Unlikely!

Two very good friends. One has gone to church with me for more than 3 years, another has invited me to Catholic Mass and I reciprocate. Both gave me for my 23rd books that are unlikely to be accepted by modern christianity.

By "christianity" I mean it with a small letter C, the version that is popular among many churches and youth groups today. The version where you distrust Science and the intellect and despise the homosexuals; the kind where you spend a lot of time on visions and tongues. I believe it to be significantly influenced by the ongoings in "evangelical" America.

I believe true faith withstands intellectual tests.

I've come to the understanding that were we to believe in a God, we must accept that this God, with the capital letter G, is infinite. This means that God is bigger than we can conceive. And he is bigger than our perceptions, society's perceptions, and maybe even doctrine. But this I understand to be a discomforting thought for many.

We could choose to pigeonhole God and feel safe about it, but we kill the big letter G. Or you could choose to embark on the deep dark dangerous ride with the Almighty. It's your choice. Are you ready for the rough and tumble?

Anyway, enough of that. THANK YOU FRIENDS!! Really good stuff. Must thank the family too for all their clothes and other goodies.

Some notable excerpts:

"Science, man's greatest intellectual adventure, has rocked his faith and engendered dreams of a material Utopia. at its most abstract, science shades into philosophy; at its most practical, it cures disease. It has eased our lives and threatened our existence. It aspires, but in some very basic ways fails, to understand the ant and the Creation, the infinitesimal atom and the mind bludgeoning immensity of the cosmos."

And then...

"Another childhood remembrance: on the train journey from Leipzig in 1860 I saw my mother naked"

Says it all.