Excerpt from A.W. Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy
(Chapter 5: "The Self-Existence of God"):
"The human mind, being created, has an understandable uneasiness about the Uncreated. We do not find it comfortable to allow for the presence of One who is wholly outside of the circle of our familiar knowledge. We tend to be disquieted by the thought of One who does not account to us for His being, who is responsible to no one, who is self-existent, self-dependent and self-sufficient."
"Philosophy and science have not always been friendly toward the idea of God, the reason being that they [philosophy and science] are dedicated to the task of accounting for things and are impatient with anything that refuses to give an account of itself. The philosopher and the scientist will admit that there is much that they do not know; but that is quite another thing from admitting that there is something which they can never know, which indeed they have no technique for discovering. To admit that there is One who lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries: this requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage Him. Yet how He eludes us! For He is everywhere while He is nowhere, for "where" has to do with matter and space, and God is independent of both. He is unaffected by time or motion, is wholly self-dependent and owes nothing to the worlds His hands have made."
Reader Response:
Thoughts? Comments?
Thoughts? Comments?
Feel free to share below.
I agree, I think there is something of a clash, but I think that these three disciplines can be reconciled. After all, that's the premise of this blog! In fact, I think scientific discovery can indeed lead us to the Uncreated, and so can philosophy. (Of course, in the end Theology maintains the dominant role in this threesome).
I think it would be better put that there is a clash between Theologians, Philosophers, and Scientists.