A Burning Question

If electronic versions of the Bible and Koran are deleted, is that any less objectionable to Christians and Muslims than if hard copies of their holy books are burned? If so, why?


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Pondering the problem of natural evils in the wake of the Oklahoma tornado disaster

I was struck by this photograph taken over the weekend in Oklahoma. It reminded me of what has been described as the “holiness problem of evil”, described by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as: “that God's character seems to be stained by evil because God causally contributes to the existence of everything in the world, and evil is one of those things”. One way around this problem is to deny the existence of evil and, as famously pronounced by Augustine of Hippo in his The Confessions, to simply describe evil as a privation of the good.  The difficulty with this approach is that the Judeo-Christian God (as conceived by Christians) is the author of all things and therefore also authored the privation of the good. This approach is consistent with Isaiah 45:7 (KJV): “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”

 

So, if evil exists (either as a phenomenon unto itself or solely as a privation of the good) and God exists, God is the author of that evil.  As to why God creates natural evils, this is where theists usually raise only two arguments: 1. They play the mystery card and, unwittingly or not, embrace skeptical theism; or 2. They insist that natural evils are the unavoidable result (collateral damage, if you will) of sustaining life on earth.  However, this evades answering the question as to why their supposedly omnipotent God is unable to create a world where tornados don’t slam into elementary schools.

I implore everyone to read this

Author David Foster Wallace delivered this commencement address to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. I implore everyone to read it: it'll take you about 15 minutes. Here is a snippet:

"In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship."

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Tweet from @AtheistMission

@AtheistMission: Robert M. Price's May 7th Bible Geek podcast (Myth, Method & The Will to Believe) is superb: http://t.co/ELvyFnlIpK


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Tweet from @AtheistMission

@AtheistMission: It's 2013 & I think it's safe to say that we have finally reached the point in Canada where religion has become irrelevant.


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Hippo boy was priceless

I'm currently reading The Confessions of St. Augustine as I acclimatize to post-10,000 feet altitudes near Joshimath, Índia (about 50 km from the Indo-Tibet border).

Hippo boy is golden. Augustine is considered one of the greatest thinkers Christianity has ever known. Here's a priceless snippet from Book II as he regretfully writes about the whoring ways of his youth:

"Else ought I more watchfully to have heeded the voice from the clouds; Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh but I spare you. And, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. And, he that is unmarried thinketh of the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but he that is married careth for the things of this world, how he may please his wife."

Well ... he got half of that right!
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I'm off to find out whether Jesus really lived in India ...

I am off for a trek in the Indian Himalayas. Reading materials include The Confessions by St. Augustine of Hippo and Jesus Lived in India by Holger Kersten.  Left to look after our three kids at home is my wife and true saviour.