This brings to mind one of my favorite G.K. Chesterton quotes: "Tragedy is the highest expression of the infinite value of human life." When I first came across it, I immediately understood something that had bothered me a long time. Why do we privilege the tragic over the comic in art? His answer, like yours, points toward the fact that tragedy grounds us in an undeniable truth: life is good and meaningful. Comedy suggests this truth to us, but tragedy confronts us with the undeniable reality of it.
Your Chesterquote reminded me of his other observations on the two things: "The comedy of man survives the tragedy of man." And, "He is the sane man who can have tragedy in his heart and comedy in his head." If only we could all be so sane!
Is it a mad gamble to choose the hope of eternity? Life is both—tragedy and comedy. I can survive the tragedy because I know there is also comedy. If life was just one or the other how could any of us want to live one more day? I am an optimist because I see the good even in the midst of the evil. It isn’t always easy but that is what believing in the goodness of God is all about. To live a pious life is practically impossible but many live lives of perpetual debauchery. Is that more hopeful? More sustainable? Only those afflicted with mental illness can earnestly say they have no regrets, and even then, some of these individuals can and do. Because when you are left to yourself, even the least self-reflective of us knows right from wrong and longs for improvement. That is what redemption and the quest of it is about. I know I’m rambling but I just can’t agree that faith is a gamble. Plummeting off the cliff with the craggy bottom looming large is more a gamble to me. I choose faith and my hope of eternity for $100, Alex.
I think faith is a gamble because God doesn’t openly reveal Himself to us, as He once did. So, we don’t absolutely KNOW He is there. We must have faith that He is. And, after all, that’s what faith is: believing even when you cannot prove your belief. We can’t prove it; we just have to trust in it.
If you mean He hasn't stood in front of you than obviously yes. But there are many who have not stood before me whom I believe existed. 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us faith is not accomplished through sight. Sight is physical, faith is spiritual. Faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:17) not seeing. Faith is a gift from God. If you are saying the beauty of nature, the morality of right vs wrong, and His words aren't enough proof to make it not a gamble than the existence of Jesus needs to be explained away. A great teacher, preacher, wise man? Not good enough to explain the person who split history in two and has impacted the world the way Christ has. As well, He has changed my life. To have faith is to trust fully in God. I trust fully in God so faith is not a gamble.
Faith IS believing in the unseen. We weren’t there to see the Resurrection, so we have FAITH the Gospels are true. What else could faith be but trusting without verifiable proof. That’s why it’s a gamble.
Some Christians call it their “witness,” when they came to believe in Christ. I’m a cradle Catholic, who went to Catholic school, who had doubts, whose faith was shaken, but never lost. Never question what is enough “proof” for someone to believe, because until the Second Coming, or judgment day, which ever comes first, none of us has proof. We have only faith.
I too was raised Catholic but left that faith because it held nothing for me to hold on to. I was an atheist for three years. It was the most miserable three years of my life. I am now Born Again. My faith is hard fought. I do not need to see anything to believe. Christ has touched my life in ways unexplainable. I do not question your faith or your proofs. We are all on a journey. You are still on your journey. I wish you well.
I was raised Catholic, became an atheist and returned to Catholicism after a decade. What do you mean that Catholicism held nothing for you to hold onto? That's not a challenge, but a legit question.
True, Shakespeare wasn’t funny, but I doubt he was trying to be. Comedies of the past were not funny, they had (reasonably) happy endings. It was the satire that made people laugh.
There is no happy ending in life. None of us gets out of here alive. And so, drama and tragedy ARE life. They touch the heart to its core because we all know it can and, in one way or another, WILL happen to us.
And, by the way, I’m still burying that whale, bit by bit. 🤣
I chewed on this one for a bit... we know the brain focuses on the tragedy. It is why happy stories don't get as many clicks as depressing ones. There are so many real life stories that are sad - bad things happening to good people. But humor can cut through tragedy like a hot knife through butter. And true funny - like Andrew can do - is really hard. I guess I've just always respected the art of comedy - it is a true skill. What makes these conversations so precious is that father and son are both brilliant and funny. It's a magical combination.
“There is no reason to condemn the unbeliever after such a commitment. It’s we who have taken the mad gamble — on hope, faith and a daring leap at everlasting love.”
But if you win this lottery gamble you rejoice for ever more while the earthly kind can’t guarantee happiness and certainty not in the here after , so why not take the bet because you’re not staking money but you are investing in the heart of truth & beauty. The question is “why wouldn’t you gamble, it’s madness not to”
When you write, I sense that something I had lumped into the mystery, "the glass darkly," was actually meant to be discerned, like something is about to snap into focus. Are you helping me define love, understand joy, translate hope; or are you a heretic trying to throw out my personal dictionary? Just asking for a friend
In this dialogos, I'll try to play the dutiful, sincere student:
If THE story is comedy, not tragedy, then how is tragedy inherently superior to comedy? Please say more.
Because my attempts to understand biblical symbolism suggest otherwise: the cosmic pattern has been anticipated fractal-ly at lower levels: Jacob is a trickster (tricked). Joseph is a trickster. David....
This brings to mind one of my favorite G.K. Chesterton quotes: "Tragedy is the highest expression of the infinite value of human life." When I first came across it, I immediately understood something that had bothered me a long time. Why do we privilege the tragic over the comic in art? His answer, like yours, points toward the fact that tragedy grounds us in an undeniable truth: life is good and meaningful. Comedy suggests this truth to us, but tragedy confronts us with the undeniable reality of it.
Your Chesterquote reminded me of his other observations on the two things: "The comedy of man survives the tragedy of man." And, "He is the sane man who can have tragedy in his heart and comedy in his head." If only we could all be so sane!
Is it a mad gamble to choose the hope of eternity? Life is both—tragedy and comedy. I can survive the tragedy because I know there is also comedy. If life was just one or the other how could any of us want to live one more day? I am an optimist because I see the good even in the midst of the evil. It isn’t always easy but that is what believing in the goodness of God is all about. To live a pious life is practically impossible but many live lives of perpetual debauchery. Is that more hopeful? More sustainable? Only those afflicted with mental illness can earnestly say they have no regrets, and even then, some of these individuals can and do. Because when you are left to yourself, even the least self-reflective of us knows right from wrong and longs for improvement. That is what redemption and the quest of it is about. I know I’m rambling but I just can’t agree that faith is a gamble. Plummeting off the cliff with the craggy bottom looming large is more a gamble to me. I choose faith and my hope of eternity for $100, Alex.
I think faith is a gamble because God doesn’t openly reveal Himself to us, as He once did. So, we don’t absolutely KNOW He is there. We must have faith that He is. And, after all, that’s what faith is: believing even when you cannot prove your belief. We can’t prove it; we just have to trust in it.
If you mean He hasn't stood in front of you than obviously yes. But there are many who have not stood before me whom I believe existed. 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us faith is not accomplished through sight. Sight is physical, faith is spiritual. Faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:17) not seeing. Faith is a gift from God. If you are saying the beauty of nature, the morality of right vs wrong, and His words aren't enough proof to make it not a gamble than the existence of Jesus needs to be explained away. A great teacher, preacher, wise man? Not good enough to explain the person who split history in two and has impacted the world the way Christ has. As well, He has changed my life. To have faith is to trust fully in God. I trust fully in God so faith is not a gamble.
Faith IS believing in the unseen. We weren’t there to see the Resurrection, so we have FAITH the Gospels are true. What else could faith be but trusting without verifiable proof. That’s why it’s a gamble.
Some Christians call it their “witness,” when they came to believe in Christ. I’m a cradle Catholic, who went to Catholic school, who had doubts, whose faith was shaken, but never lost. Never question what is enough “proof” for someone to believe, because until the Second Coming, or judgment day, which ever comes first, none of us has proof. We have only faith.
I too was raised Catholic but left that faith because it held nothing for me to hold on to. I was an atheist for three years. It was the most miserable three years of my life. I am now Born Again. My faith is hard fought. I do not need to see anything to believe. Christ has touched my life in ways unexplainable. I do not question your faith or your proofs. We are all on a journey. You are still on your journey. I wish you well.
I was raised Catholic, became an atheist and returned to Catholicism after a decade. What do you mean that Catholicism held nothing for you to hold onto? That's not a challenge, but a legit question.
True, Shakespeare wasn’t funny, but I doubt he was trying to be. Comedies of the past were not funny, they had (reasonably) happy endings. It was the satire that made people laugh.
There is no happy ending in life. None of us gets out of here alive. And so, drama and tragedy ARE life. They touch the heart to its core because we all know it can and, in one way or another, WILL happen to us.
And, by the way, I’m still burying that whale, bit by bit. 🤣
I chewed on this one for a bit... we know the brain focuses on the tragedy. It is why happy stories don't get as many clicks as depressing ones. There are so many real life stories that are sad - bad things happening to good people. But humor can cut through tragedy like a hot knife through butter. And true funny - like Andrew can do - is really hard. I guess I've just always respected the art of comedy - it is a true skill. What makes these conversations so precious is that father and son are both brilliant and funny. It's a magical combination.
Perhaps this is why I’ve always found music in a minor key more moving than music in a major key.
“There is no reason to condemn the unbeliever after such a commitment. It’s we who have taken the mad gamble — on hope, faith and a daring leap at everlasting love.”
But if you win this lottery gamble you rejoice for ever more while the earthly kind can’t guarantee happiness and certainty not in the here after , so why not take the bet because you’re not staking money but you are investing in the heart of truth & beauty. The question is “why wouldn’t you gamble, it’s madness not to”
When you write, I sense that something I had lumped into the mystery, "the glass darkly," was actually meant to be discerned, like something is about to snap into focus. Are you helping me define love, understand joy, translate hope; or are you a heretic trying to throw out my personal dictionary? Just asking for a friend
In this dialogos, I'll try to play the dutiful, sincere student:
If THE story is comedy, not tragedy, then how is tragedy inherently superior to comedy? Please say more.
Because my attempts to understand biblical symbolism suggest otherwise: the cosmic pattern has been anticipated fractal-ly at lower levels: Jacob is a trickster (tricked). Joseph is a trickster. David....
And in the most holy sense, Jesus is a trickster.
True. Would that more would take the bet.