Posted on March 8, 2010 by Josh
You like to travel far and wide
climb astutely arid mountains
take foreign cultures in your stride
throw rusty coins in ancient fountains
But then just invitational
a faint and otherworldy friend
so close and yet ineffable
takes you beyond an unknown bend
Though an adventure just the same
he shows from what you would refrain
it leaves your deepest fear untamed
and leads along a higher plane
to real uncharted territory
This is adventure’s greatest story
Filed under: off topic, poetry | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 28, 2010 by Josh
Avatar is a delightfully inconsequential movie. As many have pointed out plot and character development have been sacrificed for the sake of special effects and impressive action. And I like that. I want to be stunned. The 3d scenery, the blue women – a tad too perfect and sensuous – the floating mountains, the techno monsters and alien beasts did it for me. I don’t like real-life roller-coaster rides, and this was the perfect alternative for me. If I want to be intrigued by deep thoughts, mysterious characters and pervasive plots I can always turn to my ubiquitous books. Read more »
Filed under: article, beginners level | Tagged: avatar, Gaia, movie, pantheism | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 23, 2010 by Josh
Or how one does not need to reach too far deep within to feel that existentialist disgust (dégoût) for existence without meaning. Enjoy this poem rife with ire and irony.
Stripped of everything
all adjectives
all descriptives
all additives
Read more »
Filed under: philosophy, poetry | Tagged: existentialism | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 20, 2010 by Josh
An apologetic for apologetics
Does God exist? Good one! Or… maybe not. It will be hard to come up with a question to which there are more divergent answers. For one person it is self-evident that God doesn’t exist (Duh!). For another it is exactly the other way around (How can you live without Him?). But before we consider any answers think about this: Is one allowed to even ask a question like that as a Christian (except of course that the answer is a foregone conclusion in the first place)? Read more »
Filed under: article, beginners level, natural theology | Tagged: Aquinas, God's existence. arguments for God, Anselm, Pascal, Van Til, Justin Martyr, Plantinga | 11 Comments »
Posted on February 19, 2010 by Josh
Brian Auten over at Apologetics 315 has created a fantastic resource for anything apologetics. Go there for audio links to debates, short bios on famous apologists, the apologetics blog directory, book reviews, short courses on logic… you name it. There’s something new there almost every day. I’d like to specially highlight his Recommended Apologetics Book Directory featuring a full range of apologetics titles from beginner to advanced stage nicely categorized for your convenience.
Filed under: external link | Tagged: apologetics resource | 3 Comments »
Posted on February 17, 2010 by Kyle
“As I write these words, and as you read them, people of faith are in their different ways planning your and my 
destruction, and the destruction of all the hard-won human attainments that I have touched upon. Religion poisons everything.” So writes Christopher Hitchens in God Is Not Great (Hatchette, 2007). It seems that many today share Hitchens’ opinion. What does religion (and specifically Christianity, towards which Hitchens directs some of his most virulent tirades) contribute to society? With so many wars fought and injustices committed in the name of religion, would we all be better off without it?
It is a question that I had in mind to tackle for my first blog post and one obliquely answered in the film The Book of Eli. Read more »
Filed under: article, beginners level, morality, movie | Tagged: Book of Eli, Religion and Society | 7 Comments »
Posted on February 14, 2010 by Josh
A fleeting fugue tells me what could have been
fountain of glittering gold, for beauty’s sake
one last gesture of grandeur: lift your hand
before your life succumbs one movement make
And then relent, released into death’s silence
we will remember, muster all our power
to grasp and touch the master’s perfect hand
grand sweep of all we hope in this life’s hour
Death waits incumbent on fate’s fugitive
too soon you go – your fleeting youth betrayed
by a relentless and unyielding trampling
unsurpassed you pass away and fade
Reflection on the last movement of Mozart’s 41st Symphony. Read more »
Filed under: off topic, poetry | Tagged: 41st symphony of Mozart, Jupiter Symphony, KV 551, Mozart | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 10, 2010 by Josh
As of today (since last week actually) this blog is no longer the effort of one individual. I have opened it up for some of my fellow students in the Christian Thought Program at Bethel Seminary, St. Paul. ‘Me’ therefore has become ‘we’. So there we go: Read more »
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Announcement | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 5, 2010 by Josh
Second thoughts about the influence of religion on public discourse or – even worse – its involvement in politics? Enough of politicians who drag God into the picture (usually to defend their own position)? Not so fast. In the secularized societies of the West mixing religion with state affairs may be anathema. But there were other times. Much of the history of Europe has enfolded under the influence of Christianity. Professor of Church History at Bethel Seminary, Chris Armstrong, provides some evidence from history for the beneficial effects of religion on politics on his blog Grateful To The Dead. Religious motives may help kings, politicians and other rulers realize there is a power above them to which they are accountable. It may help them to wield their authority more scrupulously and provide altruistic motives otherwise hard to find. Read the posts here and here.
Filed under: external link, historical apologetics | Tagged: religion and politics | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 18, 2010 by Josh
Where was God in Haiti? Why did the poorest country in the Western hemisphere need to get hit by an earthquake at exactly the right depth and exactly the right location for a maximum number of casualties? At the moment I am writing this, looting is taking place while wounded people scream and wail from under the rubble. At the same time help being offered has a hard time reaching those in need. Read more »
Filed under: column | Tagged: earthquake, Haiti | 14 Comments »
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