The Reason of God

This is only tangentially related to politics, but I enjoyed the insight.

I listen to Dennis Prager on podcast. His slogans: Clarity before Agreement, and First Tell the Truth, then Give Your Opinion resonate with me.

He values reason, is very logical, is precise in explaining his positions, and is brilliant at debunking Liberal arguments.

But the single most important thing he ever said was almost a throw away...in a discussion about worshiping God he said that "Acknowledging that there is a Power greater than yourself is an act of worship."

The reason this was so important to me is that I am a fervent child of America. I believe in individualism, freedom, equality (in the Constitutional sense!), and I take them very seriously. Indeed, some might say I take them to the extreme. The result is that I often found the idea of worship in the ordinary sense an offense against my sovereignty of self.

I just couldn't square the American Cowboy ideal of self-reliance and individuality with the Religious Uriah Heep ideal of obsequious adoration and currying favor. It creeps me out. (I know that's not a fair representation...but it's how it feels to me. I can't really say "Lord" with any conviction.)

But when Prager said that the acknowledgment of a higher power is in itself an act of worship, it changed the whole landscape, and made worship possible without diminishing the American Cowboy character.

Totally do-able.

What followed was reading a book recommended by Glenn Beck, The 5000 Year Leap, in which was chronicled the Founders' recognition of Natural Law as the basis for the rights enumerated both in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The author, Cleon Skousen explains how Natural Law leads one to recognize that Reason, the unique faculty of man, is the quality he shares with the Creator. He posits that Reason is that which makes man "Made in the Image of God."

He further posits (as does the Catholic Pope, whom I failed to understand when he said it), that employing our Reason is our duty to God.

Accordingly, it is not ornate rituals, or endless prayers that please God...but that man should employ the divine gift that makes him unique in creation: Reason. And that by doing so, he will find and identify goodness and truth.

It explains the moral codes that are always part of the religions of all civilized cultures. They all had something like the equivalent of the Ten Commandments—because they are perfectly discoverable by Reason—and to know human nature is to understand their wisdom.

What is Good and what is True can be determined by Reason. And to use Reason in their pursuit is to worship the creator, i.e., live a "religious" life, which in turn makes their discovery more meaningful. It ceases to be merely a personal journey (that sometimes you wonder why you're on it when you could be at the mall or in Hawaii or at the bar). It's significant. It matters. It's a pilgrimage. It's a Mission from God!

And that gives one strength, and hope, and faith.

And that's a very good thing.

The Gunslinger