Why?
A friend and regular blogger (4 Minute Writer) directed me to a blog which asked some questions about why humans exist. She knew this would catch my attention. Nrhatch wrote: “On an individual basis, I have no problem seeing the meaning for life since I agree with the Dalai Lama: We are here to be…
Continue readingVirtue
In The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky sets up two antagonistic theories of the way in which mankind seeks virtue and social order. The first is related by Pyotr Alexandrovich Miusov (a wealthy landowner) as he explains that Ivan Karamazov gave an address in which he stated that there exists no law of nature that man…
Continue readingCertainty
Persuasive speech is very much in vogue. One person pronounces that they have the final answer on a subject and three others refute what has just been said and state that they have the truth on that subject. Politicians, philosophers, cosmologists, scientists, and theologians all tend to get caught up in the shouting. As a…
Continue readingThe Next Instalment
My conversation with my young friend has continued. So, to carry on from where we left off, my analysis of what I see around me has left me with a rather limited number of possibilities. 1. There is no creator God and the universe is eternally expanding and collapsing.2. The universe had a cause, a…
Continue readingListen in to the Conversation
As I mentioned before, I am carrying on a conversation with a young friend who is wrestling with his world view. I admire anyone who is willing to question what he/she has thought and ask others questions about their own belief system. I too must take stock of my world-view and “take captive every thought”…
Continue readingJourney Through a Large Universe
A friend recently asked me some questions about my faith, and in particular, my understanding of the Bible. Through Facebook, we have been engaging in a conversation of ultimate reality ever since. Rather than debating the validity of the Bible, I suggested that we might start back further in the discussion and see if we…
Continue readingOrder and Chaos
ALAN SANDAGE, 1926- (Cosmologist who studied the expansion of the universe.)I find it quite improbable that such order came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing principle. God, to me, is the explanation of the miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing.—J. N. Willford, “Sizing up the Cosmos: An Astronomer’s…
Continue readingA Verdict in Spite of the Evidence
More brilliant insight from Alister McGrath. There is no doubt that the debate over how we generate and justify our beliefs is immensely important . . . . In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the way in which people sustain their belief systems. The evidence is disturbing, especially for those who continue…
Continue reading