I got a book by David Hume from the library. I’d heard his name before, and the library is fantastically free, so I picked up like 10 books, took them home, and let them sit on my shelf for several weeks. I’d renew them every two weeks, and last night at 3:00am, I decided to start reading. I began with “Writings on Religion”, which is actually a compilation of his works. From what I can gather, Hume is something of a deist, but he writes against deism and natural theology. He’s something of an atheist, but writes as if he weren’t. He’s a nothing.

Some interesting quotes:

It must be acknowledged that Nature has given us a strong Passion of Admiration for whatever is excellent, & of Love & Gratitude for whatever is benevolent & beneficial, & that the Deity possesses these Attributes in the highest Perfection & yet I assert he is not the natural Object of any Passion or Affection. He is no Object either of the Senses or Imagination, & very little of the Understanding, without which it is impossible to excite any Affection.

The quote speaks for itself, but I certainly find some truth in those statements. It’s very hard to love God, because as soon as you “picture” Him, you’ve created a false god. Hume goes on to say what probably happens, with (sadly) a lot more truth:

And indeed I am afraid that all Enthusiasts [spiritual people, he developed the definition more clearly earlier on] mightily deceive themselves. Hope & Fear perhaps agitate their Breast when they think of the Deity: Or they degrade him into a Resemblance with themselves, & by that means render him more comprehensible. Or they exult with Vanity in esteeming themselves his peculiar Favourites. Or at best they are actuated by a forced & strained Affection…

What is a religious person to do? Hume speaks a lot of truth, and I think we might do well to dwell on the second quote, I also think Hume did the opposite of what he intended. What is an Enthusiast to do? Well, Christ. If Christ is God in that mangled nonsensical thing known now as the trinity, we have a solution. Christ is certainly imaginable, not entirely outside the realm of comprehension, and human enough to allow for affection. In fact, I would almost go so far as to say his actions stir within us that affection. It also gives some sort of authority to scripture, but I won’t go into that.

Point in case, without drawing this out too far, I love atheists. I think I’ve learned more about myself, my faith, and my God in conversations with atheists and books with anti-religious leanings then I have in many conversations with theistic people. Hmmm….