--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was passages like these, where there…" description: "\"“It was passages like these, where there is a clear mocking of literalist readings of Scripture, that had brought me back around to Christianity after ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a15/kalanithi-251727_belief-in-god_it-was-passages-like-these-where-there-i_2388689.jpg" --- # It was passages like these, where there is a clear mocking… ![“It was passages like these, where there is a clear mocking of literalist readings of Scripture, that had brought me back around to Christianity after a long stretch, following college, when my notion of God and Jesus had grown, to put it gently, tenuous. During my sojourn in ironclad atheism, the…” quote by Kalanithi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a15/kalanithi-251727_belief-in-god_it-was-passages-like-these-where-there-i_2388689.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a15/kalanithi-251727_belief-in-god_it-was-passages-like-these-where-there-i_2388689.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a15/kalanithi-251727_belief-in-god_it-was-passages-like-these-where-there-i_2388689.jpg) > ““It was passages like these, where there is a clear mocking of literalist readings of Scripture, that had brought me back around to Christianity after a long stretch, following college, when my notion of God and Jesus had grown, to put it gently, tenuous. During my sojourn in ironclad atheism, the primary arsenal leveled against Christianity had been its failure on empirical grounds. Surely enlightened reason offered a more co­herent cosmos. Surely Occam’s razor cut the faithful free from blind faith. There is no proof of God; therefore, it is unreasonable to believe in God. Although I had been raised in a devout Christian family, where prayer and Scripture readings were a nightly ritual, I, like most scientific types, came to believe in the possibility of a material conception of reality, an ultimately scientific worldview that would grant a complete metaphysics, minus outmoded concepts like souls, God, and bearded white men in robes. I spent a good chunk of my twenties trying to build a frame for such an endeavor. The problem, however, eventually became evident: to make science the arbiter of metaphysics is to banish not only God from the world but also love, hate, meaning — to consider a world that is self-evidently not the world we live in. That’s not to say that if you believe in meaning, you must also believe in God. It is to say, though, that if you believe that science provides no basis for God, then you are almost obligated to conclude that science provides no basis for meaning and, therefore, life itself doesn’t have any. In other words, existential claims have no weight; all knowledge is scientific knowledge. Yet the paradox is that scientific methodology is the product of human hands and thus cannot reach some permanent truth. We build scientific theories to organize and manipulate the world, to reduce phenomena into manageable units. Science is based on reproducibility and manufactured objectivity. As strong as that makes its ability to generate claims about matter and energy, it also makes scientific knowledge inapplicable to the existential, visceral nature of human life, which is unique and subjective and unpredictable. Science may provide the most useful way to organize empirical, reproducible data, but its power to do so is predicated on its inability to grasp the most central aspects of human life: hope, fear, love, hate, beauty, envy, honor, weakness, striving, suffering, virtue. Between these core passions and scientific theory, there will always be a gap. No system of thought can contain the fullness of human experience. The realm of metaphysics remains the province of revelation (this, not atheism, is what Occam argued, after all). And atheism can be justified only on these grounds. The prototypical atheist, then, is Graham Greene’s commandant from The Power and the Glory, whose atheism comes from a revelation of the absence of God. The only real atheism must be grounded in a world-making vision. The favorite quote of many an atheist, from the Nobel Prize–winning French biologist Jacques Monod, belies this revelatory aspect: “The ancient covenant is in pieces; man at last knows that he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe, out of which he emerged only by chance.” Yet I returned to the central values of Christianity -- sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness -- because I found them so compelling. There is a tension in the Bible between justice and mercy, between the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the New Testament says you can never be good enough: goodness is the thing, and you can never live up to it. The main message of Jesus, I believed, is that mercy trumps justice every time.”” [Kalanithi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kalanithi/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author describes how confronting scientific limits led him back to Christian belief, arguing that science alone cannot provide meaning or moral grounding. **In simple terms:** Science can’t answer meaning, faith fills that gap. Key Takeaway Consider how meaning may require more than empirical proof. Themes faith meaning science existence metaphysics Mood reflective conflicted thoughtful Type faith:0 Believe in god:0 Blind faith:0 Christian family:0 Christianity:0 Good enough:0 Human experience:0 Human life:0 Justice and mercy:0 Life itself:0 New testament:0 Old testament:0 Proof of god:0 Religion:0 Science:0 Scientific knowledge:0 Love Hate:0 Graham Greene:0 Literalist Readings:0 Quote Atheist:0 Atheism Occam:0 Prototypical Atheist:0 Argued Atheism:0 When to use this quote - personal crisis - spiritual search - academic debate - ethical decision - life purpose Key Concepts epistemology existentialism theology Questions to Reflect On - How do you reconcile empirical knowledge with spiritual needs? - Can meaning exist without belief? A Different Perspective Science may offer explanations but not existential comfort. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Argued Atheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argued-atheism-5941575/) [Atheism Occam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atheism-occam-5941573/) [Belief in god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief-in-god/) [Believe in god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe-in-god/) [Blind faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blind-faith/) [Christian family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-family/) [Christianity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christianity/) [Good enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-enough/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graham-greene/) [Human experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-experience/) [Human life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-life/) [Justice and mercy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice-and-mercy/) [Life itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-itself/) [Literalist Readings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literalist-readings-5941571/) [Love Hate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-hate/) [New testament](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-testament/) [Old testament](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-testament/) [Proof of god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/proof-of-god/) [Prototypical Atheist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prototypical-atheist-5941574/) [Quote Atheist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quote-atheist-5941572/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Scientific knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scientific-knowledge/) ## Related quotes > [As the church watches from the sidelines, the ungodly elect atheists and homosexuals to school boards and legislatures to enact policies and laws that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-simonds/as-the-church-watches-from-the-sidelines-the-ungodly-elect-atheists/) [Robert Simonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-simonds/) > [“Nevertheless, attending Mount Washington Female College likely offered more spacious living than Boyd had enjoyed at home. 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Determine to pursue your goals.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/believe-in-yourself-determine-to-pursue-your-goals/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) [Browse all 306 Belief in god quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief-in-god/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was passages like these, where there is a clear mocking of literalist readings of Scripture, that had brought me back around to Christianity after a long stretch, following college, when my notion of God and Jesus had grown, to put it gently, tenuous. During my sojourn in ironclad atheism, the primary arsenal leveled against Christianity had been its failure on empirical grounds. Surely enlightened reason offered a more co­herent cosmos. Surely Occam’s razor cut the faithful free from blind faith. There is no proof of God; therefore, it is unreasonable to believe in God. Although I had been raised in a devout Christian family, where prayer and Scripture readings were a nightly ritual, I, like most scientific types, came to believe in the possibility of a material conception of reality, an ultimately scientific worldview that would grant a complete metaphysics, minus outmoded concepts like souls, God, and bearded white men in robes. I spent a good chunk of my twenties trying to build a frame for such an endeavor. The problem, however, eventually became evident: to make science the arbiter of metaphysics is to banish not only God from the world but also love, hate, meaning — to consider a world that is self-evidently not the world we live in. That’s not to say that if you believe in meaning, you must also believe in God. It is to say, though, that if you believe that science provides no basis for God, then you are almost obligated to conclude that science provides no basis for meaning and, therefore, life itself doesn’t have any. In other words, existential claims have no weight; all knowledge is scientific knowledge. Yet the paradox is that scientific methodology is the product of human hands and thus cannot reach some permanent truth. We build scientific theories to organize and manipulate the world, to reduce phenomena into manageable units. Science is based on reproducibility and manufactured objectivity. As strong as that makes its ability to generate claims about matter and energy, it also makes scientific knowledge inapplicable to the existential, visceral nature of human life, which is unique and subjective and unpredictable. Science may provide the most useful way to organize empirical, reproducible data, but its power to do so is predicated on its inability to grasp the most central aspects of human life: hope, fear, love, hate, beauty, envy, honor, weakness, striving, suffering, virtue. Between these core passions and scientific theory, there will always be a gap. No system of thought can contain the fullness of human experience. The realm of metaphysics remains the province of revelation (this, not atheism, is what Occam argued, after all). And atheism can be justified only on these grounds. The prototypical atheist, then, is Graham Greene’s commandant from The Power and the Glory, whose atheism comes from a revelation of the absence of God. The only real atheism must be grounded in a world-making vision. The favorite quote of many an atheist, from the Nobel Prize–winning French biologist Jacques Monod, belies this revelatory aspect: “The ancient covenant is in pieces; man at last knows that he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe, out of which he emerged only by chance.” Yet I returned to the central values of Christianity -- sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness -- because I found them so compelling. There is a tension in the Bible between justice and mercy, between the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the New Testament says you can never be good enough: goodness is the thing, and you can never live up to it. 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