many maps, one treasure

As I have progressed through these five reasons for believing in God, I suspect that one or two may have resonated with you more than the others. This was to be expected, given the varied backgrounds among us. Unfortunately, the tendency sometimes is for the religious seeker to become concerned if he or she cannot embrace all five of them. I want to correct this misunderstanding once and for all. What the reader must realize is that the numerous arguments for God's existence (one writer has listed two dozen of them) are not like a series of sums leading to one right answer. They are not linked in sequence so that one bad one ruins the whole equation. They are more like separate maps to the same treasure. If only one of them is right, the treasure exists. 

In a sense, I have given you five maps to the treasure of God's existence. Some of them may have led you to a dead end. You may have had to turn back and try the other ones. But if any has led you to that treasure, it matters not if the others failed you. You have sought and embraced the reality of God. Instead of worrying about the maps that did not work, a time for celebrating the one that did would seem the proper course.

My advice to you, then, is to become acquainted with the five arguments given in this book and others alluded to elsewhere, latch on to one or two that ring true to you, and quit worrying that you have left the others behind.

                                                            -5 Reasons: Why I Still Believe in God (Day 59)


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  • faith and tension - Mar 9
  • Genesis: the main point - Mar 8
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