The UmBlog

Last night I revisited Avatar , which I did not review favorably , with my teen aged son and sole control of the DVD remote so I could skip the alien intercourse scene. I still agree with all my earlier criticisms of the movie, however, I thought Cameron makes a case for the solution to the problem of evil made by philosophers such as Alvin Platinga. The deity, Eywa, of the Na'vi planet, Pandora, is presumed to not take sides in the battle over the planet's resources and people and critters by the Na'vi, as explained by a native Na'vi (Neytiri) to the human avatar (Jake Sully) when he's praying at the tree which represents her seeking help in defeating the invading humans. So he rallies all the Na'vi tribes, formulates a last stand battle plan, and leads the Na'vi people into a massacre. But suddenly all the critters join in on the fight and turn the battle against the humans. Obviously, Eywa stepped in, and could have at any time, and really didn't nee...

If dog ears and underlines per page mean anything, then by my physical interaction with this book, this book means plenty. More than that, it is such a pleasure to read a well-written book. Perhaps I should expect it from the chair holder of theology, ministry, and education at King's College London and former chair holder of historical theology at Oxford University. Alister McGrath has debated Dawkins and Hitchens and read the leading books of the gnu atheists. He also has read the works of the regular atheists, who share his disappointment with the fundamentalist approach of the gnu atheists. But with the poor reasoning spouting from the four horsemen of the gnu atheist movement, Dennet and Harris round out that party, not much can be expected from their followers. In my own conversation with atheistic friends, I have brought up the human propensity to violence apart from religion with Stalin's regime as exhibit A. I ask, is the violence independent of religion and simply a ...

Crossway Books has released another book on the Trinity. Last summer, Fred Sander's book, The Deep Things of God , came out, and I was able to read and review it over Christmas break. It was a phenomenal book. Of course, not everything that can be said about the Trinity has been said, but I was curious how the authors of this volume, Philip Ryken and Michael LeFebvre, would distinguish it. Whereas Sanders approached the subject philosophically, but not to the exclusion of the Biblical revelation, Ryken and LeFebvre approach the topic biblically, but not to the exclusion of philosophy. This book is half the length of Sander's book. It has four chapters. The first chapter, The Saving Trinity, is an exposition on the opening prayer in Paul's letter to the Ephesian church. The second chapter, The Mysterious Trinity, is more philosophical, but surveys the Old Testament, looking at the bread crumbs left by God to point towards the New Testament's fuller revelation. The th...

Even the full title of this book jazzes me, The Deep Things of God: how the Trinity Changes Everything by Fred Sanders. This book was one of my favorite Christmas presents. I like it so much I want to share it with everybody who wants a little more philosophical depth to their understanding of the gospel. I've been reading Sanders for years now at the blog, The Scriptorium . He writes well and loves God. I love that this book is a celebration of evangelicals and their trinitarian theology, but he does not need the filoque clause to distinguish the Holy Spirit, so even an Orthodox Christian can enjoy this book. Sanders is not ashamed of his evangelicalism, and he wants evangelicals to not be ashamed. He wants us to know our trinitarian credibility is real, so he limits himself to (almost) only reference Protestants, from Tyndale to Calvin to Wesley to Edwards to Watts and Warfield and a bunch of people I never heard of. I'm really glad to meet some of these people in my reli...

There are many good blog posts that come to my mind during my daily bicycle commutes, but most are lost by the time I change out of my bike clothes. On today's ride, I was admiring the beauty of the changing leaves. I know, to a certain degree, the physics and chemistry involved in the changing colors. I know, a little bit, about sight, and the biochemical reaction that turns photons striking the back of my eyeballs into a coherent sensory perception . But there is no physical explanation of why I deem a sight pleasant, or good, or nice. Those are words and feelings that do not belong to science, because there is no measurable quantity to them. Those words belong to something apart from the material world. Love is another of those non-physical concepts. Love is a commitment and not just mushy feelings. Commitment is another, non-physical, unmeasurable concept. There is not a "love" receptor in the brain. There might be a complex, biochemical cascade in the brain that corr...

John Frankenheimer had the privilege of directing the last great black and white action film, The Train , starring Burt Lancaster in 1964. I have to agree that it is a great film. It is greatly filmed and asks great philosophical questions, typical of the era's existential angst. Image via Wikipedia The struggle in the film is the struggle by the French resistance to prevent a trainload of great art from being sent to Germany before the Allies arrive. The protagonist is Burt Lancaster, who doesn't even attempt a French accent. The antagonist is a German colonel played by Paul Scofield who cares more for art than for humans, even fellow German soldiers. The poster for the movie captures that pretty well. It was filmed big which fit well with it's love for trains. The massiveness of those vehicles are felt throughout the film. I don't think I have witnessed multiple train collisions and derailments in a movie before. He used real, full-sized trains to crash into each ...

The ultimate aim of Hart in his book Atheist Delusions : The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies is to refute the weak claims of the new atheists including books like Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great : How Religion Poisons Everything . Can Hitchens's hyperbolic claim be taken seriously? Hart writes, Even in purely practical terms, to despise religion in the abstract is meaningless conceit. As a historical force, religion has been neither simply good nor simply evil but has merely reflected human nature in all its dimensions. For our remote ancestors it was the force that shaped society, law, and culture by pointing to one or another "higher truth" that could fuse individual wills into common aspirations and efforts. In its more developed forms it has functioned as a source of prohibition and injunction, burning moral commands into obstinate minds with visions of hell and heaven, endless reincarnation or final repose in God, or what have you, fashi...

Thanks to Uncommon Descent with many more links on this topic.

After I published previously , I was able to do more thinking on my bike ride home. I know one of my weaknesses as a writer is that I make long mental leaps between points that tends to leave readers mystified. Sorry. Part of what I wanted to say yesterday is that if character is who we are when no one sees us, then, looking at just our sinful thoughts alone, we all fail miserably. Our minds are filled with good and bad. Some of us in equal proportions and some more good, but all of us have evil within us. Even God tells us this through his prophet Jeremiah. The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. 1 Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 But Jesus himself points out that there are good and noble hearts in his parable of the soils. Regarding the soil that enables the seed to produce a hundred fold he says, But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patie...

I've been mulling over a proposed definition of character today. Part 1 The popular definition in my church circles is that character is determined by your behavior when no one is watching. It sounds pretty good. Part 2 I watched a debate with Christopher Hitchens yesterday in which he complained about the cosmic despot who holds us guilty for every thought that wafts through our minds. Part 3 Jesus says the fantasy of adultery is just as wicked as the act itself. Matthew 5:27-30 Part 4 Fantasy is what one does in one's own mind where none other, but one, God, can see. Part 5 Everyone fantasizes of good and evil. Hence, who has character? Part 6 Hitchens misses Jesus' point. Our thoughts affect our souls and usually affect our actions. Even the moribund, those trapped by physical paralysis, are sinners in need of a savior. Jesus calls for a radical response, by hyperbole, to wicked thoughts, amputation, Matthew 5:29-30. Part 7 Is there a difference between the character wh...

If you want existentialism without the angst, Zorba the Greek is your ticket. The scenery is gorgeous. Anthony Quinn is amazing. The townspeople are morally depraved, well, everyone is in this film. I'm not sure if the characters are immoral, but, rather, amoral to a large degree. This movie is a dramatization of the philosophy of Nietzsche in particular. So a brief philosophical and theological discussion must be included in this review. What is existentialism? This brief definition at Answers.com captures the flavor seen in the film. A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. Nothing is declared right or wrong in this story. Sex outside of marriage is achieved without conscience: affairs, prostitutes, multiple partners, rape, nothing is condemned. But the universe is...

I read a pretty good book the other night in one sitting. The Shack is more novella than novel. It attempts to address the problem of evil in a dialog between a grieving father and God as Trinity at the site of his daughter's murder, a shack, hence the title. It's opening and ending are gripping but the middle gets bogged down a bit. There are some flashes of really great writing. My favorite is As the word echoed in the chamber, panic rose inside Mack like a swelling tide and slowly he sank into his chair. Instantly he felt guilty, as memories spilled through his mind like rats fleeing the rising flood. (157) I have one more. This is more of a theologically appealing passage. Mack's chest and muscles instinctively tightened. He didn't like remembering Josh and the canoe, and the sense of panic that suddenly rushed back from the memory. "It's extremely hard to rescue someone unless they are willing to trust you." "Yes, it sure is." "That...

my perspective is that an investigator of a belief system should know the "dirty parts" or have easy access to them. how else do you weed out crazy stuff a priori? i'm also appreciating the approach of "if it works, then perhaps the dirty stuff isn't that hard to swallow" and may even be true. alot of people experience this in non-religious situations. but this set up in abusive situations is standard. it's called partial reinforcement. the balance of positive reinforcement to negative tips over time to alot bad and little good. having my own abusive religious experience, i have a great appreciation for the baloney detector we all come with. and i encourage people to listen to their baloney detector if they don't have a theological or philosophical grid to evaluate religious claims. so my baloney detector would say to CoS, secret levels? incorrect history? big dollars? unverified claims? can never read all this stuff in my lifetime? it may work, but...

Triablogue: Philosophy of (The Christian) Religion : "You will notice that there are no (well, just one or two) arguments against the positions I've listed. This is because this 'book' is also meant to substitute as an apologetics 'book' for the Christian faith, hence the offensive nature. Furthermore, this 'book' is intended to present the Philosophy of Christianity from a Reformed perspective and also a presupposition approach to answering many of these questions " This is a great organized link farm, putting together "chapters" from links all over the web. A perfect example of a postmodern, buffet style Christianity, or not...the Greek orthodox and Roman catholic churches kept compendiums of commentary on passages, the same model used in The Ancient Christian Commentary series from IVP. Anyway, this link prefers Reformed common 'tators.