Jour : 1 juillet 2020

Reasoning by the absurd; Do you know what it is? I imagine not! Be assured, I do not know much either. I just know that the word absurd means: that has no sense. So, for me, the reasoning by the absurd will be to make sense with what has no sense. Come on, let us try this new technique… 

Many people think that the existence of God is absurd; something that does not make sense, do you see what I mean? And the arguments they put forward are varied; but usually some often come: 

– there is too much evil on earth

– there is too much misery and suffering on earth

– there is too much injustice and oppression on earth…

In short, we point out all that is negative in existence to refute the existence of God. But, does the existence of these things mentioned above prove the inexistence of God?

Imagine that suddenly we find ourselves in a house. It is winter and the heating system is bad; awfully bad. And we feel cold; very cold. Then comes summer, it is the turn of the ventilation system to malfunction; and it is hot, extremely hot. When it rains, water comes in through the roof. Then, when it is windy, the wind enters the house through breaches on the door and windows. Are we going to conclude that the house did not have a builder? Of course not! It seems either that the owner of the house is negligent, or that the tenants before us have poorly maintained the premises …

So, all that we have mentioned above, evil, misery, suffering, injustice, oppression, do not prove the inexistence of God, but rather the existence of an evil force which produces them. Because sometimes these things happen in a way that is beyond our comprehension.

Now, let us reason by the absurd: it is established logically that we always need two opposite elements to create a balance. For example, when a force is exerted on us, trying to destabilize us, we react with a contrary force at least equal, if not superior, to that which is exerted on us: this force is called resistance.  

We know that hot reduces the effects of cold; that we need water to put out the fire, and I can give you many other examples of the sort … So, if from the visible elements of this existence we can prove the existence of an evil force, then , to oppose it there is necessarily a non-malefic force; people just don’t know where to look for it or how to find it, mostly because of their paradigms…

What is a paradigm?

The paradigm is a word that has at least 5 definitions, some more complicated than the others. We will keep it simple and say that the paradigm is a point of view common to all on a given subject. This point of view is so strong, and so blinding that most of the time it prevents from nuancing situations.

One of the greatest paradigms in the world is this statement: God is good and merciful to everyone. Another great paradigm is this statement: God is just for everyone.  

Because in people’s minds these statements have no nuance, it is enough that an unfortunate event happens to them for them to doubt the existence of God. It is enough that they suffer an injustice for them to question the existence of God. Because they say to themselves, if God is good, merciful, and just for everyone as they say, and if He is creator and Master of the universe as they still say, why would these negative things happen to them?

Let us try to nuance a bit the situations and see how to consider our paradigms. Many people ignore, or want to ignore, that God has an opponent; most of the time it is he who acts when things go wrong. Well, I can hear people say, “It is too easy to accuse the opponent of God; but Himself, why does He let it happen, if He is Almighty as they say?  »   

Well, imagine that you live in a dangerous city. That your life can be at risk at any time. You use a security officer to protect you, and he tells you: my protection services are free, but only I work alone. The day you contact another security agency, our contract ends. Tell me, would he protect you if you disobey this clause in the contract? Would he protect you effectively if it gives you guidelines to follow but that you break them? This security officer, because he is good, said to you:  » When you will not respect a clause in our contract, I will leave you in uncertainty for a time; and as soon as you respect it again, I will protect you again.» If during the period in which a misfortune happened to you, you were not under the protection of your security agent because of non-compliance with your contract, would you say that he is mean? Or would you say he does not exist?    

God is that security manager!

Now let us talk about justice; and there, it is much simpler! God is fair to everyone, it is said, but when some are confronted with injustice, they find that God does not exist. 

We will take once more the example of our manager of security ; you sign a contract where one of the clauses says this : “ When you face injustice, stay calm and make me a private complaint; the rest is my business. « If it happens that you do face injustice, and you complain to everyone in the public square, without following the instructions of your security man, would he solve your problem? And if he does not, does that mean he does not exist?   

And that is how it goes. We complain to everyone about what is happening to us, without thinking of doing it to God first, then waiting for His reaction; normal that He does not answer us!

So, if we recap: some people think that God does not exist because the god they made in their heads, or through their paradigms does not exist. A Book teaches who is God: it is The Bible! This is the contract where the clauses necessary for total protection in a risky world are written!  

Be blessed my brothers!

Le raisonnement par l’absurde ; savez-vous ce que c’est ? J’imagine que non ! Rassurez-vous, moi non plus je n’en sais pas grand-chose. Je sais juste que le mot absurde signifie : qui n’a pas de sens. Alors pour moi, le raisonnement par l’absurde sera de faire un sens avec ce qui n’a pas de sens. Allez, on va essayer cette nouvelle technique…

Beaucoup de gens pensent que l’existence de Dieu est une absurdité ; une chose qui n’a pas de sens, quoi ! Et les arguments qu’ils avancent sont variés ; mais le plus souvent certains reviennent comme :

– il y a trop de mal sur la terre

– il y a trop de misère et de souffrances sur la terre

– il y a trop d’injustice et d’oppression sur la terre…

Bref, on pointe tout ce qui est négatif dans l’existence pour réfuter l’existence de Dieu. Mais, est-ce que l’existence de ces choses citées plus haut prouvent l’inexistence de Dieu ?

Imaginons que subitement on se retrouve dans une maison. C’est l’hiver et le chauffage marche mal ; très mal, et on a froid ; très froid. Puis vient l’été, c’est au tour du système de ventilation de mal fonctionner ; et on a chaud, très chaud. Lorsqu’il pleut, l’eau rentre par le toit. Puis, lorsqu’il vente, le vent rentre dans la maison par des brèches sur la porte et les fenêtres. Va-t-on conclure que la maison n’a pas eu de constructeur ? Bien sûr que non ! On dirait soit que, le propriétaire des lieux est négligent, soit que les locataires avant nous ont mal entretenus les lieux…

Donc, tous ce que nous avons cités plus haut, le mal, la misère, la souffrance, l’injustice, l’oppression, ne prouvent pas l’inexistence de Dieu, mais plutôt l’existence d’une force maléfique qui les produit. Car parfois ces choses arrivent d’une façon qui dépasse notre entendement.

Maintenant, raisonnons par l’absurde : il est établi de façon logique qu’on a toujours besoin de deux éléments contraires pour créer un équilibre. Par exemple, lorsqu’une force s’exerce sur nous, essayant de nous déstabiliser, nous réagissons avec une force contraire au moins égale, si non supérieure, à celle qui s’exerce sur nous : cette force s’appelle la résistance.

Nous savons que le chaud diminue les effets du froid ; qu’on a besoin d’eau pour éteindre le feu, et je peux vous citer beaucoup d’autres exemples du genre… Donc, si à partir des éléments visibles de cette existence on peut prouver l’existence d’une force maléfique, alors, pour l’opposer il y a forcément une force non maléfique ; les gens ne savent juste pas où aller la chercher, ni comment la trouver, la plupart du temps à cause de leurs paradigmes…

C’est quoi un paradigme ?

Le paradigme est un mot qui a au moins 5 définitions, les unes plus compliquées que les autres. Nous allons faire simple et dire que le paradigme est un point de vue commun à tous sur un sujet donné. Ce point de vue est si fort, et si aveuglant que la plupart du temps il empêche de nuancer les situations.

L’un des plus grands paradigmes dans le monde est cette affirmation : Dieu est bon et miséricordieux envers tout le monde. Un autre grand paradigme est cette affirmation : Dieu est juste pour tout le monde.

Parce que dans la tête des gens ces affirmations n’ont aucune nuance, il suffit qu’il leur arrive un évènement malheureux pour qu’ils doutent de l’existence de Dieu. Il suffit qu’ils subissent une injustice pour qu’ils remettent en cause l’existence de Dieu. Car se disent-ils, si Dieu est bon, miséricordieux et juste pour tout le monde comme on le dit, et s’il est créateur et Maître de l’univers comme encore on le dit, pourquoi ces choses négatives leur arriveraient-elle ?

Essayons de nuancer un peu les situations, et voyons comment considérer nos paradigmes. Beaucoup de gens ignorent, ou veulent ignorer que Dieu a un opposant ; la plupart du temps c’est lui qui agit lorsque les choses vont mal. Bon je peux entendre les gens dire : « c’est trop facile d’accuser l’opposant de Dieu ; mais Lui-même, pourquoi laisse-t-il faire, s’Il est Tout-puissant comme on le dit ? »

Eh bien, imaginez que vous vivez dans une ville dangereuse. Que votre vie peut être en menacée à tout moment. Vous faites recours à un responsable de sécurité pour vous protéger, et celui-ci vous dit : mes services de protection sont gratuits mais seulement je travaille seul. Le jour où vous contactez une autre agence de sécurité, notre contrat prends fin. Dites-moi, vous protègerait-il si vous désobéissez à cette clause du contrat ? Vous protègerait-il efficacement s’il vous donne des directives à suivre mais que vous les enfreignez ? Ce responsable de sécurité, parce qu’il est bon, vous dit : « Lorsque vous ne respecterez pas une clause de notre contrat, alors je vous abandonnerai dans l’insécurité pour un temps ; et dès que vous la respecterez à nouveau, je reprendrai mes services auprès de vous. » Si pendant la période où il vous est arrivé un malheur vous n’étiez pas sous la protection de votre agent de sécurité à cause du non-respect de votre contrat, diriez-vous de lui qu’il est méchant ? Ou bien diriez-vous qu’il n’existe pas ?

Dieu est ce responsable de sécurité-là !

Maintenant parlons de justice. Et là c’est beaucoup plus simple ! Dieu est juste pour tout le monde, on dit, mais lorsque certains sont confrontés à de l’injustice, ils trouvent que Dieu n’existe pas. Prenons encore l’exemple de notre responsable de sécurité ; vous signez un contrat où une des clauses dit ceci : « Lorsque vous ferez face à une injustice, restez calme et faites-moi une plainte en privée ; le reste je m’en charge. » S’il arrive que vous fassiez face à une injustice, et que vous allez pleurer à tout le monde sur la place publique, sans suivre les instructions de votre agent de sécurité, résoudrait-il votre problème ? Et s’il ne le fait pas, cela veut-il dire qu’il n’existe pas ?

Et c’est ainsi que ça se passe. On se plaint à tout le monde de ce qui nous arrive, sans penser à le faire à Dieu en premier, puis attendre sa réaction ; normal qu’Il ne nous réponde pas !

Donc, si nous recapitulons : certaines personnes pensent que Dieu n’existe pas parce que le dieu qu’il se sont fait dans leur tête, ou à travers leurs paradigmes n’existe pas. Un Livre enseigne qui est Dieu : c’est La Bible ! Voilà le contrat où sont rédigées les clauses nécessaires à une protection totale dans un monde à risques !

Soyez bénis mes frères !

It all started with this sister, a fervent Christian, whom I met one day. She was so elated that we had talked about God for more than an hour without seeing the time pass; and if it had not been for supper which was waiting only for us to be served, we would have stayed for a long time to exchange. Afterwards, or during supper – I do not remember well – we continued to speak of our flame for the Lord, until a false note interfered in our conversation. She said that one have to be baptized to get the gift of the Spirit of God, as said in Acts 2:38  » Peter said to them, Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. «    I agreed, but I wanted to clarify this understanding of the order in which the gift of the Spirit is obtained, in accordance with the Holy Scriptures. I told her about the Old Testament prophets who had the gift of the Spirit without going through baptism. I told her about King Saul, who received the Spirit of God as soon as he was anointed by Samuel the prophet. I spoke to her about David, king and prophet, without counting the judges of Israel before the kingdom was. The most obvious example remains the conversion of Corneille. The whole of chapter 10 of the Acts of the Apostles speaks of it, but the verses which support my words are 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 :  » As Peter still spoke these words, the Holy Spirit descended on all who heard the word.  All the circumcised men who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit was also widespread among the pagans. For they heard them speak in tongues and glorify God. Then Peter said: Can we refuse the water of baptism to those who have received the Holy Spirit as well as us? And he commanded that they should be baptized in the name of the Lord. Whereupon they begged him to stay with them for a few days.  » Despite these arguments, the sister was still clinging to her design, that her pastors and church have always taught her.    

Subsequently, our exchanges on the word of God have each time been marred by this latent disbelief; then, this sneaky way of objecting to what I put forward by pointing out one of my weaknesses: the lack of humility … I’ve always been criticized for it. And I admit that sometimes I am sorely lacking! But other times, I find that people play on this register to not admit that I am right in order to stay on their position. This is undoubtedly the case of this sister who feels very strong from the gospel that she has received to date, and who fears to be shaken by another evangelical approach. Jesus said:  » It is by the fruit that we know whether the tree is good or bad. Here is how I understand this teaching: one first experiences the fruit, secondly one tests it; and if it is good, whatever the appearance of the tree, its physical imperfections, it is good. Take this example of Jonah who resisted going to Nineveh to preach the word because he feared being mistreated by the inhabitants of this city; when the Lord forced him and he went there in spite of himself, and he preached the death in the soul, and the people repented, and the Lord didn’t punish them, he was very angry. He had hoped that the Lord would have crack them down, even just a little, to be rewarded for the risk he had taken. Was he a bad person for having had this unhealthy urge?     

This morning, Monday April 13, 2020, I was taking my lonely walk, disturbed by the words of this sister who still accused me of lack of humility for a message where I made the most effort that I could to be humble. I asked God if I should speak to Him or be quiet so that I could be taught. Here is what I received:  » Truth is a river. The further you are from its source, the more likely you are to drink polluted water.” This is what happens with most of the gospel teachings of the Kingdom of God that we receive today. Suppose that the Truth is the St. Lawrence River; it rises in Lake Ontario and stretches almost 1197 km. Because of sediments and tributaries, this river is less pure in Montreal; even less in Quebec, and worse in Gaspésia. How many kilometers are we today from the source of Christianity after 2000 years? Is the water we drink today pure? If we believe it is, how can we be sure?   

The first quote I received asked to get closer to the source to make sure I was drinking pure water. Today many believe that  » The Source  » is the paper Bible they have at home. I say yes, then no. Why? Most of the texts we have in our Bibles, even if they are translated from the original document, are no longer pure. How to explain it to you more down to earth? Imagine people discovering a source of pure water. After drinking it for a few generations, they decide that this water lacks phosphates. They add more. Then another generation finds that it lacks sulfates. They add more. Then others find that depending on the vocabulary trend, they can give a little coloring to the water. They add more. Then others say that the water thus provided is indigestible because over time and facilities organisms find it difficult to digest it. They make it more digestible, according to their view. And so on. Today we drink the most impure water there is, since the history of Evangelization, because in addition to having polluted the waters, we have stored them in tanks of cracked water; then they are served to us in molded glasses according to perceptions, according to human traditions, and according to theologies.  

What am I talking about? All those who have approached the Bible with piety and thanksgiving know that this Holy Book has at least three dimensions of comprehension: the simple narrative dimension, the moral dimension, and the allegorical dimension. The meaning of these three dimensions can be completely changed if we decide to: modify a term according to our understanding, move punctuation, or reformulate content according to our interpretation. And then, sometimes the allegorical meaning is only supported by a word, or a group of words; I give an example: Psalm 78. Here is what the Jerusalem Bible says in its verse 2  » I open my mouth in parables, I evoke mysteries from the past « . The version of Louis Second says of the same passage: « I open my mouth by sentences, I publish the wisdom of ancient times.  » The Bible of the sower, meanwhile, said this:  » I will state instructive remarks, I will discuss the secrets of the past.  » The rest of this Psalm speaks of the Exodus of the Jewish people, from their departure from Egypt until their arrival in the promised land … In all these versions, only the Jerusalem Bible attracts the attention to the fact that the following verses are the statement of a parable announced by verse 2, and that we must pay attention to this message; the Apostle Paul moreover corroborates this interpretation in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 1 to 11. So, we see here that those who stuck to the other two versions would have missed something great …           

It is obvious today; nor most of the gospels we receive, nor the Bible handbook we posses are no more “The Source  » of pure water that watered our fathers at the beginning of our era , because of all these councils where they developed new theologies to then “ guide ” the understanding of the Scriptures through translations of the Bible where they used the “ adequate ” terms  according to their doctrine . There are also all these great schools of theology with staggering tuition fees that have transformed – and still transform – priests and pastors into financial predators, developing a doctrine based on the profitability of the money and the time invested in studying the Bible. I ask my question again: How many kilometers are we today from the source of Christianity after 2000 years? Is the water we drink today pure? If we believe it is, how can we be sure?       

For me, there are at least three ways to find out. Before listing them, I would like to make it clear that I believe THE Bible remains the only credible water that really quenches our spiritual thirst. But how do we traditionally manage to consume water that has become impure? We pass it to the filter. Now, the three ways I know you’re drinking pure water are:

Confront the teachings we received in the light of the entire Scriptures; the strength of those who want to lie using the scriptures is that few people read the entire Bible. And confronting the teaching in this way is not a bad thing because the Apostle Paul in Acts 17:11 appreciates the Bereans to do so. If therefore a pastor or a priest is irritated that we do so with his teaching, he is probably not clean. 

The second way is to be taught by someone who has PROVEN to be inspired by God , like a prophet; I speak and I come back to this episode in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings chapter 4, verses 38 to 41 :  » Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the country. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, Put the big pot, and cook a soup for the sons of the prophets. One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs; he found wild vines and gathered wild coloquints there, full of his clothes. When he returned, he cut them into pieces in the pot where the soup was, because they did not know them. These men were served food; but as soon as they had eaten soup, they cried out, Death is in the pot, man of God! And they couldn’t eat. Elisha says: Take flour. He threw it in the pot and said, « Help these people and let them eat. » And there was nothing bad left in the pot.  » Yes, a person inspired by God is able to purify all these verses twisted by the uncertain handling people. Others are guided by the teaching of the early Christians, those who were direct disciples of the Apostles of Christ.     

The third and by far the best way is to pray that the Lord will assist us with the Holy Spirit, as He says in John 14:26  » But the comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I have told you. «   

May the Grace of God be upon you!

Amen.