Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Believe What You Want

I knew a man who hated classical music. He had heard his high school band perform and decided that classical music was boring and uneventful. Then, one day, through a bit of coercion he heard a professional orchestra play the same thing he'd heard in high school. The difference was like night and day. The fullness of the music was breath-taking. While this man is still not a fan of classical music, he can now appreciate it after experiencing it as it should be.

The man had a Metanoia experience.

Metanoia is a Greek word that literally means "with knowledge" and typically carries an extended interpretation of "a change in direction as a result of a new level of understanding."

Many people form opinions and beliefs on the basis of bad or limited experiences. This is natural, we work with what we know. The problem is that we are too easily satisfied with what we know. We too often take the word of amateurs as authoritive. This is why young people are generally pretty stupid when it comes to sex; they trust their friends rather than their parents.

Science and Religion suffer the results of amateur experts more than anything. Both have a variety of voices claiming to speak for them. Both have the popular media reporting information in the most simplistic manner. Both have idiots that somehow get a platform to speak. Both are such large subjects that they are difficult to grasp without significant effort.

I am not a scientist and I respect the views of experts. I read the odd scientific journal here and there and try to keep up with what's being said. I take everything in the popular media with a grain of salt (sometimes a whole bag of salt).

While I do not possess scientific credentials, I do have an ability to think and I carefully weigh what I hear. In my lifetime science has gone from predicting global cooling to predicting global warming. This makes me skeptical of current claims. That the earth is getting warmer can be clearly demonstrated. But why it's getting warmer and what that means to the future is not so clear.

You see, the "vast majority" of scientists of 40 years ago claimed just the opposite of the "vast majority" of scientists today. That's two equal authorities saying opposite things. In matters of science, I generally accept what science says is (i.e. the earth is warmer), but I will typically question what science says it means (i.e. the sky is falling). While the observations of science have been pretty accurate, their interpretations leave a bit to be desired.

I am not a theologian, though I have done some serious study of religion; Christianity in particular. Religion is not so easy as science. Religion does not have codified rules for falsification and the idea of peer-review is not necessarily welcome. This is unfortunate.

Religion suffers from amateur presentation more so than science. Religion is often taught by kind hearted, good-intentioned people who sincerely believe. However, these same people rarely take their understanding beyond what is in the lesson plans they were given. Sunday school teachers teach what they know and that is too often very shallow.

There are reasons for this. First, religion is frequently taught by volunteers working in their free time. This does not make for a good learning environment. Second, religion is given less instruction time than sex ed, which again does lend itself to depth of study. Finally, religion is often presented as inspirational rather than educational. This is a big mistake. If religion is true, then it should be more than good feelings.

Many people reject religion. I am willing to bet that most of them reject it based upon amateur presentations in the early childhood. That being the case, these people reject religion, not out of knowledge, but out of ignorance. They are rejecting something based on limited information.

I think a Metanoia experience should be sought. People are free to believe what they want, but don't blame me if it turns out to be wrong.

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