Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category

Body Modification and Ethics: A Helpful Framework

If you aren’t reading Mere-O Notes, you really ought to be. Perhaps it is presumptuous to use an ‘ought’ so early in a discussion of ethics, but so be it. Really, go check it out. It is some of the best content curating on the web from an evangelical perspective. How do we evaluate...
May 17th, 2013 | Ethics | Read More

Arguing Against an Invalid Viewpoint

Today, as always, Christians find themselves in head to head disputes over issues they cannot compromise. No matter what creative thinking either side might apply, there are things they cannot and will not do. On certain doctrinal and social issues, there is no alternative perspective to the orthodox...
April 29th, 2013 | Abstract Argument, Philosophy, Religion | Read More

Objective Beauty: An End to the Pepsi Challenge

Chocolate ice cream is objectively better than vanilla.  Coke is obviously superior to Pepsi.  Snickers is the best candy bar.  Most people would consider these statements a mere opinion or preference, but what if there was more to it than that?  Could one actually be better? Earlier this year I...
April 19th, 2013 | Abstract Argument | Read More

In Defense Of The Pope

I am a Protestant.  Not only a Protestant, but an evangelical.  And not only an evangelical, but a Calvinist.  In short, I have no love for the Papacy.  I do not believe that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, nor is he in any meaningful sense the successor of the Apostle Peter.  When it comes to...
March 15th, 2013 | Apologetics, Catholics, Church, Culture, Evangelicals, Philosophy, Politics, Protestant, Religion, The Gospel | Read More

Do I Want a Theologian or Philosopher?

When I was at Biola University, a conservative evangelical Bible college including the Talbot School of Theology, one of my anthropology professors talked about how Talbot professors served to screen every incoming professor in every discipline so that there was not accidentally an anarchist-feminist-atheist-environmentalist...
March 14th, 2013 | Education, Philosophy | Read More

The End of the Semester and the Horror of Free Time

It’s that time. The end of semester. A time of cookies and coffee and rest and parties and papers. Time for cozy pajamas and creating lists of all the books I’ve wanted to read for the last few months, but haven’t had the time. It’s time. Free time. The first few days after every...
December 11th, 2012 | Education, Philosophy | Read More

Was C.S. Lewis A Calvinist?

In a previous post, I mentioned in passing that J.R.R. Tolkien, though a devout Roman Catholic, filled his works with a distinctly Reformed or Calvinistic attitude toward fate and free will.  If you ask the direct question, “Was J.R.R. Tolkien a Calvinist?” the answer is obviously no. ...
November 14th, 2012 | Philosophy, Religion, The Gospel, Worldviews | Read More

“Who Sez?” The Place of God in Moral Philosophy

On Tuesday, Dennis Prager made a comment on his radio program that without dogma (specifically religious dogma) there can be no rational argument against selfishness and cruelty. A young man called into the program, describing himself as a Libertarian and an agnostic, to say that you don’t need dogma...
November 1st, 2012 | Culture, Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion | Read More

Why Are You Persecuted?

As Christians, we expect to be persecuted. Our expectation for hardships in this life comes directly from the words of Jesus, who told us that people would hate us for his name’s sake (Matthew 10:22, Mark 13:13, and John 15:21). But not all hardship occurs because of Jesus’ name. Some hardships do...
October 30th, 2012 | Moral Philosophy, Religion | Read More

#FirstWorldProblems

I hate it when I check my food order after I pull out of the drive through, and I have to walk inside to ask them to fix it. How does that complaint strike you?  Mildly amusing?  Ironic?  Or are you offended at my callousness toward those who are actually suffering? The Twitter hashtag #FirstWorldProblems...
October 12th, 2012 | Ethics, Media, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics, Social Justice, Technology | Read More