Daniel > Recent Status Updates

Thoughts so far. Apologists/philosophers doing work on the Problem of Evil, must engage with the evils described in this book. Second, seminaries should make Gulag required reading. Third, every pastor/priest should move this book to the top of their list if they desire to be a unifying force in our current culture wars.

The more I read the more concerning our current political climate becomes. The cultural Marxism and Socialist politics and the reports of news that Solzhenitsyn describes is similar to our contemporary culture. One can easily look at what is happening now and view the seeds of a repeating history beginning to sprout.

The amount similarity of anti-Christian values, Anarchy, Marxism, and Socialism and the revolutionaries is eerie. A Sol. even documents that Religious individuals could not teach their convictions to their children or else they would be imprisoned. Similar discussions are being had on Religious parents in the U.S. among the intelligentsia and far-left academics.

The state of the American mind seems eerily similar to those of the Russian mind. In the first Chapter A. Sol. Discusses why people didn’t resist. The free people condemned those who were arrested; those arrested didn’t know what to shout in order to stir the crowd to prevent their arrest. The only ones that did were those revolutionaries that knew their slogans and why they were saying them.

Great read. Chapters 9 and 10 may be the most important chapters as they seem to be the foundation of every other rule. 10 may be the most important rule.

Still have chapter 12 to do.

At this point Yarehouse has made his position clear, in an odd spot on ‘multi-tier’ language, but it’s still clear: he believes that individuals should align themselves with their biological sex to the best of their ability. However he continues to subtlety shame Christians for holding traditional positions on trans life-styles.

The first 6 chapters are worth the price of the book.

So far he has refused to take a position on the subject; it is mostly a Wikipedia article at this point. At this point the summary would be “we don’t have a lot of information, but Christianity should abstain from their theological convictions until more information is brought forward”

I’m convinced that Jordan Peterson is someone every pastor needs to read. Whether Peterson realizes it or not he is convincingly redefining what it means to be good, and he’s using the Bible to do it.

“...it may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” -Chesterton 65-66

“[Children] always say ‘Do it again’; and we the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-ups are not strong enough for monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun...

Excellent intro to being, but not for the beginner. If you have a desire to know more about metaphysics, you will have to be committed to the project of reading this book. So far you will need to:
Read with a notebook and pen.
Read the footnotes
Take time to reflect on what was read.

Hope to finish this one soon, but it’s tough.

The middle section lacks definition on what it means to be a Christian. Standard terms are used, “light”, “fruit”, “perseverance” etc, but he never defines these terms or gives any practical application. He awkwardly recognizes half way through that people may take his comments too far and begin to believe they can discern who is saved and who is not. There is more to say, but I will hold it for my review.

Dean makes the case that cultural Christianity is creating a false assurance of salvation. In order for this to be a good examination of the issue, Dean must provide a compelling solution to the problem, or accept it as a necessary evil of successful missionaries that came before him. The question is, can a religion become dominant without fostering a false version that is adopted by the majority of the culture?

After the first chapter, I’m convinced he will either contradict his first chapter in later passages or he is going to continue to tiptoe around Nihilism. The irony of his first chapter is that if nothing we do matters, then why did you write a book?

McKnight, whether one holds to infant baptism or not, is an example of how theologians of various denominations should handle their disagreements.

On to Ockham!

Every time I read a book from this series, I’m reminded of the important role that philosophy played in the development of theology. If you are looking for a history of philosophy, I encourage you to begin with #Copleston

Good read so far. Good to read a book that not only identifies the problem, but also successful countries that have implemented solutions to combat poverty induced by welfare policies.

The discussion on statistical level omission is another great segment. The data of Households vs individual income is major error of omission. Household incomes can drop while individual incomes can increase. Further, the impact of identity politics has had a significant detriment on our academics and politics.

The most practical advice so far is to protect your time of study , even at the risk if offense of others. The second most practical advice is the value of a study partner, specifically and most notably, ones spouse. Even if they are not studying similar things, but quietly working I. The same room but within their own solitude, the two benefit from each other’s mural pursuit and respect for the true.

Understanding the concept of cost being more than monetary is essential to recognizing unintended consequences. In short, left or right legislation has the potential to insulate racist business owners. But the free market will tend to punish business owners who operate their business in accordance with racist principles.