodies of water? Child's play. If you could, why wouldn't you hang out in a whale's stomach for a few days? Not happy in your marriage? Too bad you aren't faithful enough to have god turn your wife into a pillar of salt, huh? Heck, faith will move mountains. Plate tectonics have nothing on us!
If you believe in miracles, you basically believe that the physical laws of the universe can be magically bent for the will of the divine.
If you believe that god intervenes, you believe he can magically change what's going on in the world to cause a different outcome.
And all this god stuff seems to happen when we're not looking. It's like when we look away, the angels and fairies work their magic, bending the measurable universal laws to their will.
Essentially, this kind of worldview is Toy Story on a grand scale. If we look away, all the toys come to life.
If we take magic out of the equation, we're left to assume that the physical world has consistency and natural cause and effect, and we can make reasonable inferences and predictions about the universe. It's little wonder that people who believe in magic have a negative attitude toward many of our most solid scientific theories.