I don't remember talking about this strategy in church growth classes.
The second part of the Lewis and Freud thing was on last night. Man, I wish they had some better theists on. Where's Ravi Zacharias when we need him. He would own Michael Shermer. I'll get to a review soon, after I finish grading papers and preparing for friday night's lecture.
Spend the morning preparing for a lecture on capitalism I'm giving for my class this weekend. My goal for the class is to keep my enthusiasm for capitalism from getting the best of me. I will present a socialist critique, but there's no contest in my view. Oh, and I still need to grade a bunch of papers. Someone wanna help?
This afternoon I was in an ethics class talking about rule-consequentialism. I wasn't actually doing any of the talking mind you, just listening. The professor is good as usual, but the two student presentations were...different.
Now I'm checking email and watching VH1 's Storytellers with Sarah McLachlan. It's great. Just what I needed this evening: sweet soft music on a wet raining night. Note to self: candles, candles, candles.
I watched part of the Lewis and Freud thing last night (I'll watch the rest soon), but I wanted to say something about it tonight.
First, I think its good the Christian worldview is presented. Even if its with its Naturalistic competitor, it's still worth it. Some press is better than none. Second, I don't know about you, but watching shows like this get me frustrated because I can't respond to what's being said. From what I saw the defenders of Lewis didn't do a great job. It'd be nice if PBS could find some smart theists, but that's probably too much to ask. Third, I think this show would be great for a group discussion. Finally, in a real debate I think Lewis would wipe the floor with Freud. If Freud thinks you can offer a psychological explanation without discussing the truth question, he's smoking some wicked peyote.
Can I just say I'm totally in love with Firefox! Popup blocker, tabbed browsing, and fewer security worries than Internet Explorer. This just rocks.
Tonight I'm looking forward to watching The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud with Dr. Armand Nicholi. Looks like a great show. There's still hope for PBS!
Our church has been talking about family and the importance of relationships. Then I saw this passage from Samuel Shoemaker (1893-1963).
There are, I should say, four elements in a redemptive community. It is personal, with things happening between people as well as to and in them individually; it is compassionate, always eager to help, observant but non judgmental toward others, breathing out hope and concern; it is creative, with imagination about each one in the group and its work as a whole, watching for authentic new vision coming from any of them; and it is expectant, always seeking to offer to God open and believing hearts and minds through which He can work out His will, either in the sometimes startling miracles He gives or in steady purpose through long stretches where there is no special "opening". It may fairly be said that unless one enmeshes himself in this "redemptive fellowship" of the church, he lessens his chances of steady growth and effectiveness, in his Christian life and experience.
The Experiment of Faith (1957).
In my ethics class (the one I'm taking), we're discussing Ideal Code, Real World by Brad Hooker who brings up an interesting issue. The question is whether wrongness and blameworthy are two different things. There are examples where they seem to be different, so my question is, which one goes with sin. If I did something wrong, but am not to blame, does that mean I sinned? Or what if I am to blame for something, but didn't do anything wrong? Is sin blameworthiness or wrongness or both?
I don't know the answer. I'll have to think about that one.
Taking a class in metaphysics this semester centering on the problem of other minds. It's a perennial problem in philosophy, one that concerns how we know other people have minds. (The more I watch TV, the less I believe there are other minds). While there is the epistemological problem of how we are justified in believing in other minds, I think the deeper (and more interesting) problem is how we come to attribute meaning to mental terms. Or what makes us think that what we mean by pain is what others mean by it. How do we know we are talking about the same thing?
Also interesting is how the problem connects with other issues (the mind/body problem, the meaning of mental terms, introspection, private languages, etc.) My professor wants to remain neutral on as many of these issues as possible, but that's going to be tough. For my part, I'm going to see how the dualist can address the relevant problems.
I'm listening to Evanescence right now. Wow they're great. Lots of Christian themes - even though they are not a Christian band.
Just caught the last 15 mintues of The Apprentice. It's more watchable than I thought. The thing I noticed most was the sharp analysis of the candidates by Trump and his colleagues. I've never heard such quick and cutting criticism. So-and-so needs a better skills set. It's up to you to make sure you're not underused, you need to be more of a go-getter.
It wasn't overly harsh, just to the point. I started thinking about my life. What's my skills-set like? Am I under-used? Do I have "it"? It's a good thing to hear honest evaluation once in a while - provided it's solicited!
I'm liking black & white photos more and more. Yesterday I decided to turn some of my photos into a little video project. Download my latest video project here. [15MB]
I've got a few more Gmail invitations to give if anyone wants them. Leave a comment or send an email.
Listening to the radio last night, I heard someone ask about what effect the discovery of life on another planet (if there is one) would have on religion. It's an interesting question. One I noticed that seems to be asked mostly of astronomers, not of theologians. (I'm not sure what to make of that fact).
I've heard different answers. Some say it would be terribly upsetting to the world's religions; others say we would adapt and it would be no big deal. I'm not sure how the world react, but I doubt there would be chaos. It surely wouldn't be the end of religion, nor the end of Christianity.
I'm not sure why some people think that Christianity would be impacted. Is it because they think the scriptures teach that earthlings are the only beings in the universe? There is the fact that Jesus died on earth, and it doesn't seem that He can or needs to die again. If alien life is microbial, then I don't see any worries. But what if alien life is advanced, biologically and morally? Then we need to ask if such creatures know God and if not, what to do about it.
Regardless, it's an interesting question and one Christians should have a response to, if for no other reason than to counter the feeling among some, that Christians are idiots.