Naturalism
Where only what you can measure feels real, and mystery feels naive.
This is not a definition. It is a felt description.
The Climate
In this forest, you trust what can be weighed, measured, repeated. The air feels clear when every effect has a cause and every cause can be named. Wonder is welcome as long as it stays inside the lab.
What feels normal is keeping your feet on the ground and resisting claims you cannot test. What feels dangerous is the unseen: prayer, revelation, talk of souls. Faith, when it appears, feels like integrity - to follow the evidence and admit only what you can prove.
The Canopy
- Under this canopy, transcendence becomes hard to see.
- Under this canopy, the soul becomes hard to see.
- Under this canopy, moral obligation becomes hard to see.
- Under this canopy, grace as a gift becomes hard to see.
The Quiet Gospel
"If it is real, it can be measured."
The Fruit It Normalizes
- skepticism that feels responsible
- flatness that feels honest
- prayerlessness that feels intellectually clean
- hope reduced to probability
- awe replaced by analysis
The Cost of Staying
Over time, the world can feel smaller. You can explain so much, but you become less able to be surprised by goodness or to receive love as gift.
You may gain control and lose awe. The part of you that longs to be known by Someone begins to go quiet.
The Cost of Leaving
Leaving can feel like betraying reason, losing the identity that kept you safe. It can feel like stepping into naivete or being manipulated.
It also means risking new language for meaning and grace, which is frightening when your community prizes certainty.
A Path Through the Forest
The following reflections do not try to tear this forest down. They walk its edges, name its gaps, and point toward firmer ground.
- Part 1“Science Isn’t a Worldview. But You’re Using It Like One.”“Why science alone can’t answer life’s biggest questions.”
- Part 2“The Universe Runs on Code. So Who Wrote the Syntax?”“Exploring the implications of information systems in biology and the question of their origin.”
- Part 3“Naturalism Isn’t Neutral. It’s Just Small.”Naturalism claims to be a neutral, fact-based worldview. But in reality, it’s a small story that cuts off the deepest parts of being human.
- Part 4“Faith Isn’t Blind. It’s the Foundation of Everything.”Everyone has faith. The real question is: What is your faith built on?
- Part 5“What If the Resurrection Is the Most Rational Claim in History?”Exploring the historical and philosophical case for the resurrection of Jesus as the cornerstone of a coherent worldview.
- Part 6“You’re Not a Brain in a Jar. So Now What?”Exploring the historical and philosophical case for the resurrection of Jesus as the cornerstone of a coherent worldview.
- Part 7“Live Like It’s True - A Framework for Following Jesus When You’re Just Starting Out.”Exploring how to live out the Christian faith authentically when you're new to it.
Gentle Orientation Forward
You do not have to leave this forest today.
But you do not have to pretend it is the whole world either.