A couple of years back I read Yuval Harari’s book Sapiens. Great read. On one hand, I am completely on board with his evolutionary metaphysic. I think part of our Divine nature is to evolve more fully into the potential God has placed within us by making us "in God's image". This is actually a fairly common reformed Jewish and secular Jewish viewpoint (cf. Erich Fromm's 1966 book "You Shall Be as Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament"). I've also written and preached this idea. I even embrace much of what Harari says about Transhumanism as the immediate goal of human self-evolution. And there are Christian theologians such as Keith Ward and Ted Peters who have a fairly robust acceptance of Transhumanism as well. After all, I figure my great grandchildren will all be cyborgs, and it doesn’t actually worry me that much.
But what bothered me was in chapter 12...
This is one of my favorite meditations on the power of the Resurrection and the meaning of Easter, from 17 centuries ago.
How both Theistic and Nontheistic language fails to describe Ultimate Reality
In the constant back and forth between Theists and Nontheists, one of the frequent criticisms hurled from both sides regards the problem of language. Both sides claim that that other side slides into nonsensical or tautological language that fails to say anything about Reality. At some point, each side gets to ideas that are so foundational, so axiological, to their interpretive framework, that all they can say is "it is what it is".
What is interesting to me is that this point of linguistic "no return" is precisely at the same point and regarding the same issues. This break in meaningful, non-tautological language happens precisely at the ultimate origin, the ultimate value, and the ultimate destiny of all things. At these three points both the Theist and the Nontheist are effectively reduced to silence. This is when our words fail: When we lack the ability and even the concepts necessary to describe the ultimate nature of the Reality we find ourselves in.
Why do we look for a Divine Realm
Of depth and richness
Beyond the elaborately embroidered world
We live and move and exist within?
Why do we long for a heaven
Outside of earth?
Are we making the Pandemic more toxic by what we post online? 
As we enter into the second month of the United States’ response to the global Coronavirus Pandemic, I have frequently encountered three dysfunctional kinds of problematic Pandemic posts on social media: Productivity, Positivity, and Protest. The “productivity” response tells us to go above and beyond with creative responses, to make things as normal as possible, and mimic pre-pandemic life virtually. The response to any and every problem is “DO MORE STUFF!” The “positivity” response tells us to look on the bright side of this crisis to find all the hidden blessings, and if we pray hard and believe sincerely, things will turn out just fine. The response to any and every problem is “BE HAPPY!” The “protest” response looks for someone to blame for how bad things have gotten, and if only “they” did it differently we wouldn’t be in this mess. The response to any and every problem is “COMPLAIN LOUDER!” All of these are a form of denial that pushes away reality so we don’t have to deal with it.
This is a bunch of incoherent babble to make us think hard about our incredible love affair with the God of the universe, our astounding infidelities against God, and God's incredible grace to heal and restore us through Christ. Everything on this site is copyright © 1996-2023 by Nathan L. Bostian so if you use it, please cite me. You can contact me at natebostian [at] gmail [dot] com
