WEEKLY RECTOR’S MESSAGE – January 12th, 2020 – Fr. Thomas

Several years ago, the movie  God’s not dead, with two subsequent sequels, tells the story about an atheist philosophy professor who told his students on the first day of class to write down, “God is dead” to ensure  a passing grade for each student.  One student, however, a practicing Christian, had a problem with that and agreed to debate the professor over God’s existence.  Although you’ll have to see the film for yourself to learn how it ends, there’s nothing novel about “debating” God’s existence or seeking a way to reconcile what the mind thinks and what the heart feels, (sometimes the longest distance to  travel.)

Historically, there have been five different propositions offered up to “prove” God’s existence.  Of course, we know that one can’t “prove” God’s existence like proving a scientific or arithmetic experiment, but generally, taken together as a whole, they present a reasonable argument supporting the likelihood of a “higher power.”

The first argument is the Cosmological Argument.  Every effect has a cause.  Somewhere there must be a “First Cause.”  God is the unmoved Prime Mover. The Moral Argument recognizes that humans have a conscience, a sense of what is right and wrong.  Civilizations may disagree on  what is right and wrong, but minimally, there is some sort of “moral yardstick.”  This sense of right and wrong is instilled by a Supreme Being.  The Teleological Argument claims that everything in the universe, from galaxies to electrons, shows purpose and design.  God is the One who designed it all.  Someone has suggested that if the world was randomly originated without any purpose or design, it would be like throwing a basketball out of a plane going full speed at thirty five thousand feet up in the air and having the ball land in a trash can on the first attempt.  The argument from Universal Consent acknowledges that all people in different lands and times, have worshiped some sort of Supreme Being, albeit with varying personalities or attributes.  Finally, the Ontological Argument claims that God is the highest entity that we can imagine or conceive.  The presumption is that there must be something or someone above what we as mere mortals can conceive of (It’s a theoretical argument, so don’t reflect on it too much!)

THIS WEEK AT ST. DAVID’S

DAUGHTERS of the KING – meet Sunday, January 12 ^th, 8:45am Parish Hall.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN – meet Friday, January 10 ^th, 11:00 a.m.

MEET & GREET – sponsored by the Daughters of the King – Saturday, January 18 ^th for 11:30am-2:00pm Parish Hall

VESTRY – Sunday, January 19 ^th, 11:15 a.m. in Church

EVENSONG –Presentation of our Lord – Sunday, February 2 ^nd 4:00 p.m.

BLOOD DRIVE – Sunday, February 9 ^th, 8:30am-12noon.

SOUPER-BOWL – Palanca Pantry is collecting SOUPS (canned, bagged, boxed, wrapped) Jan. 26 ^th and Feb. 2 ^nd.

PANCAKE SUPPER – SHROVE TUESDAY – February 25 ^th, 5:30 p.m.

ASH WEDNESDAY – February 26 ^th, 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.