Before I begin, I would just like to say that I am unsure whether or not The Mayfield Anthology of Western Religion was the actual title of the work that this short excerpt came from? Even though I was uncertain if I was correct or not, I decided to slap that in my title anyways, so my apologies.
Okay, my favorite part of reading this was most definitely when Pascal wrote, "Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature."
When I first read this, I though of how true the first part of the sentence is. No matter how smart we are, or how wise we think we are, our knowledge is practically nothing in the grand scheme of things. This short passage brought Isaiah 55:8-9 to mind, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than yours."
However, when I read through it a second time, I took a step back and looked at the full picture. When you combine both aspects of the passage, Pascal is highlighting how small and how insignificant we as humans truly are. When I realized this, I noted that Psalm 147:5 is essentially saying the exact opposite of this about God, "Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure."
In conclusion, I suppose I just found it kind of amazing that a God who is so grand and so great would actually care for, listen to, and create an entire sacrificial plan of salvation for a species of unimportant, mortal beings like us.
Edit - Replied to Jacob Clabo and Rebecca Belew.
Okay, my favorite part of reading this was most definitely when Pascal wrote, "Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature."
When I first read this, I though of how true the first part of the sentence is. No matter how smart we are, or how wise we think we are, our knowledge is practically nothing in the grand scheme of things. This short passage brought Isaiah 55:8-9 to mind, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than yours."
However, when I read through it a second time, I took a step back and looked at the full picture. When you combine both aspects of the passage, Pascal is highlighting how small and how insignificant we as humans truly are. When I realized this, I noted that Psalm 147:5 is essentially saying the exact opposite of this about God, "Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure."
In conclusion, I suppose I just found it kind of amazing that a God who is so grand and so great would actually care for, listen to, and create an entire sacrificial plan of salvation for a species of unimportant, mortal beings like us.
Edit - Replied to Jacob Clabo and Rebecca Belew.
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