Unintended consequences. That is the situation here on my blog. My last post defending a fellow blogger has turned into a heated battle between people of various levels of belief and non-belief. That was not my intention at all. I am allowing it to continue, although to be honest I am getting a bit uncomfortable about it. I admit that it worries me that someone may access the comments section and extract the wrong message. There are some individuals commenting there seem to be promoting an agnostic agenda.... an agenda that is eager to convince others of their own conclusions about truth. It is my hope that even they who seem so attached to such a high level of doubt are still open minded enough to listen to arguments being made by rational people of belief. The fact that they are still around after many such arguments in other blogs makes me think that their assertions about their beliefs ...or lack of them... are not irreversible. (I don't believe that anyone commenting is an actual atheist even if he says he is.)
The purpose of this post is a disclaimer. I want to be clear. I do not in any way endorse any of the comments on matters of faith. Even though I may agree with some commentators more than others, I am not making any endorsements. Nor should my allowing the discussion to conmtinue be seen as an endorsement.
I hope that something positive will develop instead... that the discussion will lead people of faith to re-examine their own thoughts and sharpen their positions. I also hope that people of doubt will do the same while opening up their hearts and minds to the possibility that that their agnostic positions are not so absolute and inviolable. Truth can be gleaned from both sides of the aisle just as Rav Meir gleaned truth form Acher.
There are very few issues that are clear cut. If Emunah was that easy, everyone would be Orthodox. Emunah is a difficult thing to achieve and for those of us who are Maminim we need to continue working on ourselves to maintain it. I am a person of faith and work at it constantly. The commentators on this last post are all over the place in that respect. It is my hope that through discussions like these, as irreverent and even shocking as some of the comments may be... that Emes and Emunah will prevail.
