New Name Suggestions
So, yeah. I just realized how lame of a name Theological Ramblings is. If anyone has any ideas for a better one, please send it along. Themes I try to portray in my writing (in case you can’t tell for yourself) include:
- Biblical Theology
- The 5 Solas
- Moderate Realism (Essentialism) (as opposed to nominalism, bleh!)
- Philosphy (as defined by its etymological roots: phileo (love) sohpos (widsom). The fear of the Lord, being the beginning of wisdom, therefore true philosophy is the fearful love and pursuit of God (in an intelligent and philosophical way, of course). As opposed to the contemporary view of philosophy which accords more with the appalling practices of the Sophists, who were more in love with rhetoric and the ability to argumentatively prove or disprove anything they wanted to because they were great at twisting words.
- Socratic Logic
If you can find a name that sounds cool, encorporates some or all of those ideas, and will work well in a blog setting, I’ll gladly use it, give you credit, and be your friend forever. Seriously… even if you occasionally turn into a huge purple monster.
Biblical Morality and Euthyphro
Calvinists must be careful of something. We may be completely unaware of it. I was until I met my friend Jamey. I’m talking about the Euthyphro Dilemma. It’s best to introduce it by posing the dilemma as Socrates put it to Euthyphro in the so named work by Plato.
Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?
A more monotheistic way of putting this would be “Is what is moral commanded by God because it is moral, or is it moral because it is commanded by God?”1.
Now you’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything. (more…)
Pay Attention to God’s Word
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:1-4)
The main point of these verses is the importance of paying attention to the Word of God and heeding what it says - particularly the Gospel of Christ. That’s simple enough to see, but I’m intrigued by the way he makes this point. Many times the wording of the Bible might seem confusing to many people. We wonder “Why did he say it that way? Couldn’t he have just said what he wanted us to see?” I’m a firm believer that when the wording is complex it isn’t because the writer is intending to be unclear of elusive, but rather that there is some reason why he has said it this way. So I want to show how I broke this passage down.
Imbalance
I have a new job for you, my faithful readers. Well it’s really the same job, but I have additional instructions. In general I expect that you keep me honest and call me out if I’m making arguments or statements that are incorrect. I invite you to argue against me, because it’s in the iron sharpening iron of debate where truth is clarified - when debate is done correctly, that is. Debate can be done incorrectly, however, and when it is done incorrectly it can have devastating affects on relationships and on the clarity of truth. But when debate is done in which both sides respect each other, and do legitimately try to listen to the other side, generally they both come away with a greater understanding of how they can clarify and improve their respective views of truth. I’m very much in favor of this kind of open minded discussion. That’s why I try to hear all sides of an argument. That’s why this blog is hosted on the domain “Open Dialogue”. Because of this, I want you to specifically keep an eye out for something: Imbalance. (more…)
Is God Evil?
I found this “Motivational Poster” today:
Of course, as a believer in God who also places a high emphasis on rationality, I see this as somewhat of a challenge. There are many out there on both sides, who would have us believe that thinking and believing don’t go together. The underlying assumption is that Christians are blithering idiots who refuse to see truths or facts right in front of their faces. Unfortunately there are far too many Christians about whom that accusation is true. We have dropped the ball in many ways when it comes to dealing with rational arguments against our cause. We don’t do a good job of giving the reason for the hope that we have, and this causes us to lose credibility. (more…)