Whenever I talk about the Bible, I am asked about the contradictions**. Aren’t there lots of them? Maybe, but probably not. Let’s assume there are. Does that count against divine inspiration? I am not sure why it would. We have many books in the collection called the Bible with the same essential message. The books were written over centuries in different languages by many different authors. God breathed on the authors and inspired them. Do they have to be perfect (as I think... Read more
Once I had a customer return a computer to the store where I worked. She was very frustrated and wanted her money back. Why? The battery on the computer was broken and would not power the computer. She was the owner of a desktop and had read a good bit about her computer before purchasing. She had learned that there was a CMOS battery in the machine. This was more than most of my customers knew, but sadly for her, the assumption... Read more
The small child in a dark room knows that somewhere out there is a switch that will turn the light on, but he cannot reach the light from his crib. He is afraid of the dark and knowing the dawn will come in a few hours does not help at all. You can know about a good thing without being able to make that thing real. This brings us to a question that M* asks: 12. Are things good... Read more
My mind churns away and keeps me awake as I think about what needs to be done at The Saint Constantine School and College and so a good audiobook helps me relax. My favorites are That Hideous Strength, A Child’s History of England, and The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes. It was while listening to Holmes that I heard the best audiobook reader now alive (Alexander Scourby, RIP): Charlton Griffin. My goal, and a man must have goals, is to listen to every book he records. That led me... Read more
One of the surest proofs that a set of ideas (a view of reality) is worth pursuing is that those ideas can form a vibrant intellectual community that builds something good and new. A sign of intellectual sterility is when a group pounds away at what they are against, but spend little time on building something better. Read a secular or non-religious blog for any length of time and you will discover attacks on other points of view, but little... Read more
Beef jerky is a rare treat in our house. If we ask about this snack, the answer is always “we need more.” If we go to Costco and buy some, then the response is: “we need even more.” So it is with evidence regarding the life of Jesus. If you testify to His awesome life, then you most often end up a Christian: Jesus is just that overwhelming. But to the modern critic, trapped in his own time, this makes you... Read more
Opening one's mind to other points of view in religion has not made me less sure of Orthodox Christianity, but more sure. Read more
I believe: the Packers are the best football team ever. Texas is a big state. a rose is beautiful. taking a human life for fun is morally wrong. God exists. As a list of my beliefs, this is not much of a creed to live by, but these are all propositions I do, actually, believe. The list points out something about beliefs: there are different kinds and they have different levels of importance. If you ask me why I think... Read more
Every year I dreamed of warning the last Russian Tsar of what was to come. In the dream, I would debate what to say to Nicholas II to convince him that Russia was on the edge. The direction had to change. What would convince him? Was there any way to avoid the basement room in Ekaterinburg where the family was slaughtered as a downpayment on decades of depravity and death? I never have answered that question well, because the past... Read more
“Did God get saved between the Old Testament and the New Testament?” asked the student. I laughed, but I understood what she meant. God does seem different and not just between the Testaments. His character seems different between the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah! Of course, you can harmonize the picture of God that you find in Exodus with the God of the Gospel of John, but my student is not the first to notice the difference. My email-friend M*, thoughtful interlocutor that he... Read more
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