Mike Watt
Theology
Challenges to Faith Journal
Overall idea: There are many different challenges to faith. Some common challenges to faith are atheism, scientism, and dehumanization. Atheism is the belief in that there is no God. Scientism is the belief that science is the only source of truth. Dehumanization is when we stereotype ourselves or make ourselves or others less human. We often make ourselves slaves to products. These views and beliefs on life make us struggle in our beliefs in God and keeping our trust in him.
1. Friedrich Nietzsche was a positive atheist. He believed that there is no meaning to life. He also believed that we will eventually evolve into a super race. He had no use for reason and believed morality is relative. He believed that man should follow his desires. A man who knew what he wanted for life and had the passion to try and take it and achieve it is a Superman.
2. Practical atheists are people who consider themselves part of the church, but harbor no beliefs about God. An example of a practical atheist was Thomas Hobbes. He was a materialist, meaning he did not believe in anything beyond physical matter. He believed that the question of life is irrelevant, that humans are not capable of genuine selflessness, and that the universe is intelligible through reason. He also, like Nietzsche, believed that morality is relative.
3.
The Catholic Church has an open view to
science. If a personal God really did create the universe and everything in it,
it logically follows that no honest, thorough investigation of nature can
contradict this fact. Catholic openness to science is not new. As early as the
fourth century,
Question: Do the existence of science and theology seem to contradict each other to me? No, I believe in both evolution and my Church. I do not believe the world was exactly created in 7 days as I believe that Scripture is not always to be taken literally, like the book of genesis.
