Alva Review-Courier -

René Descartes is not on my short list of guys I’d like to invite to dinner. For one thing, he died 300 years before I was born. Of course, one could forgive him for that. It’s not like he could have waited around for the invitation. But Descartes is on my short list for not being on the dinner list for other reasons, as well. First of all, he was into math. By “into” math, I mean he is credited with discovering analytical geometry. I did well to escape algebra with a little “extra credit” from the golf coach/teacher. I’m not saying he passed me when I should have failed, but let’s just say there was some grace involved. I imagine Descartes would find it difficult to dumb down the conversation to my level, if we were to share a rack of ribs.

But René and I do have one interesting thing in common. We both have a hard time ignoring the existence of God. Descartes believed that the only way to find true knowledge was to doubt everything he had ever learned, set it aside and find that one pure nugget of truth to rebuild his system of thought. Of course, he eventually turned inward and found his foundation in himself when he famously said, “I think, therefore I am,” but on the way to that ground-breaking breakthrough, he always held one thing as being undeniable, unquestionable and stable. God exists and God is good.

I’m sure that on a multitude of other issues, we would find nothing but separation and opposition, but on this one stable, immovable point we could agree and perhaps find enough clarity and commonality to break bread. I firmly believe there are two kinds of people in the world, when all is said and done. Those who believe that God is and those who believe that God is not. On one of these two foundations, every person must make a stand.

At the close of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made the famous statement, “everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rains came. The winds blew and beat on that house, but it stood firm because it was founded on a rock.”

Rock on! See you Sunday.