So, I’ve been reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and have almost finished the book. It’s long. And wordy. And philosophically dense. And, I find that I have some pretty conflicting opinions about her philosophy. Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982) was born and educated in Russia, and moved to the United States…
Month: May 2014
Thoughts on Absolute Truth and Certainty in a Post-Modern Relativistic World
Is there a more perfect foil for amateur philosophers and theologians than Calvin? I grew up in a society and a culture which says, “Question everything and especially all authority. You can’t really know anything. There is no ultimate truth.” We’ve all been led to believe that there are no absolutes – that if you submit to any authority you…
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Homosexual, Heterosexual, or just plain Human?
— 1 — I was listening to the radio show Catholic Answers the other day, and the host Patrick Coffin made the following comment: “The saying, I believe attributed to Oscar Wilde, ‘The love that dare not speak it’s name.’ is now something that can’t really stop talking about itself. The tsunami of organizations and individuals and websites that are founded…
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Altar Calls and other Protestant Traditions
Ah, the ubiquitous Evangelical altar call… Preachers from D.L. Moody to Billy Graham have made wide use of the altar call in their ministries, to such a degree, that they have become all but universal in the Evangelical Christian world. Like many, I grew up hearing frequent altar calls at the end of church services in which non-believers were urged to, “Come forward…
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Thoughts on Superhero Jesus and Baptizing Martians
So, let me start by admitting that I’m a bit of a nerd. But, believe it or not it’s the Pope who’s raising these issues not me. Both of these subjects actually came up last week during Pope Francis’ daily Mass homilies. On May 15th the Pope said, “Jesus Christ did not fall from the sky like a superhero who comes to…
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Sola Scriptura ~ An Anachronism
— 1 — There is a theory which I have heard proposed in many different ways by many different groups over the years. It is always vaguely articulated, but generally it loosely follows the same formula, namely that sometime during the first 1,500 years of Christianity, the church was led into error and that human reason and meaningless church tradition gradually replaced…
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That Damnable Catholic “And”…
Growing up as a Protestant, I remember being frustrated when I encountered theological arguments that would look at two “diametrically opposed” positions in Scripture, and would essentially seek to pit one side of the issue against the other. A perfect example of this is the argument over divine election and predestination versus human free will and choice. I remember returning to…
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Thoughts on the Intersection of Faith and Reason
There is tendency in our world to juxtapose faith against reason as if the two are somehow mutually exclusive to each other. As if they represent polar opposites and are, in fact, so diametrically opposed to each other that one cannot be both a person of reason and a person of faith. There seems to be a high degree of agreement as…
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Getting Fixed ~ A Reversal of Conviction
Frozen Peas Last Friday I went through a three and a half hour operation called a vasovasostamy to reverse my vasectomy. Not surprisingly, I have had several friends ask me what my reasons were for the reversal. Their reasons for asking were very straight forward. First of all, I’m old – almost forty-one. We already have three beautiful boys, who are…
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A Devolving Faith ~ The Bare Essentials of Christianity
I came across an interesting quote the other day while on Facebook. It had been posted by a friend of mine who is a very dedicated Christian and very active in ministry at the non-denominational church that he attends. The quote was from Ben Franklin and simply read, “Here is my Creed: I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe.…
