Monday, November 27, 2006
Monday, November 20, 2006
The Question
"If some religious people believe they have a monopoly on truth, then are conversation and common ground possible? If so, what would be the difficulties and benefits of such a conversation?" Read the response from the panelists...
Why I Am Hostile Towards Religion
In an article on Beliefnet, Richard Dawkins writes, "I oppose fundamentalist religion because it is hell-bent on ruining the scientific education of countless eager minds." Read full article here...
Philosophical Foundations
One of the reviewers on Amazon said that this book was "Extremely Difficult and Totally Worth Your Time". Now I see why. This is one book I have to read slowly so that I can understand the concepts properly; but it is really worth it and I have gained so much from it already. What will be even more beneficial though, is putting what I have learnt from the book into writing for the cause of Christ.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Office 2007 & Messenger Live Plus!
I installed the download of Office 2007 RTM from MSDN yesterday (after uninstalling Beta 2 of course). I can only talk about Word and Excel, since those are the two programs I use almost exclusively. I find that I am more productive in the Office 2007 environment and the menu system is more intuitive and ....... it looks great!
If you use MSN Messenger, I would suggest that you install Messenger Plus! Live. It's free and the feature allowing multiple (tabbed) conversations in one window alone is worth it.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Microsoft Office 2007 Review
From ActiveWin.com: "Sometime in January 2007, Microsoft will launch the release of Microsoft Office 2007. The suite will be available in eight editions, Basic, Home & Student, Standard, Small Business, Professional, Ultimate, Professional Plus and Professional Enterprise. This new version is Microsoft’s most radical departure in years, interface wise and offers new features and familiar tools that are sure to have users mesmerized and perplexed at times." Read full review here...
Monday, November 13, 2006
Colts make history
Indianapolis made history yesterday becoming the first team to start 9-0, in consecutive seasons. They won 17-16 against the Bills.
Give Light, O Lord!
From Christ-Centered Preaching (page 126-127):
"In one of the key debates during the formulation of the Westminster Confession of Faith, one scholar spoke with great skill and persuasiveness for a position that would have mired the church in political debates for many years. As the man spoke, George Gillespie prepared a rebuttal in the same room. As they watched him write furiously on a tablet, all in the assembly knew the pressure on the young man to organize a response while the scholar delivered one telling argument after another. Yet when Gillespie rose, his words were filled with such power and scriptural persuasion that the haste of his preparation was not discenrable. Gillespie's message so impressed those assembled as the wisdom of God that the opposing scholar conceded that a lifetime of study had just been undone by the younger man's presentation. When the matter was decided, the friends of Gillespie snatched from his desk the tabled on which he had so hastily collected his toughts. They expected to find a brilliant summary of the words so masterfully just delivered. Instead, they found only one phrase written over and over again: Da lucem, Domine (Give light, O Lord)."
"In one of the key debates during the formulation of the Westminster Confession of Faith, one scholar spoke with great skill and persuasiveness for a position that would have mired the church in political debates for many years. As the man spoke, George Gillespie prepared a rebuttal in the same room. As they watched him write furiously on a tablet, all in the assembly knew the pressure on the young man to organize a response while the scholar delivered one telling argument after another. Yet when Gillespie rose, his words were filled with such power and scriptural persuasion that the haste of his preparation was not discenrable. Gillespie's message so impressed those assembled as the wisdom of God that the opposing scholar conceded that a lifetime of study had just been undone by the younger man's presentation. When the matter was decided, the friends of Gillespie snatched from his desk the tabled on which he had so hastily collected his toughts. They expected to find a brilliant summary of the words so masterfully just delivered. Instead, they found only one phrase written over and over again: Da lucem, Domine (Give light, O Lord)."
The moral argument
Three of life’s most important questions deal with origin (how did we get here?), meaning (what is the purpose of life?) and destiny (where are we going?). Well, if you’re a Bajan, there is one more. How does one maintain their sanity (no, not on the roads), but in light of the fact that the cost of living is rising almost weekly, and one is being paid, very weakly. My main concern here though is that of origins, especially as it relates to morality.
There are roughly two views on origins. The first is that God created life and the cosmos, ex nihilo. The other view is a bit more complicated and requires more faith. It goes something like this. In the beginning there was space and matter and by a long series of chances, conditions suitable for life just occurred (nobody knows why) and living creatures developed into human beings (for no apparent reason), who have the ability to think. Again, nobody knows why.
Fair enough, but what are we to make of the moral law which people all over the world try so hard to obey? Is it an evolutionary by-product? Hardly. Adherence to a moral law only makes sense if it were given by a transcendent law giver to whom we are accountable. Many honest atheists and skeptics have observed that a godless world should entail an absence of objective moral values.
Kai Nelsen recognizes the intellectual bankruptcy of grounding objective morality from a purely naturalistic point of view. In the American Philosophical Quarterly, he writes, “ We have not been able to show that reason requires the moral point of view of that all really rational persons, unhoodwinked by myth or ideology, not be individual egoists or classical amoralists. Reason doesn’t decide here. The picture I have painted you is not a pleasant one. Reflection on it depresses me … The point is this: pure practical reason, even with a good knowledge of the facts, will not take you to morality.”
Jeffrey Dahmer’s father expressed his son’s rationale, “If it all happens naturalistically, what’s why need for a God? Can’t I set my own rules? Who owns me? I own myself (Jeffrey Dahmer: The Monster Within, A&E Biography, 1996).” Of course I am not suggesting anything so silly as – all naturalists are more prone to commit violent crimes. The point is this. Western society is experiencing a crisis concerning her ethical foundations. As John Rist correctly observed, “Without a return the God of the Jewish-Christian [Scriptures] as the “infinite and necessarily good” Source of all finite goods, the crisis will only be more pronounced.”
The danger of national repentance
Throughout history, God has always called people to repentance, even at the national level. Through the prophet Ezekiel he spoke to Israel, “Therefore O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall (Ezekiel 18:30, NIV).”
Whilst it will always be the church’s duty to preach national repentance, there is an inherent danger of which we should always be mindful. C.S. Lewis puts it this way, “The first and fatal charm of national repentance, is, therefore, the encouragement it gives us to turn from the bitter task of repenting our own sins to the congenial one of bewailing – but, first of denouncing – the conduct of others.” May God guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus from this error.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
It's (finally) time for Windows Vista
Windows Vista was released to manufacturing (RTM) today and will be available pre-installed on a new PC from January 2007. Check out these Vista links for more information:
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Francis Schaeffer feature @ Reformation21
Reformation21, has a nice feature on Francis Schaeffer. Here is an excerpt, "Francis Schaeffer never presented himself as an academic apologist, as a philosopher, as a theologian or as a scholar. Instead he spoke of himself as an evangelist and a pastor, and this truly is how he thought about the ministry that God had graciously given him. I felt it might be useful to begin with a somewhat personal account of factors that contributed to his theological development." Read full feature...
Friday, November 03, 2006
Pastor takes leave amid allegations of gay sex
"New Life Church's Ted Haggard, a backer of Amendment 43 to ban gay marriage in Colorado, says he could "not continue to minister under the cloud" of accusations." Read full story...
I would recommend the following two posts on the Haggard situation:
Zune: music the way it was to be
"Zune™ is your connection to the world of media and to entertainment-loving people like yourself. Starting with 30 GB, Zune is easy to use and easy to love. Choose one of three colors−each combined with a distinctive double-shot finish." From Zune.net
Spurs win opener
The Spurs got off to a winning start to the 2006-07 NBA season by beating the Mavs 97-91. One down and 81 more games to go ;)
2006 Christmas offer @ RZIM
RZIM's product page has been updated to reflect the 2006 Christmas offer. I just finished watching Has Christianity Failed You? last night after returning home from class and I would highly recommend it as well as any apologetic resource from RZIM for that matter.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
YouTube Apologetics
The Christian Mind has a post about apologetics by Jay Smith on Youtube. Check it out.
2006-07 NBA Season Opens
Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images
the Knicks got off to a good start, despite a rocky finish. This game was the closest so far it seems. My Spurs tip off tonight against the Mavs.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
DVD205 - Has Christianity Failed You?
I'm now on the second disc of Has Christianity Failed You? from RZIM. On the product description page it says, "This set is jam-packed with content!" True that! It contains two very good messages by Michael Ramsden and Ravi Zacharias and the Q&A from the evening's session. I have to watch Disc 1 again and make mental (and paper) notes from both talks, which I will proably end up posting once I've moved the blog.
Letter on Naturalism
Today the Nation ran a letter from one of Barbados' most vocal critics of religion (all of whose objections are either, simple-minded or self-refuting...sometimes both). Three Objections from Betsy Childs is a clear reflection that naturalism is still on shaky ground. There is nothing worse than philosophy that leads to the wrong conclusions.
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