Wednesday's Lecture

In all honesty, I hated today's lecture. I completely understand that you (Mr. Shapiro) only present us with what you believe is your own interpretation of Dostoyevsky's work. I think you mistakenly assume that my problem is with your interpretation of the book, when in reality it is not. I completely agree with the interpretation. It is 100% logical to me that what you're telling us is what Dostoyevsky is trying to say through his writing. My problem is with the actual matter itself. I don't agree with the fundamental concept of what is being said for the most part. I believe in God without a doubt and am happy that I believe in Him because my faith in God has gotten me through so much that I know I would not have been able to get through without Him.
The manner in which you presented the subject material seemed highly insensitive swell. Again, you could tell me that this is all about perception and I only perceive it to be insensitive because it bothers me so much inside to think that as you made it seem the story of religion is ridiculous. I am fully aware that this is how i perceive it, however, I don't perceive it as insensitive because it bothers me but rather because it is just insensitive by definition. You told us that the story of Adam and Eve was essentially ridiculous because God is testing two individuals that He only created a day ago. Nevertheless, we are not meant to understand the greatness of God's tests. We are meant to accept it and have faith (what I think you would call brainwash). But now I have a question for you, how is God testing Adam and Eve not the same as evolution testing a new born individual? Civilization and family structure is the only thing preventing a new born baby from being ripped apart in the wild. Without either of the two the baby would be tested not a day after, but seconds after its birth. How is that any different from God testing Adam and Eve?
The concept of the wall we build was interesting. I found a high level of truth in it. We really can't conceptualize the idea of an infinite space, we always put some sort of boundary to it. But just as we physically cannot understand this infinity, we are not meant to understand all of God's actions. I am a firm believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason, but I also believe that we may not be able or meant to understand these reasons.  Maybe people with a firm religious belief and people that believe in evolution are meant to coexist because it fosters this very thinking that causes human progress.