Beetles and Thunderstorms by Jim McGuiggan

https://web.archive.org/web/20160426090843/http://jimmcguiggan.com/nonbelievers2.asp?id=30

Beetles and Thunderstorms

Believers and non-believers are both humans and have to live with the limitations that come with being human. However difficult it is do we need to retain some degree of modesty. Even if the believer knew beyond the possibility of doubt that there is a God who has shown himself to us in and as Jesus Christ it wouldn't follow that she knew everything about that God. It's amusing (and occasionally irritating) to hear people talk as if they had a direct line with God who tells them everything he thinks about everything. And no matter what they decide to do or say or think, it appears that God has given them explicit instructions in the matter. Must be nice to have that kind of assurance. It's almost amusing to hear some non-believers speak in the same oracular fashion. They don't profess to have an omniscient advisor but they speak as if with their own intellectual powers they all the answers. It's true that not all believers or non-believers are like this but there are enough of us to go around.

I'm sure we aren't to live as if we can't be sure of anything! G.K. Chesterton rightly chided those whose modesty wouldn't allow them to assert that 2+2=4 but in between that and speaking as though we had universal knowledge there is a great chasm.

A beetle born during a thunderstorm and dying before it ended might not have a balanced view of creation. Presumably adult humans will be able to acknowledge the reality of the storm but put it in perspective.

Maybe it's all right to make our judgements provisional. Maybe it's okay to speak with firmness and conviction while still acknowledging that new truths might lead us to re-think our conclusions or at least to reshape them a bit. Isn't that what we hear when Jesus the Christ said both, "Judge righteous judgements" and "Judge not"?

Being a convinced believer in Jesus Christ I speak (or at least try to) with conviction but if it could be proved that Jesus didn't rise I'd have to confess that my faith is vain and my gospel is nonsense. Maybe a long "conversation" with the biblical Christ would lead a non-believer to rethink his or her conclusions. Maybe one tiny life, even a sincere tiny life, isn't grounds enough to close the door to God.