Month: January 2020

The Need To Read

What should we do with the gift of literacy? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

We just got back from taking my wife to see the rheumatologist. On the wall in the office was a notice about measles and being on guard against it. As I saw it, I pondered that in the ancient world, the large majority of people could not read and/or write. Today, it is practically assumed that everyone can do so.

When the first Final Fantasy game came to the Playstation 2, it was Final Fantasy X and it did have voice acting, but it also had lines across the screen. This is still common in many games. Players don’t listen to many of the things being said. They read them instead.

Let’s not forget how many of us actually do spend our time reading. Facebook. I know we have Facebook live and gifs and videos on there, but a lot of it is reading. It’s really taken for granted.

It’s easy to say many of us are not readers, but it’s just not true. We just don’t read the things that we often should be reading. For those of us who are Christians, that should definitely include good books.

When you read, you learn and you are informed with what you talk about. Without that, you are often trapped in your own thoughts. If I think about something, I don’t just have my own thoughts. Naturally, I have Scripture in my own head. I also have people like Augustine, Aquinas, Lewis, Chesterton, and many many other scholars and apologists past and present.

So if you’re reading, why not read something good that will build you up and you can enjoy? I’m not saying you can never do anything else, but much of the time we spend doing other things we could spend actually enriching our minds and learning about the world we live in and also enjoying it.

That also means it’s okay to read purely for the enjoyment that it gives you. When I started reading the Harry Potter books, it was to learn what all the fuss was about from my fellow Christians. Were the books really what people said they were? Before too long, probably before I finished the first book even, I was reading for my own enjoyment.

C.S. Lewis said the same kind of things. He used to read fairy tales in secret, then as an adult, he found he read them out in public and enjoyed them. There was no fear of being childish for that fear of being childish is itself childish.

Reading is a gift. We are blessed that we live in a culture that reading material is so abundant. We have more access to it than ever. You can easily go to the library and get most any book that you want. Not only that, you can get books in a digital format on Kindle or some tool like that. Many libraries have programs where you can order Kindle books from your own home. If you must, you can get a book on Audible or some service like that and read it in the car or if you’re doing something else.

I often take a book with me if I just have to go to the grocery store. Want something to do waiting in the checkout lane? Read it some. Get in a paragraph or two or however much I can. It’s even better if I put it down and it becomes a conversation piece.

Also, read something you disagree with if you’re a debater. It pays to know both sides. That also means if you’re an atheist or a Muslim or a JW or Mormon or any other position, read the other side. See what they have to say. Don’t settle for just Facebook debates. Read the best.

Now go get in some reading.

In Christ,
Nick Peters

Can Your Mind Be Changed?

What does it take to change a mind? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

I’m not much of a music guy, except for music from TV shows, video games, or, of course, Weird Al Yankovic. Most music that is Christian I consider to be self-help pablum that doesn’t really build up. There are a few exceptions, but they’re not worth listening to Christian music constantly.

So when I drive, I listen to talk radio. Just a few days ago I was riding and heard a show with the host who is a believer apparently talking to an atheist who called in. The atheist said that he wasn’t going to change his mind nor was he going to change the believer’s mind. I find such a statement odd. Why is this something people say so easily?

Let’s consider some beliefs that we might be more negotiable on. You could pretty easily change your mind on a favorite TV show or movie if you found something better. On the other hand, there are some beliefs you hold that you would have a hard time changing your mind on and not just controversial ones. I am thoroughly convinced I married my wife on July 24, 2010. This is not controversial. I have scores of witnesses who were there and there isn’t much reason to dispute it, but it would take a tremendous amount of evidence to change my mind.

Now let’s move on to other beliefs. Perhaps we want to talk politics. It would take a lot to convince me my capitalist and conservative views are wrong, but what happens if I say I am unpersuadable? If I do that, haven’t I demonstrated that my position is not evidential? If evidence will not change my mind, then is my mind really convinced by evidence?

Let’s move on to religion. I want to address two extremes here. Consider the Christian first who says he will only be persuaded Christianity isn’t true if he is shown the bones of Jesus. Well, that would certainly do the trick, but is that a reasonable case to make?

Suppose that Christianity isn’t true. If so, then Jesus may be a great man, but He is just that, a man. If so, supposed we found bones. How could we possibly tell that they were the bones of Jesus? This makes the argument an impossible argument to make as the other person cannot produce the evidence because it would be impossible.

The same goes for atheists who say they will change their mind if they see a miracle. That would do it I hope, but what does that mean to me? It means I can present argument after argument and you have already decided they are false if I do not give you a personal experience. (This is also all the while arguing the personal experience of those who claim miracles is invalid, meaning the only personal experience you count as evidence is your own.)

Yet if we are in a debate, how is this fair to me? It tells me you aren’t willing to follow my arguments at all. Maybe they don’t work, but you are telling me argument will not change your mind. What will is a personal experience I cannot provide. I am not God to do such a thing like that and this tells me the dialogue is not genuine. (It would be even worse if you expected me to listen to your arguments as evidence, although I should anyway)

Does this mean you change your mind lightly? No. It does mean you’re open. If you really think the evidence is on your side, you have nothing to fear.

One of the best ways I find to do this is to read books that disagree with you on a regular basis. This is why I often ask atheists in a debate when was the last time they read a book that disagreed with them. It’s sad that I rarely get an answer to this question that indicates that they do this.

Be open to changing your mind. If you’re doing evangelism, you expect the people you are talking to to be willing. You need to be as well.

In Christ,
Nick Peters

More on Galli

So what do I think of Galli’s points on immorality? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Recently, I wrote a post on Mark Galli and his editorial on President Trump. A friend of Deeper Waters left a comment asking about Galli’s stance. What about the immoral behavior of Trump? Would we still want to live in Nazi Germany even if the economy was doing great and we had the judges?

To be fair, this reader immediately said we are not in Germany like that, and that’s something important to stress. If you don’t like Trump, that’s one thing, but if you say he’s Hitler, you’re being insulting. To Trump? Yes, but that’s mild. You’re being insulting to millions of Jews and others who died under Hitler and to their loved ones and to the survivors. I couldn’t stand Obama and Bill Clinton, but I wouldn’t have called them Hitler.

2016 was a strange year with the election. Most conservatives did not want Hillary Clinton in power. If you asked my wife why she didn’t, she would say one word. Benghazi. That’s enough. For me, I also knew Hillary is pro-choice and would appoint judges like that. I was honestly convinced and still am that our country could not have survived that.

Keep in mind at this point, I am not asking you to agree with my stance. You can think I am entirely wrong in it, but I cannot be wrong in that that is what I think. I thought the Obama years were a disaster and I did not want to see them go on and if anything, I was more concerned about Hillary since I think she had the capability to do a lot more damage if given power.

So we had to have someone to beat her. Now here’s the question that has to be asked. Why did so many conservatives flock to Trump? What did Trump have that made him so special that so many people looked and said, “I know he’s not the best guy in the world, but I’m voting for him.”

For one thing, we have seen several Republicans who seemed to bend over backwards to try to be friendly to the Democrats thinking they would get an olive branch in return. It never worked. McCain was one person who the Democrats loved, for instance, until he ran for president and then during that time he was a villain. Mitt Romney was someone the media couldn’t stand in his presidential campaign with stories of him about being a racist, causing cancer in people, abusing animals, and folders of women. Now he’s anti-Trump so he’s cool.

What was seen in Trump was someone who would not do that. Voters saw in Trump someone who fought back and stood up for what he believed in. He wasn’t afraid to step on any toes. This is something that was refreshing. With Trump, one never needs to guess where he stands. He comes right out and tells you.

Second, he wasn’t a politician. He didn’t have years of going through all these emotions. He was, in essence, an ordinary guy who wanted to do something for his country. He wasn’t worried about having a legacy to defend. He was an outsider to the system and maybe he could do something to make it work.

Third is he was talking about the issues people wanted to talk about. Okay. The Iran deal is something important to talk about, but most of us don’t wake up in the morning wondering about America’s relationship with Iran. We wake up in the morning wondering about how we’re going to pay our bills and what about our children and will we have freedom in our country or not?

Trump spoke to these issues. Illegal immigration was a great example of this. For many decades, people had got up and said illegal immigration is a problem. Trump just didn’t say it. He made it a focus. People liked that.

In the end, one ultimate difference is we were quite sure that Hillary would be happy to turn against us if she got power. The rights of many Christians we were and are sure would go out the window. We would have more issues with abortion, the homosexual movement, transgenderism, etc. (Worth noting that all of these issues have to do with sex. Consider what that means.)

Trump was not one we suspected would do that, and so far, we have been right. We have seen two justices appointed to the court that we think want to be faithful to the Constitution. More and more judges are being appointed elsewhere.

But what about what Galli says here?

“The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.”

One big problem here. Galli gives ZERO examples of this. Now some we can see. The Access Hollywood tape was a concern for awhile, but Trump supporters went forward for the still the same reason. It was like we were given a choice between Diocletian or Constantine. It might have been good to have a candidate who had the same political stances as Trump, but had moral character. We didn’t get that.

However, here’s something to consider. Who else had a major impact on our society in a very good way, but he also had problems of morality, including women? Martin Luther King Jr. He was even a pastor who had numerous affairs with other women. For some reason, I have never seen a rush to remove Martin Luther King Jr. Day from being a national holiday. We still support the cause that he championed of dreaming of a world of racial equality.

Some of this could also depend on the state you lived in. If you lived in a heavily Republican or Democrat state and it was certain to go one way or the other, then perhaps you could have sat this one at home last time. If you didn’t though, then your vote made a difference. You could have changed a swing state to go that way.

For many of us though, we live in a world where we are seeing the rise of transgenderism, abortion, and homosexual behavior being normalized for us and our children. My wife recently shared pictures from a book a friend shared that was young adult fiction for students in school and had quite explicit homosexual behavior being discussed in it. Go against any of this and you’re a wicked bigot and if the left has shown us anything, it’s that they’re more than happy to shut us down.

“Okay. But with impeachment, why not let Trump take the fall and get Pence? He’s a good Christian. Right?”

Because it won’t stop. It never does. If it is shown that a president can be removed this way, it will happen with Pence as well. Some charge will be found against him. Let Pence get in for reasons such as election in 2024 or if a tragedy happens to Trump in office.

To get back to where we were, in the end, many of us saw that we could either vote for someone like Diocletian or like Constantine. We didn’t know if Constantine had the moral character or not, but we at least knew he wouldn’t turn on us. If the Democrats want to change that, they need to produce a better candidate and so far, I’m not seeing it happen.

In Christ,
Nick Peters