I was watching the “10th Anniversary Special” of the popular kids’ show “Blues’ Clues” with my daughter and I started to admire the simplicity involved in the show. Mostly because it seemed to speak right to my level.
I was interested in the controversy surrounding the sudden exit of the first host “Steve” and his replacement by “Joe.” Steve was immensely popular and I remember the urban legend that he had somehow become addicted to violent drug and alcohol use and the children’s television police came in and forced the show to send the errant host to “college” so that he couldn’t influence young children any more.
Of course all of this was lost on my three-year-old who was simply caught up in this winning formula that has kept the show on for so long.
The show consists of simple songs, colorful characters, and a host who is not threatening, but, at the same time, mirrors the energy and inquisitive nature of the audience the show is aiming for. During the course of the show, the host has to follow a number of “clues” that are left by the dog Blue that point to an object at the end of the show.
The host keeps track of the clues in a notebook by drawing the objects that have a blue paw print on them. These paw prints point us to the eventual object or activity that Blue has in mind for the host and the audience. The tension and thrills mount until it is time to sit down in the “thinking chair” and “use our mind, and take a step at a time.”
I really do wish that our society would take a hint from Blue and start using some type of human reason when it comes to faith. Before I proceed, I offer the disclaimer that none of these statements have been approved by Blue, Steve, or Joe.
Our society has become obsessed with the idea that faith and reason are enemies that never meet, dance partners that are listening to different music, opposite sides of different currencies. Unfortunately many times the faithful have fed into this with unreasonable arguments that fly in the face of science and basic observation of the world around us.
Let’s be clear: religion and faith are not things that we can simply invent. They are something that we become a part of. If I was applying to a college I would look for the college that I would want to become a part of. I certainly wouldn’t try to get into West Point with the attitude that I was going to change the requirement that they wear uniforms so that they could fit my standard. That is just silly.
Our first clue that God exists is the world around us. One could argue that science explains everything, but does science explain why everything exists or simply how it exists? Can you measure the amount of beauty in a sunset? Can science read the human heart? Sure there might be brain waves and diodes that fire off so that impulses happen, but why?
If everything exists for a reason then the universe itself must exist to point to something. Why does the universe expand? What is it expanding into? Why does matter exist? If your consciousness did not exist inside you right now, where would you be?
God cannot be the gap-filler that we use when we run out of scientific explanations. The clues in the universe seem to point to the idea that it is held in place by something. Something bigger than us. Much bigger. This “something” is the why. It gives a purpose and end to the universe. The universe itself is a 14.5 billion light year-wide paw print.
We also know that there is right and wrong. Even the society that argues for a loosening of moral standards draws the line somewhere. Someone born with a desire does not have the right to fulfill that desire any time they want. We know that there is a right and a wrong, even if that right and wrong is that we should be “tolerant.”
Where does this come from? Why this desire to do right and avoid evil? Even the person who does evil finds some type of justification in most cases to avoid the reality that they are doing something evil. This desire to do right goes against our instinct for self-preservation at times. This desire seems to drive us to do things beyond what any other biological entity does.
If this was merely learned, then our world would have different societies that taught one should only do evil. Those don’t exist. Every society does what is considered “the good.” They follow their consciences. These consciences may be poorly informed or very well informed, but our conscience is an internal paw print.
We all desire to fix what we have done wrong. We know that we do not always do the good. We find people trying to make amends in a number of ways throughout the world. They contribute to charities, they do work for those who need help, they give of their time, they volunteer with mentoring programs. The list can go on and on.
We know that there is a good and we know that we have not lived up to that good in our own lives. Our recognition of the fact that we need to make some type of satisfaction for the wrong we have committed leads us to seek forgiveness from those we have hurt. Yet we also need forgiveness from another. We have gone against that something that is bigger than the universe. We cannot fix that.
That need for a messiah is another paw print.
Time to sit down in our thinking chair.
