… he’s just afraid."
Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
Discuss
Yeah well this seems to be the typical convenience of the thought we as believers sometimes display… like when a pew-sitter struggles – it’s his lack of faith, but when a pastor struggles – he’s under attack of the devil. 
Thanks for your thoughts, davo. It is a familiar refrain of the atheist, that Christians are weak people who need the “psychological crutch” of belief in order to cope with the misery of life and the inevitability of death.
And maybe they’re right 
.
May I quote something else?
But who’s got the better end of the view of life, Johnny: the man who doesn’t care enough about love and truth and beauty and all the good things in life to at least hope for their eternal existence, or the man who, seeing bits of divine verities sprinkled throughout his life, hopes with all his being that they wait for him in a fuller form after death?
No one will ever be able to prove there either is or is not an afterlife. There is always the possibility of sheer skepticism - we’re brains in a vat or something. What it comes down to is this: no one really knows for certain. It may be, or it may not be. It is either possible, or not.
And so to be dogmatic is, I think, the height of irrationality. The move to belief then is entirely practical. If it MAY REALLY BE that a perfectly beautiful personal being has created us and will one day unite us to him, how can a man be faulted for hoping for that to be true? Psychological crutch? Nay! More like a drink from the very fount of life! Only a very prideful or jealous or, sad to say, lifeless man could not care whether such a thing is true - would not even care it if may be true.
What is beyond our ken to know, is therefore to us at present unknowable. But it is no more the falser because of that. It may be impossible for us to ever know whether or not there is life on other planets. Yet the fact is what it is, regardless of what we think. Why not, then, when our minds are powerless to arrive at certainty, bend all our strength of will towards hope and faith? Why not, then, spend all our mental power in seeing the world through the most beautiful lens we can imagine? Certainly if our beautiful thoughts come from Beauty Himself - if they are a drop from his infinite ocean - we can not hope too high, would you say?
thats an amazing post chrisguy. thank you.
Chris,
I too agree with the logic you expressed so well. You also reflect well what I perceive in Eric Reitan´s argument
Well said Chris 
Cheers
Hi Chris
Can I just add my thanks to those of Matt, John (Pilgrim), Bob and Wormwood (and thank you too, Wormwood) for a truly inspiring and uplifting post. My natural disposition seems to be one of doubt and cynicism, tending even to despair; in my very best moments I think I can glimpse that glorious hope of which you speak.
Thanks mate
Shalom
Johnny
i’m quite similar, mate…
Hey James, hope things are good in your hood. Life ain’t a bed of roses, but hopefully there is the occasional rose amongst the thorns.
Love you mate
J
i’ll email you mate…it’s not all bad, certainly…and i really hope that’s the case for you, too…especially with your holiday! love you too…man! 