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I’m looking forward to the profundity of the questions Thomas will ask as he and his mind develop and grow. Children often surprise us. Having said that, their questions remind us of what it was like to not have thought further about a question. Take a question like ‘Who made God?’ This is one of the questions dealt with in the new . . . → Read More: child questions I’m happy to be accused of ‘middle-ism’1, but with regard to the question of inherent meaning in/to any things or events2, it seems that meaningfulness is between the extreme on one hand of seeing too little – or no – meaning (nihilism)3, and the extreme on the other of seeing too much meaning (superstition)4. The spectrum seems an honest one. Nihilism is as . . . → Read More: meaning “I spoke just now about the Latinity of Latin. It is more evident to us than it can have been to the Romans. The Englishness of English is audible only to those who know some other language as well. In the same way and for the same reason, only Supernaturalists really see Nature. You must go a . . . → Read More: dumb witch (I believe this analogy – my version of it below – belongs to Polkinghorne, but I’m not sure) explain the boiling kettle! Explanation A: Well, the heat from the element is transferred to the metal of the kettle, which transfers to the water, which changes the chemical state of the water, which we call boiling, at which liquid gives rise to vapor. The . . . → Read More: explanatory harmony It’s a common charge that believers simply (or simplistically) attribute ‘good’ and ‘evil’ to God or the devil depending on the results. Good happens to us: God did it. However, the providential monotheism of Judaeo-Christian belief holds that God is able to use even ‘evil’ . . . → Read More: sovereign I’m often conflicted about the whole apologetics thing. As long as people have honest questions1 about belief, then it remains a logically legitimate enterprise, but it can be taken too far easily. For me, I’m interested in taking away needless barriers to faith2. Increasingly for me, it’s been exciting to see just how complimentary an evolutionary understanding of nature is with Christianity. And . . . → Read More: this blog Succinct and razor sharp as always, James Chastek discusses how so-called ‘blind chance’ events can be used for a purpose – giving two excellent illustrations (coin-toss and cement mixing). This (for me) completely takes the wind out of the Dawkins-like assurance that big, bad ‘chance’ is an enemy of design and/or God1. and it probably makes all of the effort of . . . → Read More: purposeful chance One of the standard atheist charges against belief in a god (especially since Feuerbach) is that humans invent a ‘god’ who is nothing more than a ‘projection’ of their own need to believe. The central idea is that all beliefs about ‘gods’ simply reflect what humans want or assume a ‘god’ to be like. Quickly, I’ll say that although this would be . . . → Read More: projection, polytheism & judaeo-christian ‘atheism’ Featuring on Richard-Dawkins-loving atheist blogs around the web, the “Jesus and Mo” atheist cartoons are doubly lazy1. Because actually doing art and actually engaging with an issue is just too time-consuming… Continue reading jesus & mo
The phrase ‘follow your heart’1 is one of many popular un-wisdoms. Phrases that sound nice entering and leaving your consciousness. The heart, Hebrew prophet Jeremiah (and many an atheist) reminds us, is desperately wicked and is not to be trusted as a guide for one’s life. I know my own ‘heart’ well enough to know not to follow it wherever it . . . → Read More: change of heart |
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