Admittedly some of the teachings of Catholic Christianity can sound bizarre, if not ridiculous. For example, the Trinity is about 3 Divine Persons in one God, yet not three gods, only One, but they’re all One Being, and yet still Three. You get a headache trying to figure it out.

Jesus is one of those Three, fully human (except in sin) and fully God, but not half of either. Not a demigod like Hercules. All God, yet all human.

Mary! Herself immaculately conceived, and also remaining a virgin after giving birth to Jesus. Just how is that possible? A virgin birth is a contradiction.

The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is another. How can something that looks like a little white cookie be Jesus Christ, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity? Just because the priest says a few words, exactly like Jesus did? Looks like a cookie…

The Resurrection of the dead is another. You die, and perhaps centuries or millennia later, you will come to life again?

All this is either true or the biggest con game invented. So much seemingly ridiculous illogical beliefs all gathered together in one philosophy should have died out centuries ago, collapsing under the weight of it own silliness.

But it didn’t. In fact, people have shed their blood for Christianity, convinced of its Truth.

Philosophies that are inherently illogical and irrational tend to die out. They may persist for centuries, but never attracting a large sustainable following for long, relative to other ideas.

But nearly a third of this planet is Christian. That’s about 2 billion people.

Are they all nuts?

No, because as incredulous as Christianity sounds, most of those 2 billion believe in the fundamental Truths of Christianity. There is an underlying conviction of the truthfulness of Christianity’s teachings.

This conviction is that God Himself is teaching us through Christianity things about Him and how to live in accord with His will.

This is where Christianity (along with its elder brother Judaism) differ from all other world religions. Judeo-Christianity is the only revealed religion, all others derive their teachings from wise, intelligent and charismatic people.

But, all the other world’s religions are fully understandable by humans. Their philosophy may be extensive and eloquent, but they never contain anything that’s virtually impossible to wrap one’s mind around like Christianity does.

This inability to be fully understood, the idea that seemingly irrational concepts can be true is, in my opinion, the Truth of Christianity.

In short, IF IT CAN BE UNDERSTOOD, IT IS FROM HUMANS; IF IT CANNOT, THEN IT IS FROM GOD.

What does that mean? A human-originated philosophy can be comprehended by humans. A philosophy coming from God will contain the essence of God’s nature and His ways that can never be completely understood by people. It is illogical and not very humble to presume that mere human intellect can probe the mysteries of the Divine and comprehend it. Our ability to comprehend is limited by our physical and temporal nature. We exist only for a limited period of time and our physical powers are not omnipotent. God is eternal and is not subject to the laws of science and reason that He created.

Science is like this. Science is the rational and logical study and exploration of nature, from the vastness of space to the minute levels of the subatomic world. God created the world and everything else, He laid down the laws of science to keep it in motion. Is science easy to understand? No. If you study science, then you study God, through His works. Science explores God through the physical realm; religion and spirituality explores God through the non-physical realm. If you find it difficult to comprehend science, why would you feel it easy to understand God and His ways?

How does this relate to sober alcoholics? Try the next time someone tell you that you don’t need God or organized religion. Just think of what you know about Jesus and ask, “What is a better way to achieve sobriety and salvation? A human idea that can come and go, shift and change with the passing fancies of human whims, or an idea revealed by God Himself, the eternal and perfect?”

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside.”
Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?
For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Edited 10:26 PM 12 June 2007

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