This week there will be a mass protest in Madrid, Spain. What could it be against...for have not the rebels for a certain version of "freedom", fully routed all forms of repression, oppression, and all religious obsessions from the continent. No, this rally, which could number at 500,000 is from religious lay people, who care that each child has a mother and a father, that the family is not blasted into oblivion by all manner of "new definitions."
Of course the BBC must label this "anti-gay" - but those who are pro family, pro design in sexuality and child raising, need not bow to aggressive, intolerance from their governments, who seek to make a moral conscience a crime.
Link Spaniards to stage rally
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POC Blog
The random technotheolosophical blogging of Reid S. Monaghan
Providence and the Question of Fate
The other day my daughter was watching an old Disney movie and one of the characters, an old bird, was explaining to some mice about the nature of fate. Not wanting my daughter to buy into what was being said, but with you a reactionary move to condemn and turn off the film I engaged my little girl in a short discussion.
Kayla, is what that bird saying true? Is something called fate in control of our lives? Daddy God is in control of our lives Right kiddo...God is a person who loves us, and he is in control of our lives. Fate cannot do or control anything, it has no will at all. Fate is not a person who can choose.Now this was at a 3 ½ year old level, but the question is very relevant to us all. Many in our society, in fact, most people around the world have some concept of all things happen for a reason Western cultures, with the influence of the Christian Gospel and the biblical witness have held in the past to the concept of Divine Providence, that God is working all things out in this world according to a loving and good plan. In the East, the pantheistic worldviews have believed in the concept of Karma, which means action, will, or destiny. In the west today, many have held on to the notion that all things happen for a reason by clinging to concepts such as fate or destiny. Indeed, many of us are disciples of darth Vador - Luke, this is your Destiny Many cultures have wrestled with various flavors of Determinism we will look at just a few. Mechanistic Determinism
- The Universe is Out of our Control -- Mechanistic determinism flows from the worldview of philosophical or metaphysical naturalism. That nature is all there ever was, all there is, and all there will ever be. The universe is like a big box. Inside the box is matter and its relationships to itself. Matter operates according to the laws of nature and all of history and reality is a link of causes and their attendant effects, marchiblindlyess into the future. This worldview held by some philosophers and scientists (and many others) holds that the idea of a "self" and "consciousness" and "free will" are illusions created by our brains. What we actually are is determined matter operating blindly according to physics, and biochemistry, the mere bumping around of the brain.
- What is actually controlling the world? Nothing actually is controlling anything in the world. The only true law active is the laws of matter and natural interaction. Human choices (which is a result of this same blind, mindless, irrational process) are small ways in which we can attempt to place our own control upon the universe
- What does it mean for Human Beings? Humans beings looking at this reality have three choices. First, one can despair, this was the move of nihilism. Second, one can realize the real world cares nothing for you, and it is empty of all value and meaning, but you can then choose, against reason, to create value and meaning for yourself. This is the move of existentialism. Third, you can whistle zippy di do da, and remain ignorant. Some have suggested noble lies - stories to trick ourselves into believing that we have value - the only problem is that lies have no effect on those who know the truth; and I never find lies to be noble
- The Universe is Out of our Control? Seeing that a world of meaningless despair does not help optimism (nor the economy) many in the West want to maintain belief that though the world is not in our control, it is itself in control.
- What is Actually Controlling the World? Not trying to be funny, but many of us actually believe in something akin to the force in Star Wars. That there is a great unknown, that somehow makes every thing work out "right" - whatever right means.
- What does it mean for Human Beings? Many people who think this, actually still believe in some conception of God. But this god is not actually willing and controlling the Cosmos, he is just there on our pillows at night so that we know everything will be OK as I direct my own life. So who is control in this pop-providence. Usually the autonomous self - ME - at least when things go wellWhenhen they do not go well, which is often, the pillow awaits us and we can say "all things happen for a reason." What and who has a reason for this or that coming to pass is left like a blank stare. Like the reflecting eyes of Darth Vador - we are left but looking at ourselves
- The Universe is Out of our Control? Death, Disease, and Suffering - this is common to the world, and especially known in the east. We are part of a great ultimate, infinite, unchanging, reality known as Brahman and we know that we are in no way in control
- What is Actually Controlling the World? We are all trapped in the endless cycle of reincarnations (samsara) where the law of Karma determines the level of our rebirths. This law is impersonal and cares nothing for us - it is a built in factor to the universe, that our post apositionion in life is due to some transgression in past lives. If you are of a low caste or lot in society, you deserve it, you are working out past Karma and ought to suffer as you do.
- What does it mean for Human Beings? Human beings must aspire to escape the endless cycle of birth and rebirth and move towards the oneness of Brahman. One may take many paths to this - works, knowledge, devotion to a manifestation of a god. Others (in Buddhist paths) may meditate to absolve personality and merge into the oneness of the void thereby escaping all desire and suffering. As Yoda once said "desire leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering"
- The Universe is Out of our Control - Yes, this is so, we feel the immensity of all things around us. The course of nature, the hopelessness and finality of death, and our having but a small play in it all.
- What is Actually in Control? Here is where the gospel answers quidifferentlytly, there is not a WHAT in control at all, but a magnificent WHO. This world has been created, is sustained, and governed by God. A person of infinite love, power, and wisdom accomplishing his desires for the world.
- What does this mean for Human Beings? Our intuition that all things happen for a reason is quite correct. And things do happen according to reason - an actual mind of a person (not a human person, but a personal God), that there is a will, a reason, and desired end for all things. This makes our intuition far from empty - we know that things appear purposeful because they actually are. We need not despair as the nihilist, tell our selves noble lies with the existentialist, nor flay our bodies before idols like many in the East. The doctrine of providence holds a different key - one of relationship, one of mystery, one of worship. The amazing truth of the gospel is that the one who is working out all things after the council of his will (Eph 1:11), actually should be loved and worshipped. The gospel, the good news, is that the God who made the world, is saving a people out of this world to be his very own. If you sense His call on your life, respond, indeed It is Your Destiny. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord, will be saved. And all things do happen for a reason. The reason of the one who does all according to his own good purposes - to bring glory to his Name on the earth.
Ever wonder where you land?
Where do you stand amidst the current Christian Millieu? This is a bit funny, but follow the flow chart...
The "Denominator"
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Uncommon Descent � Timothy Shortell — Enlightened Bigot
Bill Dempski has an interesting quote from those who are enlightened, secular, and tolerant...well, you decide.
Uncommon Descent � Timothy Shortell — Enlightened Bigot
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Resource for Interacting with the Da Vinci Code
Midwestern Baptist Seminary has produced a series of audio files on interacting with the views of Dan Brown's popular novel The Da Vinci Code
I have not listened to these yet, but thought they were worth a look - Davinci Code Workshop
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Soft Patriachs, New Men
According to W. Bradford Wilcox, the divergent family ideologies of evangelical and mainline churches do not translate into large differences in family behavior between evangelical and mainline Protestant men who are married with children. Mainline Protestant men, he contends, are "new men" who take a more egalitarian approach to the division of household labor than their conservative peers and a more involved approach to parenting than men with no religious affiliation. Evangelical Protestant men, meanwhile, are "soft patriarchs"--not as authoritarian as some would expect, and given to being more emotional and dedicated to their wives and children than both their mainline and secular counterparts. Thus, Wilcox argues that religion domesticates men in ways that make them more responsive to the aspirations and needs of their immediate families.A few links: I just put this work in my Amazon.com shopping cart (oh shopping cart, what a troubling thing thou hast become) - I'll put in the queue for late summer... Out... --------
Ten Most Harmful Books....
The conservative site Human Events Online has a list of what they are calling The Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. I usually do not try to get involved in leftist/rightist political web sites, but this list is insightful. Ideas do matter, for human beings act upon ideas. Beliefs are action guides.
Some beliefs are more central, more crucial than others in our view of the world. AW Tozer once rightly remarked that what we believe about God will influence us more than anything else.
Look for a moment at the beliefs that are derived from our understanding of God:
- Why is there a universe?
- What is our place in it?
- What is my place in it?
- Is there any meaning to human history?
- What happens at death?
- How can I know anything at all?
- How should I live? What is right, what is wrong?
Some Funny One Liners
Dr. Howe was the professor for a Logic class I took a few years back - this is the kind of stuff that makes philosophers laughFavorite Quotes
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Intelligent Design the Future - Teapots today...cells tomorrow?
There is a great article in Nature Magazine as to the nature of designed objects in the real world - things designed by human minds. The article articulately describes how the laws of physics seem to do nothing in predicting things which will be caused by human minds. This is a problem for those who hold that the world is just a set of determinate arranged matter. The minds of people continually do things, create objects, etc .in ways that cannot be predicted by physics showing the order that mind imposes onto the natural world. Paul Nelson of the Discovery Institute rightly sees the implication. If teapots have design imposed upon it by a mind, how much more the higher complexity and design of cells, DNA...
You can read Nelson's post at the ID Blog at Intelligent Design the Future - Teapots today...cells tomorrow?
Interesting factoid - I just read a printout of this article in class here at Southern Seminary. Bill Dempski sent it to our professor this morning and he sent it around class - I of course hogged it for a few minutes to read it - smile.
Oh for the manifest wisdom in making cells and human minds to be known and marveled at in the world.
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Simulate Your Brain
The New Scientist has an article about a new project to attempt to simulate the human brain in silicon.
The article is a fascinating look into The "Blue Brain" project between IBM and a group of Swiss researchers. The hope of the project is described as:
The hope is that the virtual brain will help shed light on some aspects of human cognition, such as perception, memory and perhaps even consciousness...It may also help in understanding how certain malfunctions of the brain’s “microcircuits” could cause psychiatric disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and depression, he says.A super computer will be set up now to mimic the functioning of the brain. Due to my background in computer science, this is an interesting process. The goal is said to be "set up a virtual brain" that will "shed light" on aspects of human cognition. Yet to build a brain simulator you must be able to already do several things in order to know that your simulator in any way will actually simulate the brain:
- Know how to map out the brain in hardware. A complete mapping of the physical structure of the brain in corresponding hardware
- You must already know how that hardware should interact so as the brain will function as a brain. This "intelligence" then must be programmed into the hardware and software of the system so that the functionality will be as a brain should function.
Popes and Instant Books
It appears that some publishers guessed well as to the election of the new pontiff of Rome. Seems like they were sitting on read with a satchel full of new books.
Source: We have a passel of pope books! - Yahoo! News
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Atheistic Intramurals
Over at Al Mohler's blog he has an interesting commentary on an intramural squabble among atheistsAn Argument Among Atheists -- Always Worth Watching
One, Dylan Evans, is calling for a more gentile, play well in the sandbox with religious folk version of atheism:
'My kind of atheism takes issue with the old atheism on all three of its main tenets: it values religion; treats science as simply a means to an end; and finds the meaning of life in art.' Or, in other words, 'I think the best way to think about religion is to see it like the painting in this parable. In other words, religions are beautiful things, but their beauty can only be truly appreciated when they are seen as human creations -- as works of art.'With atheism's lessoning influence, even in the once atheistic den's of University philosophy departments, perhaps Evans sees some writing on the wall. Maybe we will not dominate the world; maybe "skepticism, disbelief, incredulity towards religion" is not the best path. Mohler makes a great observation:
Evans' atheism is not anti-religious, you understand, just anti-supernatural. Religion is just fine, so long as you don't really believe anything about God."Such atheism is still atheism - perhaps it is a "be nice" atheism, but the arrogance stance of agonosticism and unbelief about the real substance of faith (that knowledge of God is possible and essential to human beings and their flourishing) is denied. You may have your religious parties and drink your koolaid, I will now just smile and instead of scorn, linger rather than lash out. Salman Rushdie (author of the anti-muslim Satanic Verses thinks this is the wrong course for the nonmystical prophets of matter. Rushdie does not see religion capitulating to accept unbelief - they will not beat their intellectual swords into plowshares. The atheist would be wise to keep his arms as well according to Rushdie. Mohler has a great exhortation amongst the squabbles of our friends on the other side of the metaphysical divide:
As Christians, we had better present authentic Christianity as the faith they are so determined to reject. Soft Christianity is countered by soft atheism. The truth claims of biblical Christianity leave no room for compromise -- no neutral zone.Amen. Let us love our secular neighbor, in word and in deed, in truth and love. But be not unaware of the halls of unbelief. --------
WiFi in the Sky
United Airlines announces in-flight WiFi plans - Engadget - www.engadget.com
United Airlines announces in-flight WiFi plans - Engadget - www.engadget.com
Now you can fly and stay connected - this could be a huge help for international travels. Plus, it is cool...I would love to see a complicated graphic of all the pieces of this system (Satellite, routers, air born access points etc.)
You can take the boy away from geeky stuff, but you can't take the geeky stuff out of the boy.
Out.
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Judge Rules That Gillette Ads Are False - Yahoo! News
Gee - I knew this thing did not work as well as advertised...and the science of vibrating blades did sound a bit dubious...but having a face that bleeds at all razors, I did go out and give this one a try...
Alas, I am most likely doomed to a heavy beard, sensitive skin, face cutting experience for life...
Link:Judge Rules That Gillette Ads Are False - Yahoo! News
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In Louisville this week
This week I am in Louisville Kentucky taking a class at Southern Seminary. It has been a blessing to see all that is going on here on the campus. The school's facilities are quite impressive and the people are humble, professional and friendly. I am taking a course called "Intro to Christian Philosophy" which began today. I will be buried in classes from 9-5 every day and then studying at night. The blog will slow a bit...but I'll try to keep some cool stuff flowing that I find on the net.
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Book Review - Sex and the Supremacy of Christ
Over the next few weeks I will be reviewing the forthcoming book Sex and the Supremacy of Christ edited by Justin Taylor and John Piper. The book published by Crossway, will be released in mid-June and is based upon talks given at the 2004 Desiring God Conference of the same title.
The book is sectioned off into Five Parts and I will review each in turn
- Introduction
- Part I - God and Sex
- Part II - Sin and Sex
- Part III - Men and Sex
- Part IV - Women and Sex
- Part V - History and Sex
Islam marching silently in Canada
World Magazine Blog has an interested post about Islamic law being advanced and debated in Canada.
I honestly assumed this sort of thing would happen first in Europe, but Sharia law is gaining ground north of our boarders in Canada. Secular, postmodern relativism, seems unwiling and unable to hold back the encroach of even absolutist systems like Sharia. This seems to be the strategy of Islam in the west.
Claim to be one of many views that needs to be tolerated
Under this cover, continue to advance its laws and beliefs - even those which are contrary to the same "tolerant" society which has given freedom to exercise the beliefs.
If any of their beliefs are questioned, countered, or refuted (gasp) - scream "Intolerant" and continue on its way while secularists open wide the door for them.
The recent avalanche of news on "Koran abuse" is a great example. Someone looks crossly at a Koran and muslim victims will scream and riot, even kill. All the while, Muslim communities are shredding Bibles and suppressing other religions in the countries where Islam has the strongest footholds.
Be not asleep.
Between Two Worlds: Philadelphia Inquirer on Emergent
Justin Taylor has some great advice for young believers in our day:
The church often fails in two directions, I believe: (1) they are both in and of (impossible to distinguish from the world), or (2) they are of but not in (worldly but isolated). The biblical road is much more difficult: remaining and engaging without accomodating and capitulating.Full post here: Between Two Worlds: Philadelphia Inquirer on Emergent --------
Bible shredders
World Magazine Blog: Bible shredders
It is amazing to think that Muslim people rioted and 16 people were killed over a false story put out by Newsweek magazine for "wrongly handling the Koran". But the Saudi's will shed the Bible without a blink...
Are we awake?
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Sex and the Supremacy of Christ - Part II - Sin and Sex
To some in the secular world the terms "sin and sex" will perhaps conjur up images of puritanism (which are not accurate) and scarlet letters dangling from repressed people's necks. For those who have made sex the central deity of a hedonistic worldview, associating sin with sex is a sort of blasphemy. Yet in our world we are well aware of the pains of sexual sins; the fruit of our own cultures so called sexual liberation engulf us like a swarm of African killer bees. Molestation, abuse, predatory adults, heart break, multiplicity of sexually peverse materials, the objectification of each other all amidst a growing ever waning of intimacy in relationships are the ghosts that haunt our freedom.
Part II of the book contains two considerable essays dealing with the issues of sin and sex in our day. The first by Dr. David Powlison entitled Making All things New: Restoring Pure Joy to the Sexually Broken. The second by Dr. Al Mohler, hits an issue of great controversary in our times, Homosexual Marriage as a Challenge to the Church: Biblical and Cultural Reflections.
Powlison's chapter begins with putting sexuality into context - it is like a garden which brings delight and joy within its proper lattice or framework or it is a soiled darkness swirling with pain. Powlison's thesis is that most of us are somewhere between these two poles - somewhere in the middle moving towards either pole. The trajectory we all so desparately need is to be moving away from teh dark and toward the light (page 66). We all know this, but the power of our captivity to sex in our age is very strong - Powlison highlights this by quoting what is classic Augustine:
As I prayed to you for the gift of chastity I had even pleaded, ‘Grant me chastity and self-control, but please not yet.’ I was afraid that you might hear me immediately and heal me forthwith of the morbidlust which I was more anxious to satisfy than to snuff out. Augustine, The Confessions, trans. Maria Boulding (Hyde Park, N.Y.: New City, 1997), book 8, chapter 17, page 198.How do we move from sexually broken to the enjoyment and freedom that Christ brings? Powlison, a biblical counselor, goes to great length in answering this question. The first section expounds the point that we must Bring to Light All that Darkens Sex (page 68). For Powlison this means all the unholy pleasures of our day (both explicit and implicit - motions of the affections towards objectifying sex aprt from love for God) must be brought before Christ in repentence, receiving grace and forgiveness rather than continuing to hide in fear and despair. Unholy pain, caused by sex must also be brought to the great comforter of souls, to find safety and refuge. A great quote on page 72:
In different ways, both violator and violated are stained with the filth of a fallen world. In different ways, Jesus Christ washes both. And there’s still other dirt on the shop floor, and other fresh mercies.Guilt must be brought before the throne of grace. Another aspect of sex is a misplaced view that sexual sin is just a problem with men. Powlison does a great service in dispatching this commonly held idea. We all struggle with temptation, although men and women struggle differently - this section was very helpful indeed. Finally, this section closes with a reminder of the many problems within marriage can be struggles with sexual sin (both from the past and continued into the future). As a married man of nine years, I found his treatment here to be very helpful. Powlison, then moves to encouraging his read that our battle with sexual temptation is A Longer War. His exhortation is clear - the road of sanctification and repentance and trust of God and orientation of our passions is not conquered today and henceforth dispensed with. No, we live a live of trust, repentance, dependance, and by the grace of God transformation. Our war is also a Wider War one that cuts to our deepest longings, our expectations about God, our affections for him, our allegiances, our belief or lack thereof. The war is life wide - our love for Christ is what is at stake, and focusing in only on "resisting sexual sins" on certain nights of the week is a recipe for failure. The war should be expanded, the soul should be discipled and life brought under Christ's yoke. Powlison describes how he helped a man named Tom wage a wider war:
We spent far more time talking about self-pity and grumbling as “early warning sins,” about how the desire for a wife becomes a mastering lust, about how the selfrighteousness construct falls before the dynamics of grace. Temptations to sexual sin greatly diminished. The topography of the battlefield radically changed. The significance of Jesus Christ’s love went off the charts. The lights of more accurate and comprehensive self-knowledge came on. A man going in circles, muddling in the middle, started to leap and bound in the right direction. We experienced the delights of a season of gazelle growth. Ministering to someone who has struggled for twenty years with the exact same thing is disheartening, and frequently a recipe for futility. Ministering to someone who is starting to battle a half-dozen foes that were previously invisible is extremely heartening! Widening the war served to deepen and heighten the significance of the Savior, who met Tom on every battlefront. page 89,90I will have to pick up the review later - one thing about this chapter is that the organization and structure runs on a bit. Section after section...but this war is for our affections, so that the god of eros has no lofty throne above the Almighty, so I will pick the review back up at a later date... Out --> Back to Main Review Page --------