He needed certainty or he was lost and this made him miserable and everyone around him miserable. Cartesian disease, the belief that one cannot know without being sure, had infected him like so many moderns and left him with nothing. This lost man felt justified, because he was reacting to people who did not care about facts, science, or data. They believed what they wished and if they had known the term would have called any problem that disturbed them... Read more

As reading any news thread shows, passion can provoke problems, God help us. The better news is put to proper use, passion can also speed us toward knowledge. Like most of us, when passion controls me, I make dumb (or worse than dumb) decisions, but when my reason uses passion to get things done, lots of good things I might not complete, become possible. One reason we train for high stress situations is so our passions can drive us correctly... Read more

Basic rule: you need pain for pleasure. Clarification: this pain is not the nasty pain of a broken world, but learning pains, the sort you must have for paradise to be heavenly. I know this truth from Thanksgiving. We are apt to have a yummy breakfast and tasty snacks continuously so that when we get to the great feast, nobody is hungry. This is a mistake! Whetting the edge of appetite sharpens the pleasure of eating. We hold off on... Read more

If you have not, read Plato. He points you to God (Laws), but he is not a religious fundamentalist. He loves science (Timeaus), but as the founder of philosophy understands any theory is a story we tell ourselves. It is likely, but it might just be useful and not true. Respect science, but do not worship particular takes on reality. They will change. Plato is brutal to an establishment that is sexually confused and morally bankrupt, but preserves what he... Read more

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Christianity demands we avoid “intellectualism” and instead strive for wholeness. Read more

Descartes is a great Christian philosopher and I am a guy who reads him yearly and hopes to understand. Being critical of Descartes should only be done with care, but I do have a complaint. This world-class scientist and thinker failed, I think, and the failure keeps coming up in conversations with friends and readers. If I am reading him correctly, he wanted to build his system of thought on certainty and this quest for certainty has led to three very... Read more

When corrupt crook Edwin Edwards ran against David Duke for the Senate, reasonable Christians voted for Edwin Edwards. The law would take care of Edwards, but Duke would have harmed the state more. How? Changing our values for money, power, or temporary victory makes a mockery of our standards. The Party of Lincoln could not consistently embrace the candidate of Jefferson Davis. We cannot do this, not because we are perfect, but because even if we try to live up... Read more

Education is going to have to change the way it does business or face a crisis. Christians and political conservatives have good reasons to criticize some practices of schools. If we are not careful, we will miss the good schools do. Think of baby, bath water, and take care. Do not be deceived: a great secular university, Rice in my hometown of Houston and my alma mater the University of Rochester, is a great, good, glorious thing. Like all goods... Read more

Nobody can demand mercy or be angry if it is not given. We plead, beg, long for mercy, but can only wait and see what is best. Read more