| Part 1 The Theory of Faith | Hirohumi Hoshika |
Episode 3"Conversion of Night Era to Day Era" and the Universe
Bruce regards "some people" as ignorant of traditional Christianity and teaches that the core of Christian doctrine is not the "teachings" stated by Jesus but the "gospel" preached by the apostles. Indeed, the words of the "some people", beginning with "The fundamental principles of Christianity are ...", seems to be a question as to what is the correct definition of Christianity.
However, his statement ends with the assertion that "a man who accepts and follows that teaching (=the teachings of Jesus) can be a true Christian", and does not seem to be simply asking for a definition of Christianity. This argument ultimately includes a claim about "what is a true Christian?", and the remark at the beginning about the fundamental principles of Christianity can be understood as accompanying it.
If this is the case, then what "some people" are trying to say must be seen as going beyond the frame of orthodoxy/non-orthodoxy in Christian faith. They believe that there is something that should be placed above the orthodoxy of faith. It would also be an objection directed at those who seek to live according to the orthodox Christian faith, who believe that the Bible conveys the facts.
The reason why it is important that what is written in the Bible is true is precisely because we believe that our way of life is based on some such fact. Certainly, for someone living such a life, whether the teachings they believe in are true or not is bound to be a serious issue.
However, I believe that "some people's" answer arose from the fact that he questioned the very way of life, which is to believe in the way the world is as he has been taught and to base his own life on it.
I once said to a friend in a new religion, "What does it matter if God exists?" However, there was some continuation to the events I wrote about in Episode 1.
At the time, he seemed smarter than our classmates. As he eventually became involved in religion, I began to hear him speak on several occasions. The content was that "The world changed dramatically in the year 1900 or so, the year of the First World War, with the transition from the Night Era to the Day Era".
I found this boring. Then I asked him how "Conversion Night - Day" dogma related to the way he lived, he replied, "Since that's the way the world works, I will live according to it." To me, that seemed like an answer that didn't seem like him. I was disappointed and said, "Let's suppose that God exists as you say, but what does it matter if God exists?"
Not long after that, however, I had an experience that put me in the opposite position.
When I was a boy, I read a book called Utyu no Shinpi [Mysteries of the Universe] and was given a 4cm diameter telescope that was on display at a department store. After that, even as a child, I would hold stargazing parties at the local library and gather my classmates to observe meteors and occultations.
By the time I graduated from junior high school, I was taking the negatives I had developed at a high sensitivity to a local photo shop and making the owner reprint them as many times as necessary until I was satisfied with the results, and then submitting the resulting cabinet-size photographs to the monthly magazines Tenmon Gaido [Astronomy Guide] and Tenmon to Kisyo [Astronomy and Weather]. As a result, my photos were selected four times, and one of them was used as the cover of a magazine.
It was the year of Mars' close approach, and a newspaper company came to interview me after learning that my photo had been selected for the cover. The article, in which I was photographed along with the wooden telescope I was building, was featured in the local edition of the newspaper with the headline "Looking forward to Mars' close approach".
However, that headline was misguided. My telescope was a 15cm diameter, F6, short-focus reflector telescope typical of the time, and was designed for comet hunting, not planetary observation. I had been planning to start searching for comets in earnest after graduating from high school, so since middle school I had been conducting search activities that also served as rehearsals in mountain towns where comet hunting was difficult.
On that account I often talked about the universe at gatherings with my friends. One day, while I was having such a conversation with my classmates, a friend interrupted us. He said that the celebrity love stories in the weekly magazines were more important than the universe. "People fall in love with each other. To us, is there anything more important than that?"
To me, the teachings of "Conversion Night - Day" did not seem important, but to my friend, "the universe" was the very same kind. Up until that point, he had often expressed a way of thinking like that had been cultivated in the adult world, to someone like him, we must have seemed childish in our belief that the universe was such an important matter. do not have. That is why he has deliberately contrasted the "high-minded universe" with a "vulgar weekly magazine". I was shocked that there are people who think that universe is not important.
I didn't dig deep into myself and ask myself, "What does it matter if the universe is like that?" as I did when I asked a classmate of a new religion about "Conversion Night - Day". But my enthusiasm for space gradually faded, and when I stopped searching for comets, I lost sight of my previously clear purpose in life.