My friend Alex Reigel posed a compelling question. It is a question loaded with words and religious connotation which can lend bias to how we see the question, let alone how we might answer it. It is a question meant to be provocative, not in an argumentative sense, but in challenging us to think about what we really believe.
We are not often asked to do this. I know that I think somethings and I believe some other things. That is, there some things I want to be true and my intellect says are possible, and there are others that I believe whether they are actually true or not. Sometimes the line between the two is extremely thin. It is not until I am asked to search my heart for my truth that I have to confront the difference.
There are some things that I have experienced that are intellectually un-explainable. There are also some things that make sense to me, but are not possible (or at least we are not likely) to experience. It's kind of like all that stuff about known knowns and unknown knowns and unknown unknowns and blah, blah blah, about which Donald Rumsfeld so inarticulately stammered on.
And then, of course, there are the matters of definition that come into how we see the world. So for instance, if I say the word heaven, do you think of an actual place or a state of mind or perhaps a state of grace (and what does that mean?)? We can't ever be sure that what we consider to be a profound question might just be defined entirely differently by someone else.
And finally, it is the understanding that it is the exploration of the question, not the answer that is really important. That's kind of the problem with trying to ask a profound question; it is all too easy to just try to answer it and move on. So all that said, here's the question:
Do you believe that the kingdom of heaven is real, or merely an idea?
We are not often asked to do this. I know that I think somethings and I believe some other things. That is, there some things I want to be true and my intellect says are possible, and there are others that I believe whether they are actually true or not. Sometimes the line between the two is extremely thin. It is not until I am asked to search my heart for my truth that I have to confront the difference.
There are some things that I have experienced that are intellectually un-explainable. There are also some things that make sense to me, but are not possible (or at least we are not likely) to experience. It's kind of like all that stuff about known knowns and unknown knowns and unknown unknowns and blah, blah blah, about which Donald Rumsfeld so inarticulately stammered on.
And then, of course, there are the matters of definition that come into how we see the world. So for instance, if I say the word heaven, do you think of an actual place or a state of mind or perhaps a state of grace (and what does that mean?)? We can't ever be sure that what we consider to be a profound question might just be defined entirely differently by someone else.
And finally, it is the understanding that it is the exploration of the question, not the answer that is really important. That's kind of the problem with trying to ask a profound question; it is all too easy to just try to answer it and move on. So all that said, here's the question:
Do you believe that the kingdom of heaven is real, or merely an idea?
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