Monthly Archives: September 2010

The argument against God on the basis of the existence of evil

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An Agnostic Argument based on Epicurus – Faith & Life.

The problem is that the premises can always be changed around. To wit:

  1. If a perfectly good god exists, then there is no evil in the world unless he has some morally sufficient reason for permitting that evil.
  2. There is evil in the world.
  3. A perfectly good god does exist.
  4. Therefore, there is a morally sufficient reason for that god permitting the evil in the world.

The atheologian has to prove that there can be no such morally sufficient reason. But how can he prove this? It would be a universal negative and claim to know all the possibilities that a god would have to account for.

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The Healing Pattern in the Gospel of Mark

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What follows are some observations gleaned mostly from Austin Farrer’s Studies in Saint Mark, now out of print and not widely available. I expound on it a bit in my commentary on Mark (see sidebar).

Mark’s healing miracles always involve one person. He may save a group of disciples from a storm, but he only cures one person in an incident. Various healings are summarized, but specific incidents are mentioned with one and only one recipient (unlike Matthews two blind men or Luke’s dozen lepers).

There seem to be three kinds of healings, two that rid a person of something bad and one that gives something good. The first two are exorcisms (ridding a person of demons) and cleansings (ridding a person of uncleanness). Both of these are linked because demons are called “unclean” spirits. Then there are restorations, in which a person is “raised up” (Greek: egeiro). There are fourteen such healings in Mark’s Gospel.

1.1-3.6: Exorcism, Restoration, Cleansing, Restoration / Restoration

Notice that the second Restoration involves making a man walk, and the third gives him back the use of his hand. They are natural complements. Also, the third restoration is the climax of a “mini-cycle” which imitates what starts in 1.14: the calling of persons from their normal occupation by the sea (2.14). We have here four incidents with the last one complemented: feet & hands. In this block, a son requests healing for a mother-in-law.

3.7-6.6: Exorcism, Re-{Cleansing}-storation

There are three healings told as two events (because the raising of Jairus’ daughter is sandwiched around the woman with the issue of blood. Here there is not complement. There’s can’t be one because a resurrection is quite impossible to improve upon. Indeed, from now on the restorations will not involve bodies and limbs, but rather problems in the head. Mark is moving toward his climax and, having recorded a resurrection, keeps building by moving from body to head. In this block, a father requests healing for a daughter.

6.7-8.38: Exorcism, Restoration / Restoration

In this case there are two healings with a complement given to the latter. A deaf mute is given hearing and speech, and then a blind villager is given back his sight: ears, mouth & eyes. In this block, a mother requests healing for a daughter.

9:1-12.52: Exorcisive Restoration / Restoration

Again a deaf mute is healed followed by a blind man. In this case, however, the deaf mute’s problem is demon possession, so the restoration is conflated with an exorcism. In this block, a father requests healing for a son. Notice then how the focus sharpens in these last two cycles:

  • Third cycle: Exorcism of a child at parent’s prayer, and healing of a deaf mute; Healing of a blind man (7.24-30, 31-37; 8.22-26).
  • Fourth cycle: Exorcism of a deaf and dumb child at parent’s prayer; Healing of a blind man (9.14-29; 10.46-52).

Thus the climax and fourteenth healing is

The Resurrection of Jesus.

All healing is summed up in Jesus. He is cleansed from death and filled with the Spirit; able to walk and grasp with Spirit-given feet and hands, able to hear God’s word, see God’s creation, and praise God’s name. The Father raises the Son.

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You’re not factory made and your path from here is not determined

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Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory SchoolingWeapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m not sure how to say enough good about this book. It doesn’t just criticize public education; it challenges our temptation to conform to the corporate fascism of the modern world. And it is a personal encouragement. The book will give you confidence both that your children can learn and that you can do so too.

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Can’t let the powerless fall through the cracks

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Jump the CracksJump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Pretty cool story. Could have been a thriller but was more of a relatively realistic drama about a daughter of divorced parents. Interesting use of some low-key Christian content. The issue seems to be finding faithfulness. Not sure if I like the ending. One could say that she sells out. Still thinking about it.

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(PS. one might also complain that the book is too positive about the State grabbing kids from “unfit” parents. It stayed ambiguous enough not to repel me.)

The Bubble and government policy in one lesson

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Retailers – Reality Check Time by Jim Quinn.

Reading this article made me think that I might be able to explain the basic dynamic of the economic meltdown without having to mess with too many details. The details are important, but they can hide the structure.

Start with this basic premise: the government wants to promote industry.

And then add a second premise: the government finds out that people are more likely to buy things if they have easy credit.

So if the government supports and promotes easy credit, then it can get people to buy more stuff.  When people buy more stuff, more industry is supported.

So, they find a way to do this. Unsecured credit is given to many people who in turn buy stuff. Whether it is houses or flat-screen TVs doesn’t matter.

But what happens when people have too much debt? They have to cut back. Not only do they have to cut back because they don’t have enough money to buy; they have to cut back even more because getting out of debt becomes a priority. People want to be free of the debt burden.

But since everyone was given the incentive to use credit everyone is cutting back at roughly the same time. Furthermore, the sudden drop in spending by a small group endangers the viability of industries that are dependent on consumer purchases. So the people whose jobs are endangered suddenly realize their debt load is too high and add to the growing number of people trying to get out of debt rather than purchasing gadgets.

Third premise, once those in government see that this is happening, they do all they can to hide the problem and extend the credit.

So the problem grows as the collapse is delayed.

The only solution to the problem is to end the artificial political debt encourager and enabler, suffer through a massive readjustment to the economy, and then grow at a normal rate from there.

Fourth premise, the government never admits that it is responsible for a problem or that it cannot fix a problem.

And so we go from disaster to disaster.

A question for any of you presuppositionalists out there.

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I still believe in the basic position I outlined here regarding apologetics.

However, I used Romans 1.18-21:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. For that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened” (Rom 1:18-21; NASB).

The problem is that I no longer believe that this passage is speaking to all men in general in every time and every place regarding the way God is revealed to them. Rather, I think it is speaking of the culpability that exists in the Greco-Roman world in light of the spread of the knowledge of the true God through Israel.

So how do I argue my position from Scripture now?

America as country v. America as State

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The history of America as a country is quite different from that of America as a State. In one case it is the drama of the pioneering conquest of the land, of the growth of wealth and the ways in which it was used, of the enterprise of education, and the carrying out of spiritual ideals, of the struggle of economic classes. But as a State, its history is that of playing a part in the world, making war, obstructing international trade, preventing itself from being split to pieces, punishing those citizens whom society agrees are offensive, and collecting money to pay for all.

via War Is the Health of the State by Randolph Bourne.

RePost: Grace Apart from Sin

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And the Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him (Luke 2.40).

There is nothing faulty in this translation (New American Standard Bible); Jesus was the recipient of the grace of God His Father from whom He is eternally begotten and with Whom he is equal.

Jesus was never a sinner needing forgiveness; and it would be abominable blasphemy to say otherwise. Yet Jesus received divine grace, as an incarnate child growing towards adulthood. Obviously, then, grace can refer to an attitude on the part of God that has no reference to any sinful state in the recipient. It refers to his favor and bounty without regard to personal merit. That grace being shown to sinners is a much more amazing (and to Jesus, costly!) thing, but it is not wrong to say that God shows grace to creatures (in this case, an incarnate one–both creature and creator in one person) who have not sinned.

Thus, it cannot be wrong to claim that Adam, like our incarnate Lord, received grace from God his Father. Luke undoubtedly knows and reveals that Jesus is dissimilar to Adam in that he is himself God. But in giving Jesus the title, “son of God,” Luke makes it quite clear that Jesus is receiving a title that Adam had originally by virtue of his creation by God and their covenant relationship. After telling us of the voice of the Father speaking from heaven and naming Jesus as his son at his baptism, Luke chooses that place to list a genealogy for our Lord which goes all the way back to Adam, and beyond Adam to God. Adam was the son of God and Jesus is a new creation, a new son of God (Luke 3.38).

God’s relationship with Adam was not that of an employer with an employee, but that of a parent and child. As Norman Shepherd has argued so well, the covenant of works with Adam was not a “labor contract,” but rather a familial relationship of love.

To repeat: The Bible explicitly teaches that Jesus of Nazareth received grace from God. Grace has real meaning apart from the forgiveness of sins. Luke’s Gospel is the very Word of God and we dare not quibble about the Spirit’s grammar.

Going, going, gone?

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• 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

• 36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything to retirement savings.

• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.

• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.

• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.

• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.

• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.

• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.

• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.

• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.

• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America’s corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.

• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.

• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.

• For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.

• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 – the highest rate in 20 years.

• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.

• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

EconomicPolicyJournal.com: The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking..

3 persons giving themselves to 1 another

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The image God has given us in the Trinity is an image of three Persons giving themselves to one another in eternal communion. Is there any wonder that the redemption offered to the human race by our Creator in the Lord Jesus Christ has to necessarily produce a lifestyle which would indicate redeemed relationships as the reality of salvation? All of the philosophical speculations, positions, and debates in the world cannot argue against a society of God’s people who in their corporate life demonstrate the reality of the god whom they worship.

Our individualistic theologies have substituted personal and private holiness for true inter-personal holiness among God’s people, and by implication, all other levels of creation. In his command to love one another, Jesus calls us to redress this misunderstanding. May we, under God, trust the Holy Spirit to quiet our disunity, remake our mindsets, and heal our relationships.

via Love One Another.