Most of us spent at least some the time during our periods of formal education engaging in bull sessions, wrestling with ideas with a group of friends or acquaintances in a self-sustaining battle of ideas in which point and counterpoint were the acceptable weapons. Once outside that milieu, opportunities to test one’s thinking became greatly…
Culture & Social Issues
Christianity, Culture & Social Issues, Philosophy, Politics and Government, Religion
Aboutness
by William
When atheists and secular humanists dismiss Christianity, they are dismissing more than religion. They are dismissing a cogent moral system, along with the system of rights that system bestows upon us all. Lest we forget, our inalienable rights, which form the basis of our constitution, are granted (and not revocable by government) by our Creator.…
Christianity, Culture & Social Issues, Personal
Reminiscing The Past: Having It All
by William
There was a bumper sticker that was popular for a while that said, “He who dies with the most toys wins!” While most people focused on the materialism represented in that sentiment, I want to instead look at the underlying drive to have it all. Back in 2004, on July 28th in the early days…
Christianity, Culture & Social Issues, Politics and Government
Traditions, DNA, And Manufactured Change
by William
In a wonderful article at Another Think, Charles Lehardy writes about Tradition As DNA. I particularly took note of his identification of one of the apparent inconsistencies of the Progressives. If Harris is right, what progressives are attempting is a genetic experiment on our community DNA. If environmentalists can have qualms about genetically modified corn,…
Blogging, Culture & Social Issues, Personal
Bad Language And Comment Spam
by William
I was going through on a deleting pass of the approximately 200-300 spam comments I get a day when I forgot to click the “Invert Checkbox Selection” link and deleted the good comments rather than the spam. Real comments get mixed in with the spam and the easiest approach is to check them and then…
Christianity, Culture & Social Issues, Religion, Science
Scopes Trial Eightieth Anniversary
by William
Most young people, unless they have seen the 1960 movie Inherit the Wind with Spencer Tracy and Fredrick March, have no inkling of the 1925 trial in Tennessee that became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. It pitted two of the most famous men of their day, William Jennings Bryan, one of America’s most outspoken…
Christianity, Culture & Social Issues, Philosophy, Religion
Reminiscing The Past: The Power Of Renewal
by William
This is an essay I wrote on September 11, 2003. It wasn’t written as an anniversary missive, but the events of 9-11 do form the backdrop to the premise, a canvas on which the power of renewal is painted in vivid colors. If you are having a tough time this week I pray this posting…
Christianity, Culture & Social Issues, Philosophy
History And Christianity
by William
Is history really important? History says it is (and that is not a circular argument) as does the philosopher George Santayana whose famous quote has become a maxim. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner’s, 1905, page 284 George Orwell thought history was…
Christianity, Culture & Social Issues, Personal
Father’s Day: A Retrospective
by William
My original plan was write this post yesterday, but my daughter’s Father’s Day gift did me in (literally) and the aftereffects continue to do so for much of today. It all started out with church with my daughter. Afterward, Sarah, myself, and three other members of her care group (answering an invitation to “share a…
Christianity, Culture & Social Issues, Politics and Government, Religion
Usury And Calvin: A Question
by William
I have recently come across some writings that call into biblical question the whole framework of modern economics (re: interest-generating loans without which our current socio-economic structure could not exist). By way of example, this post, What Love Is This? A Renunciation of the Economics of Calvinism lays the problem of usury, interest, and the…