SENIOR SYNTHESIS FINAL PAPER:
MY INTELLECTUAL FAITH TRADITION
Anthony Kellems, April 2001
Introduction
One of the most important, if not the most
important, questions that a person must ask himself in life is the question of
why he is here. If it is because of some freak cosmic accident, then his world
and what he does within it has no point. It is then a mindless, purposeless
mass that ultimately spirals into that from which it came: nothing. Man’s
primary motivation for life would probably just be the allure of fame and
indulgence into personal satisfaction. However, if there is indeed some meaning
behind the universe and humanity, then all of our actions will have some
consequence in the finality of events. The irony of this whole notion is that
as humans, who have free will, we were unable to choose to be put into this
world. Thus, it becomes imperative that we each find the answer to the question
of God in the universe and our own personal lives, because to play roulette
with fate hands control of our lives to somebody or something else. As all
humans know, we like to be in control, whether it be at the wheel of a car or
in our everyday choices. Why would we then have apathy about our role in the
overall scheme of existence? The question of God and faith is one which must be
answered, and upon answering it we must live out the ideals that it implies.
Chapter 1: The Source of My Being
Human life is naturally extremely complex.
People must learn to coordinate relationships with others, prioritize their
needs and wants, and carry out responsibilities. Only then can they finally
indulge in their own personal desires, be it music, sports, or the quest for
intellectual knowledge. These various facets of life often become confusing and
there are times at which we become impatient and wish to give up and focus
solely on ourselves. Yet, something intangible keeps us on our course; there is
a higher reason for our constant pursuance of making our lives fit together so
that we can achieve balance between our wants and our responsibilities to
others. Since throughout my life I have found some source of meaning from the
question “why” and from my personal quest for excellence, the ultimate source of
my being is God.
What has led me on my journey to discovering my source of being has
predominantly been asking the question “why.” It appears to me that there is
very little order in life, and the more disorder that arises, the more I become
disappointed. It has been within the past two years that I have begun to
seriously consider why the events in my life are occurring. However, in some
respects, there is a deep yearning for the problems to happen to me. There has
never been anything tragic or devastating to my own personal welfare;
conversely, this doesn’t mean that good things have happened, either. It’s just
that my friends and others around me seem to always have some deep experience
which prompts them to question their life and its purpose.
A friend of mine, whom I have known since I was five, went through
Confirmation during the same year that I did. She had been using drugs and
drinking alcohol rather heavily, and at a glance it would appear that, between
the two of us, I would be the one with more faith. I have not used these
substances, and I had thought that I was an exceptional Catholic at the time.
Paradoxically, after looking back at our experience in Confirmation, it was her
problems and deep need for Christ that led her to the faith once again and she
has actually become more of an example to others than I could be. This is one
of the problems that I have unearthed throughout my life: those people who have
strayed severely from the traditional path of Christ have turned out to be far
better leaders than those who always walk on the path. This revelation has led
me to question my being because I almost feel lost without having those
terrible life events. I am unable to relate to people who are having real
problems because I myself have not been through that stage. The lack of this
forces me to further ask why God has allowed me to live the life that I have.
Considering oneself to be unique is a basic premise of the Catholic faith. God
has created each person out of love. The problem is that I find myself asking
whether God even considered the will of the created person. It seems that for a
superior spiritual being to create out of love and then go have a sandwich and
coffee for eternity is absurd, yet this is what I have felt throughout my life.
As a recent example, the youth minister from my parish selected me in the
spring of 2000 to be a peer leader on the June Confirmation Retreat. During
this retreat, our groups participated in a nighttime charismatic prayer
service. Many people were prayed over, and some fell over, burst out crying, or
apparently received one of the other gifts from the Holy Spirit. I fell over
after the leaders prayed over me, something that our leader called being slain
in the Spirit. Later that night, however, I remember that I questioned the
event, and my conclusion actually came to be that I was pushed by the priest
who was praying over me. What I had initially thought to be the first valid
experience of God in my life turned out to be merely a false impression of reality.
The crux of my problem with God as my source of being is thus faith.
Faith was always described to me as having a total belief in God and in his
will. My life has taught me that I, unfortunately, lack this vital quality.
Although I firmly believe the Church’s theological and moral teachings, I am a
doubting Thomas. In my search for excellence in all things, especially those
which are academic in nature, I have come to adopt the scientific method as
supreme. Exclusion of other methods of learning truth, however, is not healthy.
Therefore, I have insidiously allowed myself to attempt to confine the infinite
in a finite range of thought. Although I attempt to comprehend God, I cannot
because of my limited capacity. I have wonder, however, why God does not show
himself to those who search for him as I do. It was not until recently, while
on Kairos, that I came to understand that God has been showing himself to me
all the time, just in more subtle ways.
My personal experiences have yielded the conclusion that God is the ultimate
source of my being, and that I must learn to look for him in places that I
previously didn’t look, such as friends and the regular occurrences in life.
Still, it is more difficult to follow the preset path that the Church teaches
than it is to get lost and find your way back. Many times it is only after we
have gotten lost that we truly discover the path. When one gets lost in the
woods, he is forced to trudge through all of the muck and previously unknown
territory, but when he returns he has new knowledge of both what he had known
and what he was not exposed to. Nevertheless, I have come to this conclusion
about my life: God is superior to all other ideas. What I must focus on now is
developing a balance between fact and faith.
Chapter 2: My Intellectual Faith Tradition and the Human Dilemma
Ever since I became interested in science
as a grade-schooler, the idea of proof has come to be paramount in my life. A
search for an answer is never concluded until concrete evidence can be supplied.
Although this position regarding material, or secular, issues is normally
admirable, it does not fully work for religious concerns. Purely by the human
definition of a Creator, one cannot ever seem to prove his existence because of
one major issue: the Creator transcends his creation. For some people, such as
myself, the real first-hand knowledge of the world can prove the existence of a
Creator [God] to me. However, many people have found that notional knowledge, a
knowledge based on faith, is the best that humans can achieve for this idea.
There are many who will even declare that conflicts between these two fields of
thought, science versus faith, will arise, but this is not so. My intellectual
faith tradition is Catholicism, and I have been able to discover the truth
about my religious views through my personal experiences with both science and
faith.
One of the main concepts that has spurred on my intellectual faith tradition
in “intelligo ut credam,” or “I understand so that I may believe.” I have always
found that belief cannot come without some prior knowledge, because faith
should not be a blind leap. William O’Malley adequately explains this by
commenting, “The greatest fear we have is the fear of being taken in, hoaxed”
(O’Malley 3). The quest for truth has thus enhanced my faith as a Catholic
because I feel that I am able to defend my faith much more effectively if I
have knowledge to back it up. It has also been a basic tenet of mine that God’s
existence can be proven. A comforting statement from the Church also tells me
this: “God...can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural
light of human reason” (Catechism 20). Perhaps I have been given the gift of
intellect in greater proportions than faith, then, because of how I go about my
search for the Ultimate.
The existence of God as the the ultimate value always seems to end up with
two distinct concepts, evolution and the Big Bang. It is here that I have to
always laugh, because it is so interesting to see how people quantify God and
put him into neat little boxes. Catholics don’t enter the equation many times,
but rather it is the creationists versus the atheists at this point. I honestly
do not see any conflict between science and faith concerning the idea of
evolution. This particular question is fitting of what author Sharon Begley
calls “the God of the gaps. This God is the One whom you offer in explanation
for the phenomena that otherwise have none” (Begley 75). This type of God
cannot exist now, however, because of the scientific evidence that we have
accumulated which support the theory of evolution (note that it is merely a theory). Yet, the evidence does not, as some will say,
extirpate God from the equation. Who is to say that God did not have some
intelligent plan for creating the complex organism that we now call the human?
I think that although Catholics have traditionally veered away from taking a
stand on this issue, it would be of great benefit to do so, because it is such
a hot topic in today’s society.
The issue of the Big Bang appears, to me, to be less complex and easier to
answer. There simply has to be a God because you cannot produce something from
nothing. Even pure scientists will agree with this, because it is the statement
of the Law of Conservation of Mass/Energy. After having talked with Mr. Drapeau
in my sophomore year, he gave me a book whose author has stated my beliefs in
both science and faith very well. He comments that “getting order out of chaos
without a Mind” is absurd (O’Malley 181). This is true; the universe on both
the micro- and macroscopic levels follows the same natural laws. My faith in a
First Cause that would have set all of this in motion is thus the only
defendable explanation for the creation of the cosmos.
Comparing these theological and scientific ideas to my own life, I will
utilize a simple example of my family’s iron-clad tradition at Christmas. Every
Christmas Eve we eat fondue, and it is normally a chance for us to gather
together before we go to evening mass. However, during the past two years,
because of my brother’s girlfriend’s vegetarian diet, we have included fish and
shrimp as well as meat. In this respect, we have kept our tradition constant,
yet we have also expanded it to include other ideas which are not conflicting
with our own; we have not lessened the validity of our Christmas meal any by
having the new food. I feel that if the Catholic Church were to take this
approach of expanding to seek the truth by incorporating some of the
aforementioned scientific ideas, then it would grow both in knowledge,
experience, and faith. The more that we can find out about ourselves, the
closer we will know God.
My intellectual faith tradition of Catholicism has presented me with
dilemmas of faith and science, but ultimately the two coexist. Without
knowledge, there is no reason to have faith, but ultimately faith will lead us
closer to God. It is our search for the truth that allows us to discover his
plans for us and how he wants us to live our lives. Maybe Mary can serve as the
ultimate representation for the dual correctness of faith and reason, because
she had first-hand knowledge of God (the angel Gabriel), but she also possessed
a great faith that let her fulfill her life when others challenged her about
her beliefs. God is the ultimate value, and I have come to know that this is
true because of my intellectual faith tradition.
The release of the movie Saving Private Ryan in 1998 sparked much controversy about how far films should go in
depicting battle. I found it interesting, however, that in a time in which
explicit displays of themes, whether it be violence, sex, or something else,
were prevalent, many people were outraged at the film’s content. Upon
reflection, I have found that the reason for this uproar was that the reality of the war as depicted in the movie was too much for
many people to handle. It is often much easier to accept make-believe ideas
because they show us situations which have no real moral repercussions on
ourselves. However, what Saving Private Ryan presented was the truth that evil was indeed present
on both sides (evident when Americans mercilessly shot the surrendering German
soldiers). Imagine, Americans, the “role models” for the world, being led into
the environment of sin; it’s hard to swallow. My intellectual faith tradition
has made it clear, however, that although we live with sin every day, we can
overcome its power and find grace with Jesus.
The Catholic tradition holds that man was essentially created good: “God
looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good” (Gen. 1:31). The
problem that arises is that man can actually go against his good nature because
of free will. Father O’Malley elucidates this as he comments, “There is one
interesting insight into what being human means: only human beings screw up”
(O’Malley 105). His premise is that the separator of man from beast is our
ability to think and actually commit immoral acts. I agree with this idea,
because man is the only creature that has decided to actively change his own
lifestyle and mess with his environment. Biologically speaking, the “lower”
life forms like bears or plants merely coexist with each other in the ecosystem;
man has so radically modified his world, however, that we aren’t just waiting
for evolution to take its toll, we are freely choosing the course of our lives.
This is what allows evil to permeate, though: our freedom to choose doesn’t
necessarily insure that our choices will be right.
The Catechism states that “To be human, ‘man’s response to God by faith must
be free’” (Catechism 49). We can choose to accept God and look for his grace,
or we can decide that we will turn away from him and find an alternate route.
When we turn away, that is when the environment of evil (our original sin)
becomes a dominant part of life. The temptation to follow this route is
immense, because, like the showing of the war movie, it is easier to accept
what makes us feel good. This is why it when I am confronted by friends who
question how man is good but does evil with such ease, it is simple for me to
comment that it is always easier to do that which requires little or no effort.
Take the game of basketball, for example. I played for six years on
recreational teams and three years on school teams, and the switch from
schoolyard ball to league play created new challenges. In street games, we
usually don’t have fouls; it’s just simpler that way. However, when playing in
a league, you have to be much more conscious of how you play. There are no
longer an unlimited amount of fouls; now you just get six and then you’re out.
Yet, everybody would prefer league play to street ball because the reward is
greater. This is much like the idea of sin: although it takes more
concentration to conquer sin, the reward of knowing God more fully is well
worth it. Although our capacity for evil is present, it has been subdued by our
capacity for greatness (Human Dilemma notes, 2/15/01).
The issue of sin in the world finally brings the topic of suffering into
light. The Church holds that suffering is a natural part of life, and I believe
that it is present for only one reason. If there were no oscillations between
joy and pain, then there would be no joy. I have heard it said that “if it
weren’t for the bad stuff, then the good stuff wouldn’t be so good.” This
doesn’t mean, however, that there must be sin in the world; rather, by our free
will and our nature, the capacity for sin must be present. Whether or not we
exercise evil intentions is up to us. The Catholic Church teaches that what
allows us to survive without sinning is God’s grace (New Look at Sin handout
1). I have found that in my life it is impossible for me to stop sinning
without Jesus.
Last summer I decided to give up cussing, which is difficult considering the
environment in which teens live. It was easy to do this when school was out and
I was hanging out with my friends from church, but once September came around I
fell back into the pit. It was more difficult for me to keep my goal in mind
when I wasn’t surrounded by people chasing God’s grace as I was. I have come to
understand that the only true salvation is thus through Jesus Christ. His death
on the cross served the purposes of cleansing not only the people of their
sins, but allowing us to see a role model for ourselves. By knowing that he was
indeed fully man, I can have faith that I, too, can keep myself on the path of
virtue. Whereas my hatred and anger comes out in unproductive ways, I can learn
from his examples of stifling vengeance for love of one another. Jesus said,
“To the man who strikes you on one cheek, turn and offer the other one as
well,” which does not preach subservience, but rather a means of rechanneling
our emotions for the better (Luke 6:29). When we face our problems [sins] with
the goal of resolution and not revenge, we come one step closer to salvation
and redemption.
The Catholic tradition tells us that man is free to do good or evil, and I
have found that this is what makes life so difficult. Man is the epitome of
creation, in that he has the ability to change both his own actions and the
environment in which he lives. The dilemma of the human person basically
resides within each of us, because if we actively seek out God, then the power
of sin will decrease in our lives. However, the first step is to acknowledge
that we have gone against God by sinning and, like after watching Saving
Private Ryan, accept that the world also
contains the seeds for sin. Only then will we be able to reform the lives of
ourselves and others through following the example and the teachings of Jesus
Christ.
Chapter 3: My Faith Community
Most of my life has been spent with the
understanding that Christians, particularly, Catholics, were the only religious
people who could go to heaven, and everybody else, regardless of how many good
deeds they do, will burn. This contains part truth, part horrible
discriminatory policy. Over the past four years, and most importantly the past
two, I have come to amend this belief of concrete, “black and white” judgment
to one that is more inclusive. Yet, this is not a conflicting argument with my
faith’s teachings, nor does it make it any easier for non-Christians to attain
salvation. It is still difficult, but I have found that in order to examine my
faith community as a Catholic, I must also take into account those of other
faiths which share common themes with my own. However, at the end of the day I
still know where I stand within my own faith, which offers the structure and
unity that allows for an experience with people both inside and outside of my
faith.
I had written that “the Catholic hierarchy and organization are needed to
maintain consistency within the faith” (Journal #29). Without a uniting
element, the faith would crumble and its message of truth would erode into what
individuals think will make them feel good. There are over 32,000 Christian
denominations with over 2 billion members, but Catholics account for about 1.1
billion of these in only one faith! The important point is that Catholicism
stays constant, whereas there are some denominations with fewer than 100
members, and these sects will all have different beliefs about what is true for
Christianity. When somebody within one of these decides to believe differently,
it is apparently permissible to leave and form one’s own denomination. The
problem with this is that it becomes less and less a matter of universal
salvation and more and more an issue of individuality. This is one reason why I
believe the recent Lutheran-Catholic assertions of common faith elements and
the Lutheran-Episcopalian merger is so important: there are millions of people
who are seeking to create dogmatic bonds rather than severing those already
present. The Catechism actually supports this, stating, “Through exchange with
others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethren, man develops his
potential” (Catechism 511). By communicating and striving to find common
ground, interfaith relations will improve and my own community will be
enriched.
One of the more interesting aspects of this interfaith exchange is how
non-Christians actually view Jesus. Last year in Newsweek there was an article
about different perceptions of Jesus for other faiths, and I found the that for
me to judge some of the men who were truly intellectual spiritual leaders was
not valid. The Dalai Lama said in the article, “In the Christian context you
may not use the same language, but you can say that you aspire to attain the
full perfection of the divine nature, or union with God” (Woodward 56). This
statement, although from a Buddhist, makes perfect sense for the Catholics in
the world: we all are trying to reach the same goal. This is why our hierarchy
and community become so important, too. Without them, we could not attain
fullness with God.
Some of the deepest ideas about my life and faith have been direct responses
to the leadership and organization of my faith. The Catechism states, “Every
human community needs an authority to govern it...The authority required by the
moral order derives from God” (Catechism 515-516). For me, the ability to
maintain an active role with regards to the Christmas and Easter masses at my
church is very special. With our previous pastor, very little was done to allow
for an awesome celebration. However, our new pastor is a fanatic about putting
on a show, and I have been altar serving and involved with pyrotechnics for St.
Thomas Aquinas for the past two years now. It is our priest’s new attitude
toward leadership that has enabled me to take part in my parish in simple ways
such as those. More importantly, though, the structure of the Church provides
its members with numerous avenues through which they can learn more about their
faith.
There are a few moments in my life in which a concept that I vigorously
opposed has been made clear to me, and one such epiphany deals with the idea
that was mentioned previously: heaven and hell. I understood that people
outside of Catholicism could get to heaven, but it didn’t make sense that major
sinners, no matter how hard they repented, would get the same treatment as
those who stayed truer to God’s plan. My pastor used an analogy of cups of
water to help me see the light. He said that two cups of different sizes will
hold different amounts of water, but they will both be full. In this way I came
to understand that people who are more saintly will experience God to a greater
degree than those who were not as pious, but both will be fulfilled with God.
If it were left for me to figure out, I probably would still be wrestling with
the idea; however, a leader in my community was there when I needed assistance,
and thus my spiritual knowledge and experience have been accelerated and
deepened.
The presence of a community with people who are willing and able to guide me
through my spiritual quest is essential. I have found that I can always turn to
my pastors for guidance, but that it is also important for me to engage in
dialogue with others so that I can reach out to them. The mission of
Catholicism is not merely to create a group of people who are right in regards
to the truth about God, but to provide others with knowledge of God so that
they can come to gain a deeper understanding of the world’s unity, instead of
focusing on its disarray.
Chapter 4: Action: What My Synthesis Calls Me To Do
As a kid, I remember hearing adults
telling my friends and me to make sure that we do certain things so that we can
ensure a productive future for ourselves. It always felt like they were telling
me to fill in the spaces or else I would fail. Sometimes I listened to them,
like when I was directed to participate in service activities, and other times
I disregarded their advice, such as when I was told to think about the
priesthood in eighth grade. What I have learned over the past four years at
Brophy is that I should not be pursuing a career that is in the interests of
others, but rather in the interests of myself. My whole life is not to be lived
as a composite of others’ fantasies or dreams. Ultimately, my mission in life
is to find a job that will both fulfill my aspirations and give back to those
who gave me the opportunities I have had.
Throughout my life I have been told that I have a vast array of talents. In
fact, I have probably tried just about every kind of opportunity for work,
sports, or academics that are out there. The problem will be for me to sort out
what I am the best at and then decide if that aspect of my life is something
which I would like to use for my career. From sixth grade until the end of
sophomore year I delved into computer programming. The allure of money and the
massive numbers of openings in the technology sector had helped propel me in
becoming a master in one particular computer language. However, at the end of sophomore
year, I basically decided that I hated programming. Honestly, I will be more
than happy if I never have to look at another line of code on a computer screen
ever again. Even though one of my programs is used as the cornerstone of the
primary income-generating service activity that my boy scout troop conducts
year-round, the glory of programming that I once saw has faded.
Perhaps another reason for this is that when people like to do an activity,
they prefer it to be a diversion from work. Once that activity becomes work, it
loses its flavor. For example, I play guitar and piano with my friends and I
learn on my own. I have recorded a CD of some solo songs that I played for
piano, but I could not consider music as my full-time job. Rhythm guitarist James
Hetfield of Metallica commented, “Make music your love instead of your work,”
which serves to embody the idea that a job shouldn’t be something that you do
necessarily for fun (Rotfeld 12). Otherwise, you would have nothing as a hobby
to which you could retreat after work. Yet, this idea also has a flaw for me. I
do not want a job that is merely work, I think it should take you someplace and
be fulfilling.
I have often felt a call to be in some sort of teaching position because of
the fact that I am good at getting others to understand concepts. In a way,
this has been the position that has constantly been jostled around in my head
whenever I wonder about my future career. The more that I consider it, too, the
more I discover that it actually would allow me to achieve the goals that I
have for my life. Teaching a course in math or science would allow me to still
harness my natural ability to understand complex ideas, while also giving back
to the community that allowed me to achieve such success. The most common dream
along this path that I have is to return to Brophy after I receive my master’s
degree and work in tandem with Mr. Whitehead to teach calculus. Such a career
would thus permit direct contact between myself and those who helped me along
in my life.
Another consideration for my future action in living out my synthesis is how
my profession will impact my faith. Any job which causes me to lose touch with
Catholicism will be a huge blow to my personal and spiritual well-being because
instead of working to bring God’s message to others, I will be allowing them to
take it from me. What I would rather become is a person who possesses a job
that allows him to function as a better Christian being. The Oaxaca immersion
trip before junior year was one of the best experiences of my life because I
was able to see that I had helped people in a way that promoted social justice.
Whereas other programs only ask for donations of money at specified intervals,
actually being present in the lives of the people I helped brought more
satisfaction to them and me than could a regular monetary gift.
In the same manner I have been active for the past two years in the Calculus
Club, which I believe is one of the greatest service organizations on campus.
What sets the Calc Club apart is that, as students, we conduct every action of
the club, most important of which is that we actually gather, sort, and
physically arrive at the families’ residences to give them the supplies and
gifts which we have purchased and donated. Thus, a connection opens up between
those that we help and our own personal lives. The “Principles of Economic
Justice,” issued by the U.S. Bishops, states that “All people...have a
corresponding duty...to contribute to the broader society...By our choices,
initiative, creativity, and investment, we enhance or diminish...opportunity,
community life, and social justice,” and this statement exemplifies much of
what I hope to achieve in my future (Economic Justice handout). If my
profession or vocation is not fulfilling the basic tenets of God’s law, which
are basically summed up in the previous statement, then I cannot expect it to
fulfill my own life.
Looking into my future from the standpoints of vocation and faith, the final
implication of the afterlife becomes apparent. If one lives his life as a
Catholic, upholds the teachings of God, and uses them for the betterment of
humanity, the eternal reward is heaven. However, straying from this path will
lead to hell and eternal punishment, which is separation from God and other
people. I do not know, nor will I even endeavor to conceive, how the last
judgment will occur, but I do know that it involves the act of our own free
will as humans. We do not get sent to hell, we send ourselves there: “Were God
to override decisions freely made by creatures, human freedom becomes a
sham...We must be allowed the possibility of making a wrong choice even in
something so definitive as our destiny” (Marthaler 209). The Catechism even
declares that “The state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God
and the blessed is called ‘hell’” (Catechism 292). Thus, the choices that we
make in life are directly linked to our existence after life on earth.
Therefore, the path that I choose for my career and my life can either lead me
closer to God, or it can promote, by my own free choice, the severing of ties
with him.
Conclusion: My Systematic Apologia
Although this synthesis has led me to question many parts of my faith and has
introduced me to new ways of understanding, my basic outlook on life is one of
optimism. I still hope that humanity will find peace someday and that men will
discover that serving others is more fulfilling than pursuing personal
aggrandizement. I possess this hope because of the incidents in my life that
have shown beyond doubt that there is a God, and that he does care about us. My
Kairos experience, though late in senior year, has shown me that I have missed
God’s works throughout much of this past year because I have been searching for
the proverbial “bolt of lightning.” In reality, I have found God in the lives
of my family and friends, both old and new from Kairos.
This faith is not difficult to defend or explain when I talk with those
around me. In fact, many people I meet who do not hold religious views exhibit
the trademarks of people who are in denial about God’s existence; they will say
one thing, yet believe another. However, I generally delineate the basic tenets
of Catholicism to anyone who inquires about it, and then follow this up with
the evidence that I have gathered from personal experience to explain why I
have faith in God. I think that the consistency which I maintain throughout
this synthesis, especially with respect to the creation hypotheses, serves to
show that I have explored the contrasting views to my faith so that I may
combat them. The more that I have understood about human nature, the less I
have found that I have doubts about God and his plan for us. Each of us is in
the same boat, but what determines our faith is how we perceive the world
around us. These perceptions do not impact the truth about God’s existence, but
they do impact our reasons for hope. I am just happy that I hope not because
the world is horrible and I would like it to be better, but rather because of
the potential for an even greater good to come from those who inhabit it,
namely us.
Works Cited
Begley, Sharon. “Looking For God’s Hand in the Universe.” Catholic Digest. Ed.
Richard J.
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DiGregorio, Kevin. “Can Your Faith Make You Well?” Catholic Digest. Ed. Richard
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“Human Dilemma.” Discussion notes from Synthesis class. Feb. 15, 2001.
Kellems, Tony. “Journal #29.” April 2, 2001.
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Rotfeld, Arthur. The Art of James Hetfield. New York: Cherry Lane Music
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U.S. Bishops. “Economic Justice For All.” Class handout (AP Economics).
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