blogical fallacy: May 2006

Rent Diet Skoffers

I know this topic has been overplayed, but I thought I'd add my two cents.

I just finished reading The Davinci Code, and honestly, I can't see what all the hubbub is about! The "facts" contained in that book are things that most children should be able to easily refute; and yet I hear stories of people losing their faith after reading the book/seeing the movie. Well, all I can say is, we (evangelicals) have made this bed...

In one of the comment sections from an earlier post, Brother Quotidian remarked that "there is a strata of the populace with a settled and (probably) untouchable hostility toward Christianity, who rejoice exultantly over something like the DVC, because they suppose that FINALLY someone is debunking this hideous things called Christianity."

This was my response to BQ:

I think it's interesting that at the end of the novel, Brown betrays this group. His conclusion is not that we need to debunk any religion, but rather that it's good for people to have faith (which, by his definition, is believing a fabrication), so let them believe it. It helps them sleep at night, and makes them better people. Anything goes, it's true for them, and that's all that really matters. Different strokes for different folks.

It's simply incredible to see the whole story moving toward the protagonists finally proving the Church is wrong, and the Priory is right, and once they find the truth, they realize that truth is what you make of it. Good news, everybody's right (or wrong)! So let's not spoil their fun by exposing that they're wrong; that would be mean... and a powerplay... and very machiavellian...

Whatever.

I Hate Spam

Due to an overwhelming flood of spam in my comments sections, I am forced to remove the ability to post anonymously. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Rethinking Human Nature

There's quite an interesting dialog going on in my post below, so I thought I'd add some thoughts about it in a new post. It has become clear in the previous (as well as others) posts that it is always important to define your terms; and I think that the book Rethinking Human Nature by Kevin Corcoran does a marvelous job (in what I've read of it so far) of defining terms and in analyzing dualist and materialist worldviews.

In one of the comments, Brother Quotidian described a sort of dualism to which he prescribes, and Corcoran addresses this kind of dualism in his introduction:

"The Christian story, from the beginning of the narrative in Genesis to the dramatic climax in Revelation, is an 'earthly' story, a story that celebrates materiality, laments its perversion by human sin, and eagerly awaits its ultimate glorification in the resurrection. It is the position of this book that a materialist view of human nature, as opposed to a dualist view, fits this earthly picture of the Bible's grand narrative most comfortably.

The main lineaments of the Christian story are familiar to those of us who understand ourselves and the world in their terms. In the beginning, God created. All things other than God were created by God. When God completed his work, God rested and proclaimed all things created good, even very good!

Note that there is, to be sure, a kind of dualism in the doctrine of creation, but it is not the kind of dualism that will occupy our attention in the coming pages. The kind of dualism embedded in the doctrine of creation is that between Creator and created, between God and that which is not God. This kind of dualism rules out two sorts of error. On the one hand, it rules out devotion to and idolatry of creation. On the other hand, it rules out antipathy toward and rejection of creation, including the human bodies God created. I am an avid supporter of this kind of dualism. The kind of dualism at issue in discussions of human nature, however, is a dualism of human body and immaterial soul, where human persons are either identified with an immaterial soul or have an immaterial soul attributed to them as an essential part. It is this latter kind of dualism that is the focus of our attention and the kind of
dualism I reject" (14).

This is exactly what I have been thinking about lately, and what I was getting at in the last post, so I can't wait to read some more!

Any thoughts?

Christian Dualism

Is anyone else worried about the dualism present in the hearts and minds (this is a joke) of many Christians today?

I hear so many people talk about the immortality of the soul while almost gnostically despising the "flesh." We sing songs which bid us to believe that this world is not our home, we're just a passing through; and pastors tell families at funerals that their dead loved one is now perfect (apparently no physical body=perfect).

We're escaping this world? Our dead loved ones are perfect without a physical body? Or even more confusingly, they're running around on streets of gold??

I've been thinking about how anti-dualist I am, and I wonder if my position is untenable as well. I tend to think of the person as being completely wrapped up in the body; there is no separation of physical body and soul. If a person dies, he is dead (perhaps Paul's word "asleep" is more appropriate). This person is not thinking about anything, or flying around on clouds, or running on streets of gold. This person will only awake at the parousia when he as a corruptible dead person (or ashes or whatever) is made into an incorruptible live person.

The reason I think that my position might be untenable is that there are certain passages of scripture which seem to come off a bit dualist. For example: "Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith, not by sight we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:6-8).

So what do you all think? Is the Christian faith a dualist faith? As I said, I need to flesh this study out quite a bit, so go easy on me!

Karis is better!

Well, although the doctors never figured out what she had, she seems to be doing just fine now. Thank you all for your prayers. It's nice to have my daughter back to her happy, playful, self.

Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things now, and start creating some fruitful discussion.

Pray for Her

As you've probably noticed, I have been offline for quite some time now. I'm just writing to let you all know that I'm still around, and to let you know why I have been absent as of late.

My daughter, Karis, has been quite ill lately, and to be honest, I'm a little worried about her. She has had a fever of over 105 for the past three days now, and much of our time has been spent at Kaiser trying to get treatment. She has had two catheters, eight vials of blood drawn, a throat culture, spinal tap, two very painful antibiotic shots, and is currently getting a chest x-ray.

After all of this, the doctors still don't know what is going on, and my wife is struggling to keep her spirits up. We would appreciate your prayers at this time.

UPDATE- Thank you all for your prayers, emails, phone calls, etc. It is great to know that so many people are praying and thinking of our little one. It appears that Karis' health is improving. This morning her fever was considerably lower than it has been since Sunday night, and her doctor was pleased with her vitals and her demeanor. Bekah and I are relieved that she is in much less pain, and we are hoping that she makes a full recovery soon. We still have no idea what caused all this, but hopefully it was just a stubborn virus that is on its way out. I'll keep you posted.