I Doubt, Therefore I Am
Philosophy 101: “I think, therefore I am” (Rene Descartes).
Descartes’ famous statement might be better translated as “I doubt, therefore I am.” Descartes reasoned that a body of truth could only be built on a bedrock of truth. He had to find something he couldn’t doubt.
Descartes discovered he could doubt everything except one thing: He could not doubt that he doubted. Ergo, “I think, therefore I am.”
Yes, my friends … that is the “bedrock” statement of Western philosophy. It is a system of thinking that uses the doubt of being to establish being.
I wonder … what is the “bedrock statement” of Scripture?
He Lives, Therefore I Live
Would this be the equivalent to Descartes in Christian terms? “He lives, therefore I live.” Isn’t my own being and every breath a gift of God, and isn’t my eternal life made possible through the power of the Holy Spirit and love of Jesus Christ?
It’s sad to think how much time so many of us put into “just getting by.” We work our tails off most of the week to hopefully take a day of rest and relaxation over the weekend. And we might even take an hour or two out of the day to attend church or watch a religious program on video.
It’s not the hours we work or the ways we choose to relax that are the real issue here, though: It’s the way we approach our lives in general.
It’s the story of two workers shoveling a ditch. One was cursing while the other whistled. Why? The angry worker was yelling at God for making the work so hard. The joyful worker was helping build a Temple.
Let’s work on the Temple today, not the ditch.
Yep. Whistling or cursing at life? Do we believe God is with us? Truly? Every moment, every breath? Or do we curse the state of our own being? For me a little of both. Do I curse the hand that feeds me, and yet out of the same mouth comes words of gratitude or praise?
Only Christ can free me from the self-imposed chains that tie me to my past.