Link to Series: “An Overview of the Limitations of Reason”

Here’s the link to the series on the limits of reason.   You can click on “limits of reason” in the website header or you can click here. Following are the links to the individual posts of the series: Introduction:  An Overview of the Limitations of Reason Hume’s Destruction of Causality Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason Kant’s Rejection of Metaphysical Knowledge The Rise of the Romantics Hegel’s Attempt... Read more

Guide to the Response to “Why I Became An Atheist”

My response to John Loftus’ book “Why I Became An Atheist” has taken the form of numerous posts.  This post will guide you through them.  I recommend they be read in the following order (after the list I describe why these posts and this order are important): Initial Review / Limits of Reason / The Subjective Truth Initial Review of “Why I Became An Atheist” by John Loftus Introduction:  An Overview of the Limitations... Read more

Salvation IS Resurrection

Salvation is being made whole, as an eye-salve heals; it is the restoration of function - such as the ability to hear.   When I appropriate the Meaning of the Cross through my resolve, my radical decision, my faith, then meaning is given to my ambiguous and meaningless existence. For, in my human condition of absurdity and meaninglessness, I have seen that meaning is possible through the Cross.  I have seen that the guilt of existential failure... Read more

The Gospel: Decision, Faith and Authentic Existence

For the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, there are two modes of being for man:  the authentic existence - where one “lays hold of his potentiality for being and attains the full stature of his selfhood” - or the inauthentic existence, where one’s decisions are made by the collective mass, where one’s desires are “scattered with the things of the world” and its tyrrany.   The way to authentic existence lies... Read more

The Meanings of the Cross of Jesus Christ

The meanings of the Cross are multiple and deep.  To understand these meanings, we need not know that the Cross is objectively true, I need only observe its effect on me by considering it as if it were true. Even without an objective confirmation, I can see that meaning in an otherwise absurd world is possible through the Cross. The Cross is Atonement Before I even encounter the Cross, I know through living life of my own condition - the absurdity... Read more

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

This man Jesus - who was God - was crucified and resurrected for me. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Into the dark cloud of uncertainty over who I am, where I came from, and whether there is any purpose or meaning to my existence, the light of this gospel shines.  Into the dread and anxiety, the turmoil over suffering, a word is spoken, into the vertigo of meaningless is a proclamation that my existence has meaning after all. To the meaningless,... Read more

Sartre: Suffering and Evil Create Freedom

This is an excerpt from Sartre’s The Republic of Silence: “We were never more free than during the German occupation.  We had lost all our rights, beginning with the right to talk.  Every day we were insulted to our faces and had to take it in silence.  Under one pretext or another, as workers, Jews, or political prisoners, we were deported en masse.  Everywhere, on billboards, in the newspapers, on the screen, we encountered the revolting... Read more

The Starting Point of All Inquiry is the Human Condition

In his book, “Why I Became An Atheist,” John Loftus relates how one of his former teachers told him that “in order to get to God, we have to start with God.”  Loftus disagrees with this and so do I.  Loftus asserts that we should start from below, beginning with the world, but even that is assuming too much.  Why should I start with the world when I have a reality closer and more certain than the world - my self?  Not that... Read more

Incredulous Morality: Not a Single Animal Dies in Australian Forest Fires

No, of course not, are you crazy? But read the following story and ask yourself what you would have thought if not a single animal had been killed, maimed or caused to suffer. (And for further clarification read posts Animal Suffering as Collateral Damage and Animal Suffering and Moral Orders) Animals suffer ‘horrific’ toll in Australian fires By Kristen Gelineau Associated Press Thursday, February 12, 2009 Sydney, Australia —- Kangaroo corpses... Read more

Animal Suffering and Moral Orders

Throughout the history of ethics there have been a reasons given to exclude animals from the realm of moral concern. Men possess souls, animals do not.  Men are rational or have the capacity for rational thought, while animals do not. Men possess language or the ability to use symbols, while animals do not.  Men are end-in-themselves, not to be used as a means to achieve some goal.  Men are persons, possessing self-consciousness. Animals are not.... Read more

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