Our course is almost over. In this closing I will try to present my reaction to Vosper’s book. Many things have been said about “With or Without God”, such as: Challenging Controversial Aggressive Persuasion Useful but not new ideas Destruction of the Christian Church and/or The Hope for the Survival of the Christian Church Etc, etc Here is my reaction to this book – supported by some of my favourite quotations, such as: “God is present in the force that makes us restless” (Anon. but from Ralph Milton’s column). For any “restless” person, this book should be useful, fascinating, and fun. Here are four of my main reasons for liking it – chosen randomly. 1. Circuitous Reasoning – P 75, last three paragraphs - How we for so long have blithely accepted this business of using one assumption as proof of another assumption, I do not know --- but we should watch for this and be wary. 2. “What we do and how we live is more important than what we believe”. P 99, Second paragraph. Caveat - 3. Honesty and Integrity – In other words – tell it as it is, as modern scholarship informs us and go on to demonstrate the deep value of the Bible seen with new eyes. 4. Fear – Vosper dwells on the fear that we all can understand, the fear that critical and scholarly examination of our faith will/may/could/has the potential to/ shatter the source of support we all so sorely need P 87, second paragraph. For the encouragement of any of us who plough our way through new and perhaps upsetting ideas, a word from Albert Schweitzer (1875 to 1965) missionary,doctor, musician. “If an idea is not in the beginning considered to be absurd --- there is no hope for it.” I part company with Vosper in the intensity and effort she puts into “proving” that whatever God is (He, She, It) – “God” is not supernatural or theistic. For me, this is a waste of effort. Is it not just as impossible to prove a “God” does not exist, as it is to prove that a “God” does exist? 0r, for that matter, what a “God” could be? Why cannot we be content with just not knowing? I here refer you to a quotation from Pascal, a French philosopher and mathematician (1623 – 1662). He said: “There are two excesses to be avoided – 1. Excluding reason. The second is 2. Admit only reason. Perhaps this is something for Vosper to consider. I leave you now to pinpoint your own areas of agreement and disagreement with Vosper – but I think you will agree she makes us think, and examine why we believe what we do, and consider if her presentation shifts our paradigm in any way. In closing, a few more quotations that seem pertinent. I defend this by quoting Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784). He states “A quotation is a good thing --- there is a certain community of thought in it”. (By the way, did I say something earlier about the danger of circuitous thinking?) Oh well!! In addition, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 – 1982) poet – said as follows: “No longer forward nor behind I look in hope or fear, But grateful, take the good I find The best of now and here”. And of course, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 – 1892) as he says in the very familiar verse “There lies more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds”. --- gives respectability to those of us who have doubted our way through life! And finally, some anonymous kindred spirit penned the following lines which only recently came to my attention and gave me great joy - “WHEN NOTHING IS CERTAIN -- ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE !!” AMEN St. David’s United Church, November 16/08