Got an email back from Clifton yesterday. Appears to be having a blast learning the art of priesthood in Colorado, despite being surrounded by Religious Fundamentalists. He did not speak of returning to California anytime soon, clearly trying to avoid my supplication to return to Mission and teach Theology IV. Instead he gives me one of his left-field semi-effective analogies:
Have you ever played Warcraft or Starcraft? If you don't build barracks, you're screwed. You see, I'm in the priest barracks right now. In two years I'll appear outside and call out "ready to serve!" Then I will go berzerker and unleash my orthodoxy on the Monterey diocese. Meantime, more and more soldiers... I mean priests... will be formed. Pretty soon there will be flying gryphon's shooting flaming axes and ... ok... So I guess the warcraft metaphor has its limits.""
Not that I can complain too much about my Theology class now, I guess. We had an interesting discussion today pertaining (using that verb a little too much) to the omniscience of God and whether or not that conflicts with idea of free will. One of the cornerstones of the foundation that makes up my strong secular nature, Granitz pulled out a textbook Catholic logical proof on how God COULD pull it of:
So basically, God's omniscience allows him to know everything, hence the use of the word omniscience, right? So who are we to restrict that to the knowledge of ONE reality? Why would God stop at making just one reality? Perhaps there are hundreds, thousands, millions of different strands of reality that branch off of ours, one for every possible outcome and consequence. God, being omniscient, would have the ability to understand all dimensions of the universe. Hence, free will conforms totally with the idea of omniscience.
Nice argument, is it not? Five hundreds years of having to beat those damn Protestants in theological battles and a couple of millenia feigning the idea that they are in fact smarter than the pesky heretics (or any man of reason) has given the Catholic Church plenty of time to iron out their arguments.
But let us disect this proof. First of all before we begin, we have to establish that God is a all-knowing, all-powerful, and rational being. The Catholic Church already believes this, so we do not need to backtrack (Thanks Thomas Aquinas, I owe you a cold one). If dimensions exist for every single possible outcome or reality, then it logically follows that dimensions exist in which Jesus did not come to save, or died for the sins of the world. What of these people then? Are they damned for eternity for never even knowing the Lord God, or the "right path"? Why would an infinitely wise and rational God allow such dimensions to exist?
"But perhaps God visited all dimensions in human form!" True. God could just not allow those types of dimensions to exist. God is omnipotent, after all. But it is in my opinion that utilizing the "God is omnipotent and therefore can do whatever he wants" defense is a bit of a dialectic cop-out, a theologic "Just 'cuz." OH WELL, guess you win then.
The problem with using that argument however is that it opens a Pandora's Box of possibilities. One can reason to any conclusion using the omnipotence defense, as they release themself from the box of logic to deduce any conclusion they please. By then you are not dealing with reason. Rather, you are dealing with beliefs of your own construct you flaunt for mathematically arriving upon. It is the only way so far I have seen Catholics use so far to defend their belief of God, which bothers me so. Still I concede that it is through this proof only that one can defend Catholicism.
Mr. Granitz. He is such an interesting figure, besides the fact that he constantly fidgets his hands in front of him as if he is resigned to kneading a small invisible object for the rest of his life, or the wandering eyes that choose a victim in the classroom and awkwardly observe them for the entire session, or his proclivity for presuming his students are up to date on Hindu terminology but can not grasp exotic words like "shun" or "collage." His eyes seem to betray something just below the surface, and from his references to his past it is obvious this man has a colorful history. He certainly did not on his arse watching Huell Hauser on PBS. I can not wait to see how he psychologically unfolds before us.
In other news, I have decided that in order to increase test scores in any area, I must practice a diverse mix of mental exercises that flex my cortex. I bought from Mission thrift several "Where's Waldo" books, and I have resolved to do one every day. We will see how fast I get at it by October, when I take my next SAT. We begin that tomorrow.
Waiting for Godot opens in a month. I'm actually doing this play. My left arm has become permanently red from excessive pinching.
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