Last week I posted some one liners from Pascal. Here are some more quotations from “Human Happiness,” By Baise Pascal. I found his wisdom and understanding of the human condition so helpful.

“Reason never wholly overcomes imagination, while the contrary is quite common.”

“If our condition were truly happy we should not need to divert ourselves from thinking about it.”

“What causes inconstancy is the realization that present pleasures are false, together with the failure to realize that absent pleasures are vain.”

“Of true Justice. We no longer have any. If we had, we should not accept it as a rule of justice that one should follow the customs of one’s country. That is why we have found might when we could not find right.”

“Man must not be allowed to believe that he is equal to animals or to angels, nor unaware of either, but he must know both.”

“We are so presumptuous that we should like to be known all over the world, even by people who will only come when we are no more. Such is our vanity that the good opinion of half a dozen of the people around us gives us pleasure and satisfaction.”

“On Contradictions. Contempt for our existence, dying for nothing hatred of our existence.”

“On Contradictions. Man is naturally credulous, incredulous, timid, bold.”

-r

Darwin's Black Box: A Must Read

Let me first say that science would not exist unless it where for Christianity.  In the history of Western Civilization, one has to ask themselves, ‘the Greeks were really really smart, why didn’t they invent the scientific method?’  The answer is simple, following Platonic and Neo-Platonic thinking, they did not think this world was real or intelligible.  It was not until Christianity presented a world created, ordered, and directed by a sovereign and benevolent triune God that the scientific method sprouted.  The consensus view in the history/philosophy of science is that science required the fertile soul of Christianity in order to grow.  Christianity took this world seriously.

1.  Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe  [l, e, p, s]

In my view, this book destroys the Neo-Darwinian (scientific rationalism) story of how life exists.  This book is a must read.  See also this previous blog post.

2.  Pensees by Blaise Pascal  [y, l, e, p, s]

Although not explicitly about science and Christianity, Pascal presents an epistemology that includes science, reason, and faith.

3.  Personal Knowledge by Michael Polanyi  [e, p, s]

Polanyi rightly challenges the objectivity and impersonality of the scientist.  Polanyi is very important in philosophy of science and is a worthwhile read.

4.  When Science Meets Religion by Ian Barbour  [l, e, p, s]

Barbour presents four possible relationships that science and religion might have.  Balanced read.

5.  The Soul of Science:  Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy by Nancy Pearcey and Charles Thaxton  [l, e, p, s]

Great critique of naturalism.  Pearcey is solid as usual.

6.  Darwin on Trial by Phillip Johnson  [y, l, e, p, s]

Is there enough hard evidence to prove Darwinism correct, were it to be put on a public trial?  Creative and damning question.

7.  The Edge of Evolution:  The Search for the Limits of Darwinism by Michael Behe  [l, e, p, s]

More Behe.  Good stuff.

8.  Evolution:  A Theory in Crisis by Michael Denton  [l, e, p, s]

Most think that this is the book that started the Intelligent Design movement.

9.  The Reason for God by Tim Keller  [c,y l, e, p, s]

Although not explicitly on the subject of science, like Pascal, Keller presents a third way between pure science/reason and pure faith.

10a.   The Language of God by Francis Collins  [l, e, p, s]

A look at DNA, from the director of the human genome project, and an evangelical Christian.

10b.  Inventing the Flat Earth:  Columbus and Modern Historians by Jeffrey Russell  [l, e, p, s]

Russell confronts the myth that people (esp. Christians) believed in a flat earth.  Pretty damning to an annoying and ignorant argument:

On page 1 of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae (that is, in the first article of the first question of the first part), he casually mentions the round earth on the way to proving something doctrinal: “the astronomer and the physicist both may prove the same conclusion: that the earth, for instance, is round: the astronomer by means of mathematics (i.e., abstracting from matter), but the physicist by means of matter itself.”  (via Between Two Worlds)

Honorable Mention:  Icons of Evolution by Jonathan Wells  [c, y, l, e, p, s]

I cannot stand behind anything else he has written, but Icons shreds the silly pictures commonly put in the textbooks you had growing up, demonstrating how they do not show Darwinian macroevolution.

(c=children; y=young adult; l=lay leader; e=elder; p=pastor; s=scholar)

J.C. Ryle: Bishop of Liverpool

1.  Holiness by J.C. Ryle  [y, l, e, p, s]

Put your helmet and pads on because you are gonna get trucked.  This is probably the most convicting book I have ever read.  I got to visit Ryle’s grave in Liverpool, England, he was very tall and had a large beard.

2.  Pensees by Blaise Pascal  [y, l, e, p, s]

Most do not think of Pensees as a devotional work.  I do.  Read it slow and meditate, it will warm your soul.

3.  Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer  [c, y, l, e, p, s]

Chapters 1-3 alone are worth the price of the book.  Tozer wrote this one night on a train ride!  He gets at the root of sin.

4.  Pursuit of Man by A.W. Tozer  [y, l, e, p, s]

Almost no one has read this gem.  In my view it is almost as good as Pursuit of God and better than Knowledge of the Holy.

5.  Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards  [y, l, e, p, s]

Edwards makes sense of our emotion and affection for God.  He was also instrumental in reuniting the Presbyterians who were divided on what to think about the First Great Awakening.

6.  Desiring God by John Piper  [y, l, e, p, s]

This book can be slow and awkward at times but it is well worth the read.  He defines and defends the idea of Christian Hedonism, borrowing heavily from Jonathan Edwards and #5 on this list.

7.  Devotional Classics by Foster and Smith  [c, y, l, e, p, s]

This book is on this list for the wide variety of authors/traditions you get to read over the course of church history.

8.  The Call by Os Guinness  [y, l, e, p, s]

Guinness covers systematically God’s calling on the Christian and employs several vignettes into the lives of wonderful Christians through church history.

9.  Knowing God by J.I. Packer  [c, y, l, e, p, s]

Packer has written a wonderful look at the attributes of God.  If you enjoy this one check out also Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer and The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink

10.  Puritan Paperbacks by Various:  Most notably – The Christians Great Interest, The Valley of Vision, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, Doctrine of Repentance, All Loves Excelling, The Sinfulness of Sin, The Bruised Reed, The Mortification of Sin, and Guide to Christ.  Entire set can be found at monergism books.  [y, l, e, p, s]

The Puritans are a treasure chest of wisdom and keen insight on the human condition.  They require patience to read but can be very rewarding.

(c=children; y=young adult; l=lay leader; e=elder; p=pastor; s=scholar)

Pascal, Blaise     

I cannot forgive Descartes. In all his philosophy he would have been quite willing to dispense with God. But he had to make Him give a fillip to set the world in motion; beyond this, he has no further need of God.

– Pensees # 77

(19 June 1623, at Clermont, France – 19 August 1662, Paris, France)

Invented a computing machine (age 18), helped invent calculus of probabilities, invented Pascal’s Triangle   

Converted to Christ, 23 November 1654

Pascal, Blaise     

All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but among all those which the world has invented there is none more to be feared than the theatre. – Pensees # 11

(19 June 1623, at Clermont, France – 19 August 1662, Paris, France)

Invented a computing machine (age 18), helped invent calculus of probabilities, invented Pascal’s Triangle   

Converted to Christ, 23 November 1654

Qui est le Meilleur Mathématicien Français? Voici un point de vue trés “british”.

Le Guardien remercie chaleureusement James Grime alias “banane chantante” alias “singing banana” un mathématicien dans la grande tradition de Cambridge. Il travaille dans le même immeuble que Stephen Hawking.

Le Guardien lui avait demandé qui, selon lui, est le plus grand mathematicien français: voici sa réponse.

Que vous soyez intrigués par la probabilité, les tours de magie, et les maths en général, nous vous conseillons vivement de visioner ses vidéos sur youtube.

Liens:

James Grime alias Singing banana

James Grime sur Twitter

Blaise Pascal sur Wikipedia

Cambridge University, Faculté de mathématiques

“Es gibt nur zwei Arten von Menschen, die man vernünftig nennen kann: die die Gott von ganzem Herzen lieben, weil sie ihn kennen, und die, die ihn von ganzem Herzen suchen, weil sie ihn nicht kennen.” (Blaise Pascal)

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.” 
                                                                                                                                              -  Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662)

A religious foundation, regardless of denomination or belief, is historically the backbone of every civilization. People are willing to live, die and move mountains for their belief systems. This, of course, has its advantages and its disadvantages.

No matter how pure one believes their beliefs to be, there will always be individuals who have radical ideologies concerning its teachings.

Religion gives people something to believe in. It gives people something to belong to. It gives people something to hope for. It gives people a morality system.

But sometimes, religion gives people a clutch for violence, hate, bigotry and evasion of responsibility.

From the early crusades to modern-day suicide missions, terrorist attacks and domestic dissidence, some people use their religious beliefs as justification to harm those whom don’t believe as they do.

Religion has the ability to unify nations whom are fundamentally different; but, it also has the power to further wedge a division into an already divided people.

We’re all raised with a sense of morality – standards that cannot be legislated or manipulated or compromised. Most of these standards have roots in a religious doctrine.

The problem is that these standards can possibly change from one religion to another. What may be orthodox for Religion Alpha may be completely taboo for Religion Omega.

The disconnect is not with the religion itself, but rather with the individuals who radically follow the doctrines of that particular religion.

It’s almost a Catch-22: Religion doesn’t make people violent – there is such a thing as free will; but, people are taught what is right and what is wrong and are very unlikely to stray from these ideologies as they grow older.

What one considers right and wrong, especially in the name of religion, is what shapes their view of the world and those in it.

There is a certain level of tolerance that must be present in order to be unconsumed by a world that does not embrace your belief system.

If there is no tolerance, then there is no hope for peace.

Tolerance does not mean passiveness, but rather acceptance. Stand for what you believe in, but don’t criticize those who believe differently.

Criticism has the power to develop into rage. Rage for the sake of religious doctrine not only undermines the foundations of a belief system, but it also has the ability to lash out to those that don’t subscribe to it.

Be passionate about your God. Be aggressive about your salvation. Be accepting to inevitable disagreement.

I have these ever growing piles of books to work my way when I get out of school in December, one theology, one of everything else. As I have just gotten some time back due to having taken the GRE last Friday, I started the book at the top of the “everything else” pile was “Human Happiness” by Blaise Pascal. I started reading and have come across some great one liners. Enjoy:

“Man’s Condition;Inconstancy, boredom, anxiety.”

“A trifle consoles us because a trifle upsets us.”

“What amazes me most is to see that everyone is not amazed at his own weakness.”

“Description of man; dependence, desiring for independence, needs.”

“wisdom leads us back to childhood, Except ye become as little children.“

“Between us and heaven or hell there is only life half-way, the most fragile thing in the world.”

“We run heedlessly into the abyss after putting something in front of us to stop us seeing it.”

There is no greater joy for a Christian seeking to deepen his practice of the faith than quiet time with Thomas Merton (a review of his autobiography here). The Ascent To Truth is Merton’s meditation on the great Catholic mystic, St. John of the Cross and the contemplative life. It has been reported that Merton considered the book a failure, as it is a product of his youth, but if you take a quick scan down to the last entry on Mary, I think you will see that Merton’s “failures” are unqualified successes and can be sources of illumination for the rest of us.

A Pattern of Development in Life and In Contemplation
Our nature imposes on us a certain pattern of development which we must follow if we are to fulfill our best capacities and achieve at least the partial happiness of being human…it can be stated very simply: We must know the truth, and we must love the truth we know, and we must act according to the measure of our love…Contemplation reproduces the same essential outline of this pattern, but on a much higher level. For contemplation is a work of grace, The Truth to which it unites us is not an abstraction but Reality and Life itself. The love by which it unites us to this Truth is a gift of God and an only be produced within us by the direct action of God.

Mystical Contemplation
The true nature of mystical contemplation is first of all a supernatural experience of God as He is in Himself. This experience is a free gift of God in  a more special sense than are all the other graces required for our sanctification, although it forms a part of the normal supernatural organism by which we are sanctified. Essentially mystical experience is a vivid conscious participation of our soul and its faculties in the life, knowledge and love of God Himself. This participation is ontologically possible only because sanctifying grace is imparted to us as a new “being” superadded to our nature and giving it the power to elicit acts which are entirely beyond its own capacity.

Blaise Pascal on The Psychology of Illusion
A Man can pass his whole life without boredom, merely by gambling each day with a modest sum. Give him, each morning, the amount of money he might be able to win each day, on a condition that he must not gamble: you make him miserable! You may say that what he seeks is the amusement of gaming, not the winnings. All right let him play for nothing. There will be no excitement, he will be bored to death.

So it is not just amusement that he seeks, An amusement that is tame, without passion, only bores him. He wants to get worked up and to delude himself that he is going to be happy if he wins a sum that he would actually refuse if it were given him on condition that he must not gamble. He needs to create an object for his passions and to direct upon his object his desire, his anger and his fear — like children who scare themselves with their own painted faces.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa
All that man pursues in this life has no existence except in his mind, not in reality: opinion, honor, dignities, glory, fortune: all these are the work of this life’s spiders…but those who rise to the heights escape, with the flick of a wing from the spiders of this world. Only those who, like flies, are heavy and without energy remain caught in the glue of this world and are taken and bound, as though in nets, by honors, pleasures, praise and manifold desires, and thus they become the prey of the beast that seeks to capture them.

Distraction
Men are condemned to physical or spiritual movement because it is unbearable for them to sit still. Blaise Pascal: “We look for rest and overcome obstacles to obtain it. But if we overcome these obstacles, rest becomes intolerable, for we begin to think of the misfortunes that are ours, or of those that threaten to descend upon us.” Man was made for the highest activity, which is, in fact, his rest. That activity, which is contemplation, is immanent and it transcends the level of sense and of discourse. Man’s guilty sense of his incapacity for this one deep activity which is the reason for his very existence, is precisely what drives him to seek oblivion in exterior motion and desire. Incapable of the divine activity which alone can satisfy his soul, fallen man flings himself upon exterior things, not so much for their own sake as for the sake of the agitation which keeps his spirit pleasantly numb….Pascal: “Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries and yet it is , in itself, the greatest of our miseries.”

Discernment and Detachment
The Christian contemplation of nature is characterized in the ascetic gift of discernment, which is one penetrating glance, apprehend what creatures are and what they are not. This is the intellectual counterpoise of detachment in the will. Discernment and detachment (krisis and apatheia) are two characters of the mature Christina soul. They are not yet the mark of a mystic but they bear witness that one is traveling the right way to mystical contemplation and the stage of beginners has passed….The presence of discernment and detachment is manifested by a spontaneous thirst for what is good — charity, union with the will of God — and an equally spontaneous repugnance with what is evil. The man who has this virtue no longer needs to be exhorted by promises to do what is right or deterred from evil by threat of punishment.

The Tragedy Of Man
Our tragedy consists in this: that although our reason may be capable of showing us clearly the futility of what we desire, we continue to desire it for the sake of the desire. Passion itself is our pleasure. Reason then becomes he instrument of passion. Its perverted function is to create idols — that is fictions –to which we can dedicate the worship of love and hatred, joy and anguish, hope and fear.

The First Commandment
Saint John of the Cross regarded the First Commandment as a summary of the entire ascetic and mystical life, up to and including Transforming Union. He tells us in fact that his works are simply an explanation of what is contained in the commandment to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength.” …Saint John of the Cross: “Herein is contained all the spiritual man ought to do, and all that I have here to teach him, so that he may truly attain God, through union of the will, by means of charity. For herein man is commanded to employ all his faculties and desires and operations and affections of his soul in God so that all the ability and strength of his soul may serve for no more than  this.”…this is simply the imitation of Christ “who in His life had no other pleasure  than to do the will of his Father. We must renounce and completely reject every pleasure that presents itself to the senses, if it be not purely for the  honor and glory of God.

Acquired vs. Infused Wisdom
Acquired wisdom is the fruit of man’s own study and his thought and infused wisdom or contemplation which is a gift of God….Acquired wisdom can do nothing to bring a man to divine union with God, divine union is a vocation and, if faithful, a destiny…The whole ascetical and mystical life is a reproduction of the life of Christ on earth because it completely empties and “annihilates” the soul in order to unite it to God.

Saint Teresa of Avila
“My opinion has always been and always will be that every Christian should try to consult some learned person, if he can, and the more learned the person the better, Those who walk in the way of prayer have the greater need of learning and the more spiritual they are, the greater is their need. Let us not make the mistake that learned men who do not practice (contemplative) prayer are not suitable directors for those who do…if a person who practices prayer consults learned men, the devil will not deceive him with illusions, except by his own desire; for I think the devils are very much afraid of learned me who are humble and  virtuous, knowing these will find them out and defeat them.”

Notes on Christian Mystical Experience
In mystical experience God is apprehended as unknown.. A knowledge that registers itself in the soul passively without an idea…the intelligence needs light but contemplation obscures the clear knowledge of divine things, it hides them in a cloud of unknowing …God communicates Himself to the soul passively and in darkness….the only proximate means of union with God is faith…no vision, no revelation, however sublime is worth the smallest act of faith….

Three Statements On Unknowing
1. Acquired conceptual knowledge of God should not be discarded as long as it helps a man toward Divine Union. And it continues to help a man toward Divine Union as long as it does not interfere with the infused, passive, mystical experience of God in obscurity.

2. It is not so much the presence of concepts in the mind that interferes with the obscure mystical illumination of the soul as the desire to reach God through concepts . There is therefore no question of rejecting all conceptual knowledge of God, but of ceasing to rely on concepts as a proximate means of union with Him.

3. You are not supposed to renounce this desire of clear conceptual knowledge of God unless you are actually receiving infused prayer — or unless you are so advanced in then mystical life that your can enter into the presence of God without active thought of Him.

Explaining God
If you begin by juggling with a system of clear ideas which you think delimit and circumscribe the Being of God you will by that very fact, begin judging God according to the measure of your ideas…Like Job’s friends, you set yourself up as a theological advocate of God. You justify His ways to men not according to what He is, but according to what your system says He ought to be. In the end you find yourself apologizing to the world for God and demonstrating that, after all, He is not to be blamed for being what He is because it can be shown that He generally acts like a just prudent and benevolent man. Or rather to help him ascend a few degrees in the estimation  of men, you present Him to them as a well-disposed and democratic millionaire. The word for this is blasphemy. It is also atheism because a God who depends on your ideas for His justification cannot possibly exist.

The Certitude Of Scholastic Philosophy And Theology
Catholic philosophy and speculative theology…are in strict truth, sciences…they are not the pragmatic rationalization of vague spiritual desires. On the levels of both philosophy and theology. Catholic thought has a value that is speculative and absolute. That is to say, it arrives at conclusions about God which are endowed with a genuine scientific certitude, because they can be proved by clear demonstration to proceed with inexorable logic form the basic principles which are self evident, in the case of philosophy, and revealed by God, in the case of theology…Yet no matter how great may be the certitude of scholastic philosophy and theology, they both culminate in a knowledge of God tamquam ignotum. They know him in his transcendence. They know him as unknown….the physicist deals with energy in such a way that it becomes subject to his control…although the existence of God ends in absolute certitude, we cannot put our minds in possession of an object which we can determine, master, possess or command….our knowledge of God makes him master of the soul that knows Him….When he knows us we are. When he knows us not, we are not.

Christian Contemplation
Christian contemplation is precipitated by crisis within crisis and anguish within anguish. It is born of spiritual conflict. It is a victory that suddenly appears I the hours of defeat. It is the providential solution of problems that seem to have no solution. It is the reconciliation of enemies that seem to be irreconcilable. It is a vision in which Love, mounting into the darkness which no reasoning can penetrate, unites in one bond all the loose strands that intelligence alone cannot connect together, and with this cord draws the whole being of man into a Divine Union, the effects of which will someday overflow into the world outside him.

Concepts and Intelligence
The true spiritual crisis which sometimes leads to faith, the crisis within crisis that must always prepare  the way for contemplation, must first of all have an intellectual element. It must be borne of thought. It must spring from a respect for the validity of concepts and of reasoning. It accepts the work of intelligence. But it also sees that concepts and intelligence have their limitations. At the same time it realizes that the spirit is not necessarily bound by these limitations. And this is where the crisis begins…. I believe that Christ is God, that he is the word of God Incarnate. I believe that in Christ a human nature was assumed by the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, in such a way that it does not subsist in a proper human personality of its own but has its being from Him, subsists in Him…I believe that the man Christ is a Divine Person, the Son of God. And I believe that by the grace which He has purchased for us all by His death on the Cross and which He has made available for all by His Resurrection form the dead, and communicated to all who are baptized. He has given me a share in that divine sonship. Spiritually therefore I am living by the life of the Son of God. My life is “hidden with Christ in God.” So much I believe….These are concepts and they are joined in intelligible judgments. I can penetrate their meaning by an analysis of them which compares their revealed content with the content of other propositions revealed by God or even with propositions known to reason. And yet they remain mysteries to me. No amount of analysis can make them clearly evident to my intelligence….Nevertheless, the love of God endows man’s spirit with a kind of instinctive realization that somehow these mysteries of faith are meant to be penetrated and appreciated. In a certain sense theyare given us to be understood Faith seeks understanding, not only in study by above all in payer. Fides quaerit intellect…And Saint Paul explained to the Christian converts of Corinth that although he spoke “the wisdom of God in a mystery, a mystery which is hidden,” nevertheless the Spirit of God would manifest hidden wonders of this wisdom. “To us God hath revealed them by His Spirit…We have received not the spirit of the world but he Spirit that is of God: that we may know the things that are given us from God .(1 Corinthians 2:7, 10, 12).

Contemplation: A Gift Of Self To God
The passage from philosophical understanding to faith is marked by a gift of our self to God. The moment of transition is the moment of sacrifice. The passage from faith to that spiritual understanding which is called contemplation is also a moment of immolation. It is the direct consequence of a more complete and radical gift of ourselves to God. Contemplation is a an intensification of faith that transforms belief into something akin to vision. Yet it is not “vision” since contemplation, being pure faith, is even darker than faith itself….For at the very moment we give ourselves to God, God gives himself to us. He cannot give Himself completely to us unless we give ourselves completely to Him: but we cannot give ourselves completely to Him unless He first gives Himself in some measure to us…We can only give ourselves to God when Christ , by His grace, dies and rises spiritually within us.

St. John of The Cross And Scripture
St. John of The Cross does not merely illustrate his doctrine by use of  scripture, he proves it by scripture…He finds his doctrine in the Bible. He can say, as Jesus said, that his doctrine is not merely his won but he doctrine of the Father who sent him….”He who speaks within the divine scripture is the Holy Spirit.”

Happiness
Our happiness must come, metaphysically speaking, from outside ourselves. That does not mean that perfect happiness consists in a psychological exteriorization of ourselves in created things. Far from it! But even our happiness comes from a being other than our own spirit, beatitude cannot objectively be considered as he perfection which we receive from that Being, even though he be God. To be happy we must be taken out of ourselves and raised above ourselves, not only to a higher level of creation but to the uncreated essence of God. God and God alone is our beatitude…Perfect beatitude, which is union with God in a clear vision of the Divine Essence, is something which exceeds the capacity of any created nature to achieve…Our cooperation with his grace  is demanded of us. There must be action on both sides. He will not give himself to us unless we give ourselves to Him.

The Social Character of The Solitary Contemplative
No matter how solitary a man may be, if he is a contemplative his contemplation has something of a social character. He receives it through the Church. All true and supernatural contemplation is a share in God’s revelation of Himself in the world in Christ. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, prolonging His Incarnation manifesting Him still in the world. She is in full possession of his revelation. She alone dispenses the treasures of His grace.

The Humble Contemplative
God tells Moses to seek the advice of his brother Aaron: “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you.  You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.” Having heard these words Moses took courage…for this is characteristic of a humble soul which dares not to treat with God alone and cannot be completely satisfied without human counsel and guidance. And this is the will of God, for he draws near to those who come together to treat concerning truth in order to expound an confirm it in them upon a foundation of natural reason….the last thing many men would look for in a mystic would be a positive need for the advice and guidance of other men. Yet this is precisely one of the characteristic of a truly interior soul.

The Role of Asceticism
Without asceticism, the mystical life is practically out of the question. But asceticism does not need to find expression in strenuous exercises of mortification, still less spectacular and extraordinary macerations. On the contrary the true path of asceticism is a path of simplicity and obscurity, and there is no true Christian self-denial that does not begin first of all with a whole-hearted acceptance and fulfillment of the ordinary duties of one’s state in life.

Reason And The Mystical Life
Mystical prayer is a gift of God to a soul purified by ascetic discipline. This is only achieved when all the passions and faculties are controlled by reason. Mystical prayer depends, per accidens,(per se – per accidens. <philosophical terminology> Latin phrases meaning “through itself” and “by accident,” used by medieval philosophers to distinguish essential and accidental features of substances) On the right ordering of the soul by reason. Reason is the key to the mystical life.

The Harmful Consequences Of Created Pleasure
(Under Christian asceticism) we must never allow our will to seek any created pleasure for pleasure’s sake…if the will does not pass through that pleasure to rest in God rather than in the pleasure itself, then, while not necessarily being formally sinful , it will have harmful consequences for the soul because it will cause it to rest in created pleasure and will thus blind it to the supernatural light that should lead us, by the way of the Cross, to union with God.

Sanctity And Self-Knowledge
The success or failure of a man’s spiritual life depends on the clarity with which he is able to see and judge he motives of his moral acts…the first step to sanctity is self-knowledge. It is the function of reason to judge these motives to try the purity of our intentions and to evaluate the object of our desire and all the circumstances that surround our moral activity. But this work of reason is obstructed and fouled by a habit of acting on impulse every time we are prompted by the instinctive motions passion and desire.

Asceticism And Charity
The true measure of asceticism is charity. Self-denial is the mark of the Christian only because it is the negative predisposition for that charity by which alone it can truly be known whether or not we belong to Christ. We have to deny ourselves because, in practice, love that is centered in ourselves is stolen form God and from other men. Love can only live by giving. When it steals and is stolen, it dies, because it is no longer free.

The Way To God
The way to God is a way of emptiness, without refreshment or pleasure, in which we seek no light but faith and hear no voice but that of faith — so that in the end, we must always walk in darkeness. We must travel in silence.

Intelligent Humility, The Functions of Intelligence And Sharing Truth
God’s infused graces depend on a  passivity that is supremely humble because it is intelligent. Since humility is truth, it presupposes a supernaturally enlightened intelligence….The function of the intelligence is to guarantee the purity of faith hope, and charity, not by much reasoning and subtlety but by the constant ascetical discernment between the illusions of subjectivism and the true light which come from God…Truth reveals itself to the light of reason in a way that can be shared in the same way by all who use that light. Once who understands a truth can convey his understanding to another by evidence and demonstration.

Faith
The act of faith is the first step toward contemplation and toward the beatific vision….Faith is the  supernatural virtue, the function which is to enable the intelligence of man to make a firm and complete assent to divinely revealed truth, not on account of the clear intrinsic evidence of statements about God but on the authority of God himself, revealing to us what we do not actually see….the act of faith is elicited under the impulsion of the will…It is a gift of God…and produced under the inspiration of grace….The Holy Spirit takes our will, which has been deflected away from God by sin and corrects its  aim and at the same time illuminates the understanding so that we believe….Faith is a vision of God which is essentially obscure. The soul knows Him, not because it beholds Him face to face, but because it is touched by Him in darkness.

The Church
The Church is the custodian of divinely revealed Truth. Guided by the Holy Ghost , she is the only true and authoritative interpreter of that Truth. The treasury of faith  to which she holds the key is a body of concepts about God. These are the statements which we believe. Believing them, we are able, with the help of our intelligence and the light of grace, to arrive at a certain measure of understanding concerning the things of God…Contemplation is the supernatural experience of the truths about God contained in the deposit of Christian faith.

The Central Mystery
“I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one.” The words of Jesus allow of no looser interpretation. Jesus  is saying that those who reach perfect union with God, in Himself, will be as much One with God by grace as He is One with the Father by Nature. This is the most tremendous and central mystery of Christianity.

Pleasing God
God is said to be pleased with the soul which He finds filled with His own reality, His own love, His own truth. In a mysterious way we please God by knowing him, because we can only know Him by receiving His light into our hearts. Faith, then, is not only capable penetrating the intimate substance of God’s truth, but it is an immediately redemptive knowledge of God. It “saves” us. Its light…confers life…it transforms a man’s whole moral being. He is born again…the truth is actually contained, in a hidden manner, in the articles of faith themselves.

The Anguish Of The Soul
Creatures are such faint reflections of His divine Being that they are no more than the footprints He has left behind Him as He went on His way. They bear witness to His passing; but by that very fact their testimony is tinged with a special anguish….the soul is nailed to the cross of anguish and darkness which is he crisis of true faith. It sees that faith, because it is at once certain and obscure, reveals God by hiding Him and by hiding reveals Him. However this no mere intellectual dilemma. It is not a problem, for  a problem can be disposed of by reasonable solution. The soul is not looking for a solution. It is not proposing a question that faith must answer. Its anguish is of a different and far deeper nature. It is the agony of love that possesses God without seeing Him and is yet restless because it needs to rest in pure vision. Thus its rest is at best a suspension in the void.

The Needle Of Faith
Not all temperaments will seek God in the same way. Some will try above all to satisfy their minds with precise reasoning and clear speculative thought, by which, to some small extent, the truths of faith can be explained. Others will become engrossed in the vital organism of liturgical prayer in which God is at the same time known, loved and served in a way that brings into play all the faculties of man’s being and elevates his soul to God by easy and simple means. Still others will be drawn to seek God, almost from the first, by interior recollection and affective union within their own souls, and they will strive to effect this union by works of prayer, of self-denial and of love. But in every case the concepts and propositions taught by faith are a kind of needle’s eye. The virtue of faith itself is the needle. Our intellect and will, like a double thread, must be threaded into the needle and drawn by the needle through the veil of obscurity that separates us from God. Without the needle of faith, the veil can never be penetrated.

The Vision Of God In Heaven
St Paul says that in heaven “I shall be known even as I am known”….St John paraphrases the statement of the soul: “May I be so transformed in thy beauty that, being alike in beauty, we may both see ourselves in Thy beauty, since I shall have Thine own beauty; so that when one of us looks at the other, each may see in the other his beauty, the beauty of both being thy beauty alone, and I being absorbed in Thy beauty.

Mary
When the angel spoke, God awoke in the heart of this girl of Nazareth and moved within her like a giant. He stirred and opened His eyes and her soul saw that in containing Him she contained the world besides. The Annunciation was not so much a vision as an earthquake in which God moved the universe and unsettled the spheres, and the beginning and end of all things came before her in her deepest heart. And far beneath the movement of this silent cataclysm she slept in the infinite tranquility of God, and God was a child curled up who slept in her and her veins were flooded with His wisdom which is night, which is starlight, which is silence. And her whole being was embraced in Him whom she embraced and they became tremendous silence….it is the mission of Our Lady in the world to form this Christ of hers, this Giant, in the souls of men much as He formed Himself in her. She brings them His grace, and His grace is his own life-giving presence. He is born in every man by Baptism, but we do not know it. He casts his shadow over the soul that first senses Him in the peace of contemplation; but that is not enough. At the summit of the mystical life, God must move and reveal Himself and shake the world within the soul and rise from his sleep like a giant.

Anyone who does not see the vanity of the world is very vain himself. And so who does not see it, apart from the young who are preoccupied with bustle, distractions, and plans for the future? But take away their distractions and you will see them wither from boredom. Then they feel their hollowness without understanding it, because it is indeed depressing to be in a state of unbearable sadness as soon as you are reduced to contemplating yourself, and without distraction from doing so.

Pascal

Pascal, Blaise     

The feeble-minded are people who know the truth but only affirm it so far as consistent with their own interest. But apart from that they renounce it.  – Pensees # 583

(19 June 1623, at Clermont, France – 19 August 1662, Paris, France)

Converted to Christ, 23 November 1654

Quote of the Week: “Not only do we not know God except through Jesus Christ; We do not even know ourselves except through Jesus Christ.” –Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).

Monday, November 16th, 8:00 a.m.  Men’s Bible study.  We are studying through the book of Genesis.

Wednesday, November 18th, 8:00 a.m.  Men’s prayer meeting.

Wednesday, November 18th, 6:30 p.m.  Mid-week prayer meeting.  We have broken from our usual devotion messages for a time with studies from a series we will call, “Lord, Teach Us to Pray.” This week’s message is entitled, “Our Daily Bread – Part 1.”

Friday, November 20th, 8:00 a.m.  Men’s prayer meeting.

Saturday, November 21st, 1:00 p.m.: “The Sounds of Sovereign Grace” radio broadcast can be heard every Saturday afternoon on Grace Radio WGRW, 90.7 FM.  This is a ministry outreach of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, taught by Brother John Hunter, and now, with occasional teaching from Brother Jon Cardwell.

Sunday morning, November 22nd, 11:00 a.m.:  We will continue in our study of The Epistle of Paul to the Romans. This weeks message is entitled, “The Blessedness of the Bondslave,” and our text will be taken from Romans 6:12-23.

Sunday prayer meeting is held in the nursery prior to the evening service on 5:30 p.m.

Sunday evening, November 22nd, 6:00 p.m.:  We will continue our study in the Gospel of John, picking up our study where we left off in John 8:33-47, “Continuing in Truth or Deception?”

Sunday school classes for children, youth, and adults will begin at 9:45 a.m.

The Children’s Sunday school are for those under 12 years of age.  Kathy Hunter, wife of our elder and missionary John Hunter, teaches the children Bible truth using flanel graphic presentation, Scripture memorization, followed by a craft that reinforces the lessons learned.  Following singing of praises and choruses in the sanctuary, classes are held in the educational room of our building.

Youth Sunday school classes are for those young people attending grades 7-12 or are ages 12-17.  The youth class includes prayer, catechism recitation and memorization, and the verse-by-verse reading and study of Scripture.  Brother Jon Cardwell teaches this class, and currently, we are studying the Gospel According to Luke.  Following singing of praises and choruses in the sanctuary, classes are held in the pastor’s office behind the church building.

Adult Sunday school classes are held in the sanctuary.

Don’t forget: our weekly sermons can be heard and downloaded from the Internet at no charge on SermonAudio.com.

Truth lies within our grasp, and yet it is not our prey. It does not dwell on earth, but has its home in heaven. it lies in the bosom of God, and so can only be known insofar as it pleases Him to reveal it. So let us learn about our true nature from the uncreated and incarnate truth…We have a vision of happiness that we are unable to attain. We are aware of the reality of truth, and yet possess only the shadow. We are alike incapable of complete ignorance or of sure knowledge, and so it is obvious that we once possessed a high degree of greatness.

Pascal

Pascal, Blaise     

Men often take their imagination for their heart; and they believe they are converted as soon as they think of being converted.

 – Pensees # 275

(19 June 1623, at Clermont, France – 19 August 1662, Paris, France)

Converted to Christ, 23 November 1654

To be insensitive to the point of despising things of interest and to become insensitive to what interests us most, is absurd.

Pascal

hmm – guess he wouldn’t be a fan of, ‘I’m a B-list celebrity get me out of strictly come X-Factor.’

Pascal, Blaise     

…True fear comes from faith; false fear comes from doubt…– Pensees # 262

(19 June 1623, at Clermont, France – 19 August 1662, Paris, France)

Converted to Christ, 23 November 1654

Thought constitutes man’s greatness…Man is a thinking reed. It is not from space that I seek my dignity, but from the government of my thought. I shall have no more if I possess worlds. By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; by thought I comprehend the world. So man’s greatness comes from knowing that he is wretched, for a tree does not know it is wretched.

Blaise Pascal

C’est fini. On est tranquille pour une semaine.

C’est dimanche, le seul jour où l’oisiveté est tolérée (enfin plus pour longtemps, si l’on en croit l’hypertendu présidentiel qui veut liquider le jour du Seigneur). En ce jour saint, nous sommes autorisés à sortir bruncher sans avoir pris de douche car au septième jour, ça Le saoulait vraiment de se laver la tête, mais n’en concluez pas pour autant qu’Il est un gros souillon; c’est dimanche, et on fait rien le dimanche, on se remet de la veille.

Petit retour en arrière de 24 heures. C’est samedi et l’heure est grave. Branle-bas de combat. Dés 15h, on s’active, on reserve une table; on va chez Monoprix se procurer une bouteille pas trop chère sans être trop bon marché; on loue la tenue du capitaine Stubing en espérant qu’elle n’est pas infestée de trop de morpions mais -qui sait?- il y aura peut-être de la meuf (ou mieux, LA Meuf) à cette soirée “Les séries TV de notre jeunesse”. On essaie d’avoir un maximum de plans pour la soirée, pour pouvoir montrer que l’on n’a que l’embarras du choix.

Chaque fin de semaine voit la montée de cette angoisse toute contemporaine: que va va-t-on faire ce fameux soir? Pour les célibataires, cette question est cruciale: il s’agit de se prouver que l’on fait tout ce qui en notre pouvoir pour sortir de cette condition infamante. Aussi le plus banal des restos japonais en semaine avec son menu n°7  à 12.90 euros se transforme en expérience fabuleusement dépaysante  dés lors qu’elle a lieu samedi soir et que des individus de notre espèce sont assis à nos cotés. De la même manière, l’ami/boulet que l’on fuit la plupart du temps (celui que l’on ne rappelle jamais même lorsqu’il nous apprend dans un message, tout tremblant, que sa famille est morte dans un incendie; celui dont on attendra patiemment la mort pour en être définitivement débarrassé) se transforme en bouée de sauvetage inespérée une fois le samedi venu: le boulet devient Messie, celui qui répond quand personne ne décroche. Le samedi soir est d’abord un formidable exercice de storytelling: il s’agit de se raconter en mettant en scène sa popularité.

La course au samedi soir est un sport qui évoque la brutale fatalité du jeu des chaises musicales: il n’y a pas de place pour tout le monde. Il y a ceux qui sont assez rapides pour trouver une chaise et donc survivre une semaine de plus et puis il y a les autres, les faibles, ceux qu’on ne rappellera pas samedi prochain car ils combinent la propension à avoir une haleine à décoller du papier peint à celle de chuchoter au cinéma, pendant le film. Ceux là sont donc bannis à jamais. On leur donnera éventuellement une dernière chance le 31 décembre, pourvu qu’ils viennent chargés de suffisamment de foie-gras.

On fait quoi ce soir? C’est aussi la question vitale à laquelle se doivent de répondre, ce fameux jour, tous les couples de la planète. Pour eux, l’enjeu n’est pas moindre. Il faut tenter d’endiguer la tentation d’autisme à deux. La simple idée de se regarder dans le blanc des yeux toute la soirée ne les effraie pas le moins du monde en semaine, mais que dés que le samedi arrive, cette perspective devient proprement terrifiante. La vie à deux c’est génial, sauf ce soir là: l’enfer, c’est l’autre. La logique de couple se transforme alors en face-à-face cauchemardesque (“Il a des tas d’amis. Moi j’ai juste une cousine avec qui on dîne régulièrement tous les trois, mais bon c’est la famille, donc ça compte pas…Il va se rendre compte que je suis chiante comme la mort. Lui qui est si entouré, il va me lourder, c’est une question de jours”) qu’il convient de fuir à tout prix à grand renfort de vodka et de sushis plus très frais.

Le samedi sonne l’heure de la transformation de l’essai social: on a beau être quelqu’un qui compte, avoir un boulot fabuleux, être magnifiquement beau et plein d’esprit, si l’on ne fait rien le samedi soir, alors tous ces efforts consentis durant la semaine auront été vains. C’est le décès social, le plus grand cabaret du monde devient notre mausolée et Patrick Sébastien, notre fossoyeur.

Et tout ça pourquoi? Parce que c’est moins la solitude qui fait peur que l’image de celle ci. Elle est insoutenable pour ceux qui en souffrent tandis qu’elle est intolérable pour ceux qui la fuient comme une maladie contagieuse. Le mauvais film du samedi soir n’est qu’une maladroite tentative de masquer cette angoisse latente. La peur du bannissement étreint celui qui, entre deux pauses-café le lundi matin , n’a rien à répondre à l’injonction la question “Et toi t’as fait quoi de beau ce week end? T’as pas trop fait la nouba, j’espère…” . C’est dans ces moments là, que l’on aimerait s’appeler Blaise Pascal et que l’on voudrait faire croire et se faire croire que le samedi, on préfère le passer à contempler un crâne et agiter un sablier juste parce qu’on trouve ça vachement fun.

Sinon, moi ça va.

Mais par pitié, samedi prochain, lorsqu’il sera 19h50 passés, et que je laisserai mon 17ième message sur votre répondeur, rappelez-moi bande d’ordures!!!

Blaise Pascal by Augustin Pajou, Louvre

I find the various philosophical arguments for the existence of God intriguing speculations rather than cast-iron proofs. However, in Pascal’s Pensées there appears one compelling argument that ditches the speculation and goes for a straight, honest wager. It goes like this

• If you believe in God
  • and God exists, you gain everything.
  • and God does not exist, you loose nothing.
• If you do not believe in God
  • and God does not exist, you gain nothing.
  • and God does exist, you loose everything.

Thus, Pascal concludes that you’re better off betting on God than betting against God. It’s really tough to argue against this exercise of probability. Voltaire found it “indecent and childish” and pointed out that the bet still does not prove the existence of God, which, naturally, Pascal fully understood. Diderot was a better critic, pointing out that if we factor into the bet alternative religions and deities, the greater chance of betting on the ‘wrong god’ appears. However, the wager still makes any kind of religious belief more attractive than non-religious atheism — if you choose a religion, you stand a chance of winning, but if you don’t, you stand no chance.

Atheists struggle with Pascal’s wager, mainly because it’s so difficult to argue against bald probability. Although the bet has attracted much criticism, there has never been a solid argument brought against it. It is based on the fact there is neither a rational argument for the existence of God, nor one against it. Whereas atheists enjoy pointing out the former, they are not so happy to accept its mirror: that atheism is the equal and opposite speculation to theism.

To be fair, Pascal’s wager is a probability trick, and atheists use Occam’s razor (that the explanation with the fewer assumptions should be preferred) as a like trick to give their atheism preferrence. Just as Pascal’s wager does not prove theism, Occam’s razor does not prove atheism; both simply give us the costings with which to make a value judgement.

Personally, as a theist, I find Pascal’s wager to be a rather pessimistic take on belief; I can find many optimistic existential reasons for my own belief, but they have little place in such arguments. Although I find Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion to make successive strawman arguments against theism, I do agree somewhat with its take on Pascal that living life to its fullest rather than betting all on ‘pie in the sky when you die’. However, I would contend against his ‘anti-Pascal wager’ that most theists are not so hamstrung by their religion so as not to live a life as full as their fellow atheists.