When the deadly, billowing, mushroom- shaped cloud signifying the explosion of the atomic bomb surged skyward over Bikini Atoll, it marked the opening of another chapter in the history of man\u27s attempts to control the universe. Small, weak, and insignificant though he appeared when contrasted to the unlimited expanse of the cosmos, that branch of the animal world known as man had now tightened and extended his control over the universe. Is it any wonder that his chest swelled with pride as he contemplated his latest achievement of power? Is he to blame for suddenly wondering if he could not someday gain absolute control over the universe

Bowles, Robert

Digital Commons @ Butler University

The Dilemma Of FaithROBERT BOWLESWhen the deadly, billowing, mush-room-shaped cloud signifying the explosionof the atomic bomb surged skyward overBikini Atoll, it marked the opening of an-other chapter in the history of man'sattempts to control the universe. Small,weak, and insignificant though he appearedwhen contrasted to the unlimited expanseof the cosmos, that branch of the animalworld known as man had now tightenedand extended his control over the universe.Is it any wonder that his chest swelledwith pride as he contemplated his latestachievement of power? Is he to blame forsuddenly wondering if he could not some-day gain absolute control over theuniverse?Is it a ludicrous picture, this scene inwhich a tiny man on a small segment ofthe cosmos suddenly decides that he canbecome master of the universe, and con-sequently denies his belief in an a11-powerful, loving, guiding God - deniesthe one power around which his whole lifehas centered for centuries? Is it possiblethat by slowly untangling natural lawsman has proven what a few skeptics havelong maintained, that the world and theuniverse are governed only by a materialforce - or worse, no force at all? Hasman at last usurped the power of God,only to discover that there is no God butonly a complicated mass of mathematicalformulae?Following a century of scientificadvance into the unknown, the civilizationof today is asking these questions, and thesbstract thoughts of a few philosophersconcerning immortality and God have be-come the questions of all men. Moreover,it appears that we can no longer clingblindly to the guiding hand of the churchas was our custom a century or so back,for while the church is the same, man andhis accomplishments .have gone on. Theanswers of yesterday do not seem to ·fit thequestions of today. And so every manmust try to answer these questions for him-self, in his own way. To do this, he musteventually dwell upon the following lineof thought:As we look about us, we see the earth,a tiny speck in the gigantic space of theuniverse. Science pictures th7 cosmos asa vast, precise, mechanical system regu-lated by mathematical formulae andnatural, impersonal laws. It is a picturewhich remains the same for all ages - apicture of an immutable universe controlledby fixed, unvarying laws. With this pic-turs in mind, it is hard to conceive of aGod. It appears that the laws of the uni-verse must be obeyed, and these laws seemdesigned only for the physical universe;they operate unaware of man and often indirect conflict with his life. Man seems tobe the enemy of the universe, fighting forthe right to live amidst a terrifically com-petitive system. Therefore, any acts ofman are essentially dictated by a desire forself -preserva tion.Carrying this idea further, we. drawour picture of civilization. Men havebanded together for protection, and havedeveloped an ordered way of life in orderto survive. Society merely reduces com-petition among men, so that they maypresent a.united front in their fight againstthe universe. The cosmos then, as it ishere conceived, contains no basis for moral-ity or ethics. The harsh laws of self-nreservatlcn ~pg 1l1,IJ:Yivlill of the fittest-8-·_----------------_ ..._ieave no ground for morality or ethics.But at this point man is confrontedwith the evidence of morality and ethicsin himself. It is apparent that there existswithin us an ethical tendency which doesnot come from obeying the laws of nature.We then decide that this conception ofmorality is a growth brought about throughour evolution; that is, as we have becomemore civilized, morality has become a partof our outlook. However, in accepting thisexplanation, we are presented with a newproblem. The facts of evolution explainthe presence of good and evil, but theycan not prove that one is more desirablethan the other - they merely show thegradual development of the two ideas.Man then wonders where his real sense ofright and wrong came from.When we reach this point in our rea-soning, we are forced to face the idea thatthis sense of right and wrong might havecome through divine revelation. Andh.ence we are face to face with the powerof a God which we thought we had dis-carded. We also see that even as men inthe past were not .in possession of all thefacts with which we have to reason, so itis undoubtedly true that we ourselves arenot in possession of all the truths of theuniverse. We see that much remainshidden to us. Still, we cannot help but. wonder if an omnipotent and completelyjust power controls the universe, evenwhile we realize that at this point mereconjecture alone is possible; we cannotprove that God does exist, neither can weprove that God does not exist. But wefeel that we must draw some logical con-clusion, even if it is mere speculation.The first step in our speculation is todecide upon whether or not the universeis governed by some force. In surveyingthe complicated and yet precise movementof the universe, it seems logical to assumethat some great force does direct it. Butis this force a personal force which posses-ses absolute control over the universe, withpower to change its laws; or is this forceimpersonal, fixed, and constant, withoutthe power to vary its course? In speculat-ing upon this question, man sees that ifthe latter view of an impersonal force isaccepted, he must admit that it mattersnot what he does through life as his exist-ence is pre-determined by set, naturallaws. Immediately all meaning and pur-pose vanish from life, and man is left amechanically-controlled and directed pathto follow. But man may rebel at thisexplanation, and decide upon a personalforce which possesses absolute control overthe cosmos, with power to vary its laws.If such a force does exist, he may rea-son, then man could be created withouttendencies toward evil. (This wouldmerely mean the instituting of a uniformidea in the minds of men by which theywould all see alike on moral issues.) Butif man were created without tendenciestoward evil, his life would have to followonly one path. Man would be a robot,with his course through life already plottedfor him. And every man would have thesame course to follow. Therefore, at thispoint man conceives of an omnipotent forcewhich leaves to him his own choice as tothe path he will follow in his development .Man has developed the idea of "free will"- the idea that he can manage his ownlife within the sphere of certain naturallaws as he wishes, without interferencefrom this personal, controlling force. Then,naturally, man is held responsible for hisown actions.Having developed this idea of "freewill" and having accepted a belief in anomnipotent power, man logically concludesthat every person should have an equalplace from which to start his life. But as-9-we look around us, we see that heredityand environment determine to a greatextent the path that our lives will take.It seems that the directing force has merelysurrendered its power over man to thewhims and dictates of chance or fate.Consequently, it appears to make no differ-ence what we do with our lives, as theyare seemingly governed only by fate.Here, confronted again with conflict-ing evidence as to the existence of anomnipotent force - a God - man has onlyone ground left to fall back on. He mustrely on faith. And so, in a sense, the guid-ing hand of the church still exists for man.But is this faith a mere subterfuge on thepart of man to keep his belief in his per-sonal immortality from wavering? Is itsomething which he uses to fill the gapingholes made by his own doubts, to beaccepted without question, or inquiry, orreason? Or does faith actually exist as anunexplainable capacity of man in anapparently contradictory universe, eventhough man may never use this capacity?It is possible for man to conceive of a.world of the senses too remote for hisfeeble brain to comprehend. Few of theworld's population has seen the microscopicworld of the microbe or the immeasureableextent of space; yet this does not maketheir existence untrue. For centuries theworld of the bacteria flourished, uncon-, ceived and undiscovered by man, and yetit did exist. Since the beginning of timethe atom has contained its enormous storeof energy, yet this energy has only recentlybeen discovered. But when man thinksabout God, doubts creep into his mind.Why? The only logical conclusion thatman can draw about an omnipotent force- or a God - is that faith is necessary inorder to believe. And we realize that whenwe do understand all the truths of theuniverse, we will cease to exist in ourpresent form. But the capacity of faith inman allows us to believe things which wecan never know as facts in this life.When man acknowledges within him-self, much as he may suppress or deny it,the secret belief of a God, and the undyinghope of immortality, he also admits thatfaith exists. And as no two men are alikein every respect, so it must be true thatthey differ in their capacity for faith. Butthe faith does exist.The picture is still the same to ourscientific generation, and the power of theatomic bomb still rests in the hands ofman. But this power is dwarfed by apower which comes to us over the centuries- the power of faith, faith in a kind, just,all-powerful God. And only when manceases to speculate upon his own immor-tality wilI this faith die.10-

The Dilemma Of Faith

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The Dilemma Of Faith

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