Christopher's Meanderings

Nancy Ellen Abrams' latest book provides insight on how a naturalist and life-long skeptic could make spiritual sense out of world which she believes is necessarily closed to any supernatural entity. From the start, assumptions are made about the character of the universe.  In the introduction, she makes two points which dominated the book: 1. "All the old views of God are demonstrably inadequate to our times (xxx)." 2. God can only be real if it is found within the natural explanations available in the universe (xxviii). I found the book to be filled with similar assumptions that took for granted a naturalist view of the universe. For example, the Abram's assumes God could never communicate faster than the speed of light and could therefore never know everything. Why? Because she knows of no physical and scientific explanation of how this could be possible.  So, from the beginning everything is assumed, which for me makes a rather droll reading. Where does h...

Life is always full of unexpected challenges and opportunities.  During the past couple of years, I have been surprised over and over again as I take time to review, contemplate, and assess my experiences.  The surprises usually come when I take a look at the times which I thought of as unproductive or even counterproductive. One of the things that I have consistently noted is how I have become a much more detailed oriented person than I used to be as an early twenty something.  It is not that I am some master of organization now- that will probably never happen.  Instead, I am very aware of my own faults and I'm o.k. with them.  Being o.k. with my faults doesn't mean that I encourage bad behaviors; it just means that I am aware of them and I know how to deal with them much better. For example, I recently realized I was not taking an accurate view of myself and the way I spent my time.  There were times when I was far too optimistic and rosy, and there ...

I love it when a good conversation starts. You can tell when it happens, each party engages the other with animation and without animosity.  Passion meets intellect while a back and forth ensues. This book is a great way to start one of those conversations.*  While reading, I found myself having one of those conversations internally with the authors of the book. The authors come from a very different perspective than my own, and this would not typically be a book I would just pick up and read.  However, by forcing myself to consider their perspective through the discursive nature of their book, I have been able to expand my own response to the issues therein.  Considering Hate  presents a counter-cultural narrative on how to combat violence and hate within America.  Although most people view violent acts as atypical aberrant acts, the authors make the case that violent acts are more typically the expected outworking of a hate filled society. ...

Resolutions rarely do anyone any good.  The new year is a great time to celebrate something new, something exciting, and a different way of approaching things. Resolutions are a dumb idea though.  Why would I say something like that? Because most people never follow through on resolutions. If I say I resolve to do something, but never take an action I can still say I made a resolution.  It's the equivalent of having good intentions. Good intentions, by themselves, are worthless.  It's a similar thing to when someone says, "Oh, he's a really smart guy, he just never gets anything done."  Who cares how "smart" you are if you can't follow through with it. Some Christians might ask about when Jesus talks about the interior life, i.e. in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.  For example, if Jesus says that looking at a woman with lust is the same thing as committing adultery with her, then isn't Jesus saying our intentions are important? Yes an...

The Western Christmas season is upon us yet again.  I really struggled with the idea of making a Christmas post or not, but here you go anyway. My main reason for struggling with the idea is that most of the posts I read are tired, worn-out, and redundant (no offense meant to any particular bloggers- I might have a jaded opinion). Hopefully, this isn't one of those. Why do people suffer? Happy question, I know. I think there are several reasons for this, but the main amount of human suffering in the world is caused by other humans.  Well, what about the people who suffer because of a natural disaster or a random accident? I still think many of those could be prevented if humans, as a whole, could actually love one another. Most people know by now that the limit on human resources isn't necessarily caused by a strict limit on those resources. Instead, greed, corruption, and hostility often limit the amount of resources shared among people groups. This leads to inability of pe...

Three of the books I recently finished reading are: 1. With  by Skye Jethani 2. Ordinary  by Michael Horton  3. After you Believe  by N.T. Wright I selected each of these books independently of the others, but they ended reinforcing similar enough principles I thought it wise to cover them in one post. First, each book comes from a different perspective and tradition on the Christian faith. With  comes from an evangelical, Ordinary  is by a Reformed theologian, and NT Wright composes as an Anglican.   Despite these differences, each of the authors ends up addressing what Christian faith looks like in the long haul.   For this reason, I believe these books are best suited for someone who is ready to move on from the basics of Christianity to a longer path of obedience.  Next, each book does a good job of making a unique contribution to discipleship literature.  In Ordinary , a case is made for the regular practice...

If you've ever read the Harry Potter series you know how terrible and lonely caves can be.  The main antagonist in the story arc, Lord Voldemort, used a cave to hide some of his darkest secrets. It was there he tortured other children as a child. It was there he hid many of the dead bodies of people he had murdered, and he used their undead corpses as protection for a part of his evil soul. In Plato's Republic we are greeted by the Allegory of the Cave. The cave is the place where ignorant men remain ignorant about the true nature of the world.  The cave really isn't a good place, as the Good is something outside of the cave.  Much more could be said about this little parable. Suffice it to say we don't want to live in caves. They are dark. They are lonely. They isolate us from the warmth and clarity of the sun. Being in vocational ministry is an isolating place. It can often feel like being in a cave. It may not be the most isolating vocation, but it has to...