Archive for the ‘Apologetics’ Category:
Practical Epistemology
I know what you’re thinking.
“How can a post on epistemology be practical?” After all, isn’t philosophy only useful in ivory towers? I think this has been a major flaw in philosophical thought for many people. Philosophy has no value if it is not lived out; if it does not affect the way we live our lives. And let’s face it, a lot of us like to make statements in papers, in posts, or commenting on blogs that just aren’t livable.
A philosophy must be lived out. If I argue that no knowledge is possible, I need to live that idea out (otherwise I am a hypocrite). If I believe there is a God who made the world, but that God has stepped back and is no longer involved, I need to live that out. If I believe there is a God who is involved in the world, I should probably figure out how he is involved and act upon that.
It’s Raining Cats and Dogs…Run For Your Lives!!!
Consider this fictitious journal entry:
“I had a horrible day today. This morning I lost my job. I went out to lunch with my girlfriend, and when I began telling her about it, she interrupted me and told me she wanted to break up. On my way home from that wonderful lunch, I lost control of my car and spun off the road into a ditch. To make matters worse, it was raining cats and dogs.” Read more »
The “Problem” of Pain…
On February 22, 20/20 aired a special on “medical mysteries.” It covered people born without the ability to feel pain. While to some, this sounds like a blessing, it is a horrible curse.
As a baby, one child teethed on her own fingers to the point that they looked like hamburger meat. She chewed on her tongue like bubble gum… so badly that they had her baby teeth were removed. Then her adult teeth came in too quickly, and she managed to knock all but one of them out of her mouth by the age of 3. This girl (now 6 years old) damaged her cornea so badly by poking herself in the eye, that they sewed her eye shut in a desperate attempt to save her eye.
And then she tore the stitches out of her eye. She didn’t feel a thing.
One of the most talked about topics on the blogosphere is “The Problem of Pain.” Yet after watching this program, I wonder what would happen if pain and suffering were not a problem anymore. Read more »
Why Do I Care?
In a conversation on De-Conversion, Pat (comment #15) said
“I would like to see a post on your blog as to why someone would follow God.”
This is a very good question and one that needs to be asked by Christians and non-Christians alike, but often goes unaddressed in Christian circles. I will endeavor to provide a generic answer to the question here. However, before we can start to answer why someone would follow God, there are a lot of underlying assumptions about God and our knowledge of Him that we must first address. By doing so not only will we all be on the same page regarding certain terms and concepts, but we will be able to follow the logic used (hopefully) in answering this question from start to finish. Read more »
The Gospel and “Religious Experiences”
During chapel recently on my campus, I witnessed something truly religious.
Our speaker sculpted a head of Jesus while telling of his betrayal (with a little bit of theatrics and exaggerations). Then he explained how Jesus was beaten and crucified. He thrust a crown of thorns on the clay Jesus’ head and sprinkled it fake blood. It was meant to evoke a highly emotional response, and it did. As he brought up a pianist to play some music in the background as he made the altar call. One young female briskly strode to the front of the auditorium and began uncontrollably weeping. The speaker continued to call people forth to have an experience. Then this young woman started screaming, at the top of her lungs. I could not make out exactly what she was saying. She continued for a few minutes saying the same two or three words over and over again. The speaker was pleased, and affirmed her experience as true.
Oral Preaching, Written Preaching
The Bible has undoubtedly been one of the most important documents in world history. Many Christian believe it is totally true. However, you have to inquire as to the nature of this book. God did not descend from heaven and hand mankind the Bible, (although some Christians might try to sell something like that). The Bible is not one document; it is a collection of documents. The Bible has many authors, Old Testament and New Testament alike. They were written at different times (over a period of about 1500 years) and for varying reasons.
Over time, various documents were collected together, and recognized as authoritative. They were canonized. There is a lot of debate over this issue (that’s an understatement), and I think it’s an important one. I used to think canonization had to be nice and neat. In reality, it wasn’t until the 4th century that the Bible (in its current form) was all bound up together. I have often wondered why early Christians didn’t deal with the issue sooner, and I think they approached the issue differently.
Three Epistemic Options and Garden State
In my last post, I tried to outline how the need for certainty leads us to believe we cannot know anything at all. The bar many of us set for truth is so high nothing seems to be able to pass it. Sometimes it seems reason leads us to believe there is no reason (in the old model’s definition). So what the heck do we do with this?
We really only have three options. We can stay in the old model. We can admit that nothing can be known (what I call epistemic nihilism). Or we can scrape the old model and save knowledge.
Read more »
