The Fool Hath Said...

Random thought for today...

When arguing religion, it seems a common line for a believer to quote Psalms 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." As if somehow having a reference to atheism in the bible makes it foolish. This of course leads to some witty comebacks, my favourite of which being akin to "the wise man says it out loud".

But not to be completely dismissive of such statements, for there is a grain of truth to it. To say "there is no God" with ones heart (a.k.a. intuition) is as bad as pronouncing the opposite - that they know God to be in their hearts. While it is easy to fall into the trap of rationalising beliefs one comes to for non-smart reasons, knee jerk reactions get us nowhere intellectually. Instead the desire should be to have an intellectually defensible position, one that is as honest as can be about explaining the world for what it is.


If I were to write the proverb, it would probably be along those lines.
"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. For such statements should never rely on matters of the heart. Does thou not hath eyes and ears? Does thou lack a mind? Questions of the heart should remain in the heart, thou dost not thinketh through love or art. But questions of nature are questions of the mind, and thou shalt not find knowledge until lest be the desire to know."