ID Defined

Dr. Stephen Myer on the definition of Intelligent Design.

The Supreme Court just ruled that a college or university may deny a student group official status if that group does not allow homosexuals as leaders. This should affect Muslim as well a Christian groups. This is a severe attack on freedom of religion and freedom of speech

Against all Reason

Obama endorses homosexual parenting on Father's Day.

Art, Self, and Love

When I was in Eger, Hungary, speaking at the European Leadership Forum, on May 26, 2010, Ellis Potter made some short but telling remarks about art. The plenary session that evening was called, "Culture Night," and attendees were free to attend three different presentations on various aspects of art. After attending these sessions, we went back into the main auditorium for some comments by Ellis, formerly a L'Abri worker and presently a freelance minister in Europe.

He mentioned that many people say that, "I do not know art, but I know what I like." This is meant to silence all criticism and justify whatever preferences the person may have. Ellis responded by saying that yeast knows what it likes--the wet and the sweet. Thus, if you know what you like you have risen to the level of an asexual, one-celled organism. These "I know what I like" comments are gratifying, affirming, and empowering of the self; they do not look out into the broader world for objective value. God is love, and love is other-centered, not self-centered.

Thus, we should develop our artistic appreciations in the mode of love. Subjectivism in artistic taste is demeaning and profoundly unChristian.

Books, books, books

I have an essay here on "Books That Have Changed My Life."

Doug Groothuis speaking in Longmont

This coming Wednesday at 12:15 (June 23), Dr. Douglas Groothuis, a philosophy professor at Denver Seminary will teach on counterfeit spirituality vs. Biblical spirituality. On the 30^th, his last session, he will speak on postmodernism. We will be taking a love offering to help cover Dr. Groothuis’ expenses.

We will be meeting at Guaranty Bank & Trust Co. on 4^th and Main in the Community Room. The Bank is across the street just north of our office. The Community Room is on the second floor to the left of the stairs/elevator (on the east side). If possible, please park behind our building or in the parking lot at the former Wachovia Bank building (4^th and Coffman) to keep the Bank parking lot for their customers.

Dave

The Sonnesyn Law Firm

655 4th Avenue, Suite B

Longmont, Colorado 80501

Telephone: 303.776.5077

Fax: 303.684.0654

sonnesyn@qwestoffice.net

Contemporary Philosophy at Denver Seminary

Terry Smith, who has an MA from Talbot under JP Moreland, will be teaching Contemporary Philosophy this fall at Denver Seminary. Please consider taking his class and telling others about it. Here is his description.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY

Contemporary Philosophy attempts to identify current “hot issues” within the field of philosophy. This course in Contemporary Philosophy will attempt to answer the following question: Is Secular Humanism philosophy's best method for answering problems facing humanity in the 21st century? We will give special attention to the following "hot issues": Meta-Philosophical Foundations to 1) The New Atheism; 2) The Epistemology of Scientific Naturalism; 3) Secular Humanism; 4) The Meta-Ethics of Moral Knowledge; 5) Justice, Human Rights, and the Problem of Genocide (and whether any of the above secular outlooks have a sufficient answer to the problem); and 6) Meta-Ethical / Moral Psychological Concerns with a Realist Ethic

Cross

No cross worth its cruciformity
will brook conformity
with the enormity of normality

in an abnormal world.

"Jasmine"

This is from "Notes to 'Jasmine,'" written by Keith Jarrett for "Jasmine," the exquisite new ECM release by Jarrett and acoustic bassist Charlie Haden:

Art is dying in this world, as is listening, as the world becomes more full of toys and special effects. With this death will come the undoing of many possible feelings: beautiful, tender, deep, trusting, true, sad, full of internal meaning and color. . .

Here is some music for you. Take it and its' your's. Charlie and I are obsessed with beauty An ecstatic moment in music is worth the lifetime of mastery that goes into it, because it can be shared.

"The Connoisseur"

Norman Rockwell was a deeper, more sensitive painter than I had imagined. This reflection comes from reading The Essential Rockwell. Interestingly, Rockwell appreciated Jackson Pollock, the abstract expressionist, and attempted to paint in the modernist style on occasion. However, he was a figurative painter in this bones, with little aptitude for abstraction. Nevertheless, note the painting that "the connoisseur" is gazing at. Rockwell's paintings tell us much about the human condition, but more about "greatness" than about "misery"--to use Pascalian terms.

Policy

Once again, intemperate, uncivil, and rude remarks will not be posted. You must present a coherent and reasoned view, or make reference to such in a link.

Book Review: The Making of an Atheist

James S. Spiegel, The Making of an Atheist: How Immorality Leads to Unbelief Chicago, Ill: Moody Press, 2010. 141 pages. $12.99.

Philosopher James Spiegel has written a clear, biblically-informed, philosophically-astute and well-documented account of the ultimate origins of atheism. Unbelief, he argues, is not attributable to a lack of evidence for God. Rather, the problem is fixed in human rebellion against God himself, just as Paul explained in the first chapter of Romans. This book provides a much needed dimension of analysis in light of all the press received in the past few years by “new atheists” such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris.

Some of those who believe that atheism is rooted more in rebellion than in argument foreswear the need for any constructive case for theism or for particular Christian beliefs. Not so for Professor Spiegel. Instead, he argues that the evidence supports theism (the laws of nature, the existence of the universe, and the emergence of life) and that naturalism is self-defeating since it cannot account for human rationality (summarizing Alvin Plantinga’s argument). But positive apologetics is not the main purpose of his book. Spiegel aptly summarizes his book’s thesis on pages 113-114.

"The descent into atheism is caused by a complex of moral-psychological factors, not a perceived lack of evidence for God’s existence. The atheist willfully rejects God, though this is precipitated by immoral indulgences and typically a broken relationship with his or her father. Thus, the choice of the atheist paradigm is motivated by non-rational factors, some of which are psychological and some of which are moral in nature.

The hardening of the atheist mind-set occurs through cognitive malfunction due to two principle causes. First, atheists suffer from paradigm-induced blindness, as their worldview inhibits their ability to recognize the reality of God that is manifest in creation. Second, atheists suffer from damage to their sensus divinitatis [the sense for God’s existence], so their natural awareness of God is severely impeded. Both of these mechanisms are aspects of the noetic effects of sin."

After articulating the intellectual and moral errors of atheism, Spiegel concludes with a brief but insightful chapter called “The Blessings of Theism.” Here he explains that Christian theists can develop intellectual and moral virtues and live honestly before God. They are free to both complain to God and praise God. All aspects of the human personality can be offered to a personal and moral Creator, thus insuring human flourishing in ways impossible for atheism. Atheism is simply incompatible with a life well-lived (shalom).

Atheists may complain that Spiegel is poisoning the well or begging the question against the unbeliever, that he simply assumes theism and then dismisses atheism as something morally and intellectually defective. This is not so. Contrariwise, as mentioned, Spiegel does not disavow arguments for theism; but instead of pursuing that (very common) route, he considers the psychology of atheism from the vantage point of biblical theism. (In this, his book is similar to R.C. Sproul’s earlier work, The Psychology of Atheism; later republished as If There is a God, Why are There Atheists? as well as Kierkegaard’s The Sickness Unto Death.) The atheist who reads this book is therefore enjoined to consider whether or not the biblical explanation of the origin, nature, and continuation of his unbelief may, in fact, ring true.

Sermon

I will be speaking on "Suffering and the God of Comfort" (2 Cor. 1:1-11) at Southern Gables church, Sunday, June 6, at 9:00 and 10:30 AM. They are located at: 4001 S Wadsworth Blvd
Lakewood, CO 80123-1358
(303) 986-152

New Biography of Jesus by historian Paul Johnson

Here is my review of Paul Johnson's book, Jesus: A Biography from a Believer, which was published in The Denver Post.

Imam Exposed

The stealth jihad in our midst continues. The leader of The Ground Zero Mosque idea is revealed not to be what he pretends to be: a moderate. When will Americans learn to unmask this strategy? Read Brigette Gabriel, They Must Be Stopped.

"Human Ape" confirms in a submission that all we who dare challenge the idol of Darwin are akin to holocaust denies. He is thus denied access to this blog, given the abusive and unproductive rhetoric. May he rethink his bombast and consult the evidence--of nature and his own soul.