Letter to a Presbyterian Pastor

Philosophical Wanderings 5a

These posts have generated some offsite discussion. I've been posting some of these exchanges. This is a continuation of the discussion from the previous post.

Philosophical Wanderings 5- Is Logic Empirical?

Continuing this discussion, a friend and I have been interacting via email. With all argument you tend to have to keep peeling back layers and get back to basic definitions of your terms and concepts.

No surprise my friend is a bit uncomfortable with some of my language concerning logic. I say no surprise because again, for those of us reared in the West...this is default thinking. He inquired concerning logic and wondered if I would agree that logic itself it 'built into humanity and at least analogous to the Mind of God'?

In response I raised an issue concerning logic itself. What is it? What is its nature? Not easy questions to answer. Is logic objective? Is it something intrinsic to creation or can we go even further and say reflects the Divine Nature?

What if logic is in fact subjective? What if it is dependent upon our human ability to frame, decipher, and categorize? In response to my friend, I raised a question....

Is logic empirical?

Answering Questions #19- War and Scepticism

This is kind of a strange lead-in, but my friend and I were discussing one of my favourite movies. ‘The Last Valley’ came out in 1971 and stars Michael Caine and Omar Sharif, certainly two of the best actors…ever.

Philosophical Wanderings 4

The role of reason and logic in the realm of metaphysics....

Philosophical Wanderings 3

** These discussions will not interest most readers.

They will seem perplexing, pedantic, if not arcane and impractical. In the end what I'm saying is that the Bible has to shape our thinking. That would seem obvious to everyone that appreciates my writings. That's what all this leads to.

While on the surface it seems obvious, there are nevertheless many disagreements among Christians and within the larger circle of people labeled the Church. Why?

Because we all read things differently and we have different ideas about 'thinking' and how ideas are formed and work. You don't have to master this material to read your Bible. But at some point virtually all of us will to some extent wrestle with some of these questions. If we're not, then we're probably just reading the Bible as Westerners, as 21^st Century Americans. To be sure, we can still apprehend the Gospel...but will we understand the Bible rightly? Deeply? What is that we're after?....to merely escape hell or to know God, to be reconciled with Him and to know the Truth?

So many of us agree the Bible alone is foundation. So many of want to just follow the Bible....why then are there so many disagreements on so many topics? Most of the arguments are a waste of time because the fundamental issues that drive the disagreements are not being addressed. That's what is happening in these posts, in this discussion I've labeled Philosophical Wanderings....

Dishonorable Disclosures

A few comments regarding the ‘Dishonorable Disclosures’ film….

 

Putin and a Punk Band- Sacral Russia and American Evangelical Silence

Sacralist minded American Evangelicals have long hoped for some form of synthesis between Church and State. While they generally eschew a formal or legal union with an Established Church, they want the two 'spheres' to work in a symbiotic relationship.

The political leaders should be members of and thus accountable to the Church.[i]

Assange, Breivik, a SEAL, and Wicked Hypocrisy

While Bradley Manning certainly committed treason in releasing the diplomatic cables made famous by Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks website, I’ve often been left scratching my head when listening to people speak of Assange himself.

Answering Questions #18- How Should We Respond To Gay/Homosexual Marriage? (Part 8)

This is the final segment of this discussion on marriage the state and the related issues concerning sexuality and behaviour.

It may seem I’ve strayed a bit in discussing the whole issue of ‘church’ weddings, but the reason I bring it up is because I think we have problem when we take ideas like marriage and divorce which for us have theological meaning but also overlap with the culture.

If the last segment seemed a bit out of bounds to some readers, I’m afraid this section will seem even more so.[i]

Two Items

One, the final part of the Gay Marriage series is basically done. I hope to post it sometime Saturday.

Thank you for the recent comments. I'm going to hold off on responding until the last part is up. It might help clarify why I was bringing up certain points. Many still will not agree but hopefully be able to understand why I'm thinking as I am.

I don't expect very many readers to agree with me. Some of thinking is way out of bounds to probably most people. But I hope the discussion is helpful and challenging.

And, I thought I would post the link to a pertinent article I put up a couple of years ago since it is a date that deserves reflection.

1 September 1939