Category: Evil

Longing for Eden

Is Genesis 2 pointing back to Eden? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

In our modern age, we often think the only way you can refer to something is to explicitly say it. For the ancients, this was not so. The book of Ecclesiastes never once refers to Eden, so the casual reader going through can understandably wonder why I think the book speaks about that subject. So, here is what I do have from my research on this topic.

So in my paper, what I say about this is:

Looking at these verses from Ecclesiastes, the pointing to Eden might not come across immediately, but Meek contends that the author fully intended it. He notes repeated phrases showing up like “to plant”, “to make”, “gardens”, “trees of every kind”, “to water”, “to sprout”, and the overall theme of a ruler creating a garden.[1] The Teacher chose of all places to go to for pleasure to use language picturing a garden and not just any garden, but the original one that was meant to be a paradise. Kim and Hoang present a contrast of God saying everything is good in the creation account and the Teacher saying everything is vanity.[2]

A difference between the two accounts is that in the Genesis account, it is God who is the creator. In the Ecclesiastes account, the Teacher focuses on himself as the one who did this. This could indicate that the Teacher had a desire to go back to Eden. After all, if any place in Israel’s history represents joy, surely Eden deserves that honor. So what all went into creating this new paradise of joy?

Also, nothing in this passage serves a necessary function to a working city. At most, one could speak of providing food with trees. Instead, this could be akin to a man today saying “I built theaters, arcades, skating rinks, parks, and museums.” All of these can benefit a city, but a city can function just fine without them also.

The imagery here is indeed pointing to Eden. This time, the author realizes that Eden has been lost and decides he is going to work to bring it back. I contend that this means he wants to create the best living scenario for human beings that he can. What if in our search for meaning, we brought back all the joys of Eden?

We could compare this to what is called the Experience Machine, an idea dreamt up by Robert Nozick. Imagine you could be hooked up to a machine and you could experience anything that you wanted in the world of the machine. Sex, power, money, fame, talent, whatever you desire. Whatever brings you the most pleasure, you can have. Should you choose the Experience Machine?

Some people say yes, but a lot say no. Even if you have what can bring you the most happiness supposedly, it still is not the real thing itself. You can have it all and still in the end, be miserable due to the Law of Diminishing Returns.

But we should let the text speak more about the pleasures of this garden. We will do that next time.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

[1] Meek, Ecclesiastes and the Search for Meaning in an Upside-Down World, (Peabody: Massachusettes, Hendrickson Publishers, 2022), 6.

[2] Nga Thi Hong Hoang and Sung Jin Kim, “An Analysis of the -iterary Allusion in Ecclesiastes 2 to the Creation/arrative in Genesis 1-2 3hetorical 3ole of the Creation Motif in Ecclesiastes 2***, ACTS Theological Journal, (2019), 20. https://research.ebsco.com/c/trvdli/viewer/pdf/n7hbgqgy2f

The Search Begins

What can wisdom do for you? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

The Teacher decides he is going to begin the quest for meaning. I do call him the Teacher in this and if you’re wondering why, it’s because while I do hold to Solomonic authorship, my arguments do not depend on the Teacher being Solomon. That is my position, but if I found incontrovertible proof that this was someone just impersonating Solomon, I would not have to revise my understanding of the book.

The Teacher does say that the business man has been given is unhappy. No beating around the bush again. Not only that, but he attributes this to God. God has given something to man that is sad. Man has a desire to find meaning in the world. Man has a desire to make sense of it all. We are not all philosophers, but all of us to some extent have this desire in us.

If something is crooked, it cannot be made straight and something lacking cannot be counted. This points to a futility then in the search of sorts. If God has done this, we cannot undo it. If God has given us a desire to find order in the world, we cannot shut that off. If God has given us a desire to find meaning in life, we cannot shut that off. Some people do think life is meaningless, but that does not mean that they want it to be. There is a difference between wanting life to be meaningless and concluding, even wrongly, that life is meaningless.

In a statement that is definitely reflective of Solomon, the Teacher says he has acquired wisdom and knowledge beyond any who came before him. If the Teacher cannot figure out the answer to this question, then who can? The Teacher has said he is not going to hold anything back in his quest. He wants to know what makes a life worthwhile.

In the end of this section, he makes a negative statement about wisdom. Today, we would describe it as saying “ignorance is bliss.” There is a reason we often protect children from some realities of the adult world as they grow up and let them experience them gradually. It is because of the perceived innocence of children that we don’t want their childhoods destroyed by painful realities. We treat it as something unnatural when a child comes to know the nature of death all too soon.

Many of us who have knowledge do enjoy what we have, but at times, it can also be painful. Sometimes to have good theology can produce pain. Consider how C.S. Lewis once said his fear was not that God did not exist. It was “Yes. He does exist, and this is what He is really like!” Of course, there is some false information in that, but the knowledge that God exists doesn’t always bring joy. Sometimes it brings fear and sorrow. Sometimes knowing God is good is painful when one realizes what is being allowed and one cannot make sense of it.

But the Teacher will try.

Next week, we’ll really get into his searching.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Book Plunge: The Bible and the Ballot Chapter 12

How do we help the poor? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

There is an increasing refrain in these later chapters where I largely agree with Longman’s exegesis of the text. Instead, I disagree when we get to the application. Once again, the same has happened here. I do fully agree that there is a mandate to help the poor in Scripture. I do agree that there are times someone is poor not because of laziness, but because of tragedy or injustice.

I also do agree that the prosperity gospel should be thoroughly condemned. Jesus is not meant to serve you on the path to riches. I do not think that being wealthy means being an evil man. You can be a devout Christian and be extremely wealthy.

Also, in case anyone asks, no. I am not one of those rich people. I make minimum wage and I don’t want to see minimum wage go up. I personally would like to see it abolished. I simply try to watch my spending and I have a Patreon. You can donate to that here. For now, let’s get back to Longman.

I am pleased to see that Longman acknowledges that capitalism has brought many nations out of poverty. He is quite correct on that one. However, he does say the Bible could be used to support both socialism and capitalism. I do not see how it could be used for both without being contradictory. Both systems are opposed and how could Scripture consistently teach two systems that oppose one another? He does say both socialism and capitalism could help people thrive and are both subject to corruption. Unfortunately, he shows us no examples of these places where socialism produces a thriving populace. I do agree that both are subject to corruption, but the difference is capitalism is the free exchange of goods without force, theft, or fraud. As soon as you change that, it’s not capitalism anymore.

He does say a book could be written on the topic, but it already has. Consider E. Calvin Beisner’s book Prosperity and Poverty. I also recommend reading Thomas Sowell’s books.

He also says some people think government should not be in the charity business. I’m one of them, and for the reason that he gives, because I think the church should be doing it. He says that the problem is that the church isn’t. Indeed, if the government keeps doing it, what reason does the church have to step up? Unfortunately, all of this creates government dependence. When I see someone say “If we shut down government program XYZ, what will happen to all these people in need?” My thinking is “Don’t you think it’s a problem that they’re that dependent on the government anyway?”

Also Longman, yes, the government is inefficient. We have an organization that is $36 trillion in debt and you want to tell me I should trust that organization to help the poor? Do I agree the church needs to step up its game? 100%.

Finally, I should say something about how this goes when I talk with people of a left-leaning persuasion.

Me: I think we should help the poor.

Leftist: Great! Here’s a program that we think will help the poor.

Me: I don’t think that will work.

Leftist: So you don’t really want to help the poor?

Saying you want to help the poor doesn’t mean that you agree with every way to help the poor. An excellent read on this is When Helping Hurts. Our government has declared war on poverty, drugs, and terror. How many of those have we eliminated? People can have really good intentions for when they want to help out the poor, but good intentions do not equal good results. They’re not all about helping the poor, but for examples of this, see Reason TV’s Great Moments in Unintended Consequences.

Reality determines if your method works. Your intentions don’t.

Next time, we will wrap up with discussing racism.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

 

A Visit To Bourbon Street

How does a community respond to evil? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Last Sunday, I went out with some students to meet people who worked on Bourbon Street here in New Orleans. Two things New Orleans is definitely famous for are Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras. Sadly, neither of those are usually for good reasons as far as Christianity is concerned. Of course, we are famous for other things, like Jazz, but Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras are hardly associated with holiness.

For me, when New Year’s Eve rolled around, I stayed up and watched a ball come down on YouTube in Dallas-Fort Worth while playing Animal Crossing to get the New Year’s Eve achievement. Around midnight, being a good Baptist at a Baptist seminary, I popped open a bottle of Welch’s Sparkling White Grape Juice. Within an hour, I was in bed.

I could have no way of knowing that while I slept that night, people would be celebrating in my city and have their celebrations destroyed by an evil man driving a car into them.

Let’s start with that. Many times when a great evil happens, we often jump immediately to the idea that the person was mentally ill. We need to stop that. It’s this sort of idea that anyone who had their rational mind in order would not do that. Unfortunately, they do. People have within them the capacity for great evil.

At one of our first stops, I remember one of the students I was with talking to the owner of a store about how we were coming by to visit people after the accident took place. After we left, I told him to not say accident. Losing your car keys is an accident. Punching your wife in the face is a direct evil.

One lady we talked to spoke about how she remembered the event and said that she thought it was tragic for everyone. She wasn’t directly involved in losing someone, but it sure must be hard for everyone else.

Until someone she knew was the last person to be identified among the victims. Her name was Tasha. At that point, I talked about being divorced and gave the talk that someone else gave me about it. Today is horrible. Tomorrow will also be horrible, but it will be a little bit less so.

She told us to be sure to go down to the vigil, which we did.

It’s amazing how many people make crosses when death occurs. Here on a street known for wickedness, the cross still stands out. The emblem of shame in the past is now that of victory and triumph. People think of the cross when death occurs. The Romans used it to shame. We now use it to honor. Jesus has changed that which was shame into that honor.

If you zoomed in on that bottom right picture (At least that’s how it looks to me as I type here), you will see that it is a picture of Tasha. Remembering that, I took a close-up.

 

This is what happens when you put a face also on evil. To many of us, these are people we have never met and in most cases, likely never would have met. For some people, these are people who played an important part in their lives and now there is a great emptiness there. Tasha probably had a good long life ahead of her. She probably went to the celebration of the New Year looking forward to a year of promise and hope, not realizing that she would be taken from the world in the first few hours of that year.

I thought about the city with that as we walked back to our stop. I did get amused when we passed the Larry Flynt Hustler shop with magazines decorating the doorway. These weren’t full pornographic, but they were certainly risque. I saw a little boy saying to some adults he was with “Look!” and pointing at the business only to be told by one older lady there, “Don’t look! Cover your eyes!”

Had I thought of it at the time, I would have likely said something to him that a woman is the most beautiful sight of creation, but she is not to be treated as mere eye candy. Her beauty is to be held in awe and is only to be beheld by those who are worthy of it. Such a person is the man who marries her. Strive to be that man.

One of the people with me ending up talking to some guy on the way back who was talking about the history of jazz. We went to the Armstrong Park then where we were going anyway and saw a little bit of a jazz event going on. People gathered around on Sundays and just played jazz music.

I remember one of the guys with me talking about how inclusive the event seemed to be, and it was. Sometimes conservatives like myself get told we are opposed to inclusivity and diversity. We are not. We are opposed to forced diversity and inclusivity. When it happens organically with people coming together on their own, it is a beautiful thing. When it is forced on people, it is actually reverse racism.

As we drove back, and I was doing the driving, I was asked about my PhD work. I was told I was doing mine on video games and Christianity and the need for a story. Something I love about telling people that is it seems most everyone has something to say about it. Very few people are, “Ah. Okay.” They always want to say more.

One of the guys told me that gaming was how he bonded with his friends. He was involved in a lot of Super Smash Brothers tournaments and came to see a community of people who had a common love, but also needed Jesus. He said there was too little being done to help them. I agreed and hopefully, we’ll be doing some work together soon in that area.

Also, something we can learn from this is evil is certainly evil, but somehow, nothing pulls a community together often like suffering does. This is also a great time to be doing ministry. Bourbon Street needs the Gospel just like anywhere else does. Mardi Gras should be a holy celebration and not a sinful one.

We have work to do. Let’s do it.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Is Masculinity Bad?

Is it bad to be a man?

Recently, I was still going through The Bully Society and I was reading about the bully economy. While the book has a lot to say about the problem of bullying, it fails a lot in the area of solutions, and in this case tying the problem in with capitalism. Am I to think that if we went to socialism, all the kids in the world would join hands and sing Kum-Bu-Yah together?

Anyway, the author notes that some of the attributes given to masculinity are also similar to capitalism. Those are aggressive, competitive, and powerful. That is the way the market is seen sometimes. I could defend capitalism here, but I have done that in other posts.

For now, I notice that it seems that being aggressive, powerful, and competitive are bad things inherently. There is no doubt these can be used for evil purposes, but that does not mean that they are evil. I can use my car in my apartment parking lot to drive to work and church. I can also use it to drive over little old ladies crossing the street. The car is not the issue. The person is the issue.

You can think it wrong for a man to be powerful, but if a man is going to make a positive change, he needs some power. You can think it is wrong for him to be aggressive, but if he is going to go forward in pursuit of a goal and stand up to evil, he needs to be powerful. You can think it is wrong for him to be competitive, but if he is going to want to excel, he needs to want to be better than those who don’t.

I can say on my end that while I do not see myself as aggressive or powerful, competitive does ring true, but that is what has caused me to study academically far more. It is wanting to be the best at what I do that has got me here. Had I not had this kind of spirit in me, I would have heard the doom and gloom about a diagnosis of autism and said “Oh well. Guess I’ll never amount to anything.”

What would be better is to ask the question of what a man is instead of saying that those ideas of masculinity are bad, or at least implying that they are. This is part of the problem. We do not know what men are, but usually it is assumed that whatever they are, they are bad.

If society does not know what men and women are, it should not be a shock that we have issues like failing to understand marriage and relationships or that we have debates over transgenderism. I acknowledge that in some ways, the question of what a man or a woman is is a simple question. In another way, it is a complex question. It gets to a question of essences, which I consider a problem for a purely materialistic position.

So if a man does not have any indicator that he is a man, then what will he do? He will try to seek it elsewhere. He could do so by being powerful in a gang. He could do so by being competitive in sports or even video games. He could do so by being aggressive in business or with women. Some of these are fine, but some aren’t. It is fine to be competitive on the athletic field, provided you are not wronging the others out there. It is not fine to be powerful in a gang and seek to do wrong to other men and women. It is fine to be confident with women. It is not fine to be so aggressive that you force your way onto them.

If a man doesn’t know if he is a man, he could still try harmful ways. He could think he has to sleep with as many women as possible, highly persuasive since sex often leaves a man feeling like a man. He could be willing to cheat to get ahead in sports, say by taking steroids. He could seek power by trying to beat up other men or even kill them. He could try to get material possessions as a status symbol to everyone else.

By the way, women will also try counterparts, but seeing as I am a man, I am talking about them.

What he likely will not try is to try to build up character and be a man of virtue. We have lost sight of virtue as what builds up a person and ultimately a society. A society cannot last if goodness is not one of the goals of society. If all a society cares about is going for all that you can get and the vapid pursuit of pleasure, it will fail.

Unfortunately, not much is said about that. Everything else is blamed. It’s the video games. It’s the guns. It’s the schools. It’s capitalism.

No. The problem is us.

We need to change.

We need a return to virtue and men being virtuous men and women being virtuous women. Unfortunately, with moral relativism, we don’t really know what virtue is either. The more we blame everything else, the less we will care about virtue.

Masculinity is not bad, but anything we do without virtue will taint everything else. We must return to that and I contend only Christianity can truly give us the virtue we need.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

 

Opening Thoughts on School Shootings

What causes school shootings? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

I have been doing a research paper for class on the alleged link between video games and violence and what better place to look than what people always point to, school shootings. I have read a number of books on the topic and plan to until I finish the paper. Right now, I want to share the conclusions I have come to thus far.

First off, too often, we make our solutions way too simplistic. Violence has always been a part of mankind. It’s not going anywhere until Jesus returns. Also, the genie can’t be put back in the bottle. Whatever we might think of things like video games, television, movies, and social media, they are here at least for the long term.

It’s foolish to think “If we eliminate XYZ, then there will be no more school shootings.” No. That’s just looking for a scapegoat. I also think there’s no hard and fast rule in these cases. People are different and you can’t push XYZ buttons and guarantee that someone is going to be a school shooter. Kids can grow up in the same household and turn out radically different.

Getting to my thinking on this, I have discussed this with professors here including the counseling one who thinks this is quite valid. My theory is that there are three levels of interaction. If you don’t have level 1, 2 and 3 are more likely to affect you. If you don’t have 1 and 2, 3 is more likely to affect you.

Level 1 is the family and worldview unit a kid grows up with. Note a kid can have seemingly good parents and still have a problem if he thinks his parents don’t understand him. (I use he, but it’s interesting to point out that these shooters have been male consistently anyway.) On the other hand, a broken family unit is a problem. Mitchell, one of the Jonesboro shooters, had a biological father who was horrible.

This will also include the worldview that students grow up with. No. Bringing them to church every Sunday is no guarantee. Michael, who did his shooting at Heath High School in Paducah was apparently a churchgoing boy with his family. Mental illness was found to be a factor in that shooting later on, but there were other signs that were missed. (Read the book Rampage on this end.)

Kids don’t just need to be raised in the church, but have Christianity lived out with them and explained why it matters. There is a gold mine of information to help children with holy living if they will just see to it. We can’t just say it’s the responsibility of the pastor and youth pastor.

That is level 1.

Level 2 is the kid’s outside community. This includes what he goes through at school and how his peers and teachers see him. A common theme in some shootings has been that athletes in schools often get special treatment, something I wrote about as a journalist for my high school newspaper.

This includes bullying as well. A major problem I find with the stop bullying approach is we focus on the bullies. The best place to focus is on building up the good children since the bad ones don’t care about breaking the rules anyway. I also do not mean the self-esteem movement. I consider that by and large garbage. The best way for Christian kids to see themselves is to learn to embrace their identity in Christ.

There is a downside kids today have that many of us didn’t. Normally, bullying ended at school. Now with social media, it can last much longer. Parents. Please do not get young children on social media. Also, watch what they are doing.

Level 2 doesn’t just include the school. It can include church life as well as life in the community. Do your neighbors know your children? What about their friends’ parents?

Finally, we get to level 3 and this is individual media they consume. Frankly, if violent media were the problem, there would be a whole lot more violence in the world than there is. Not only that, it would be ridiculous to blanket condemn all violence. Not all violence is wrong. Kids need stories where evil gets defeated in the end. The Bible itself has a lot of violence in it.

If a child has a good understanding on levels 1 and 2, then there will be far less cause for worry on level 3. Also parents, as a gamer, I suspect your children if they are like I was would absolutely love it if you played a game with them. If you want to understand their games, really seek to understand them. If a child thinks their parents are really interested in their hobbies, it will build up a greater connection with them.

Notice in this I have also said nothing about things like gun control. I personally don’t think more laws will fix the problem. I also think another contributor that is far more influential is that the media bombards us with information about school shootings. This can easily generate fame for the shooters and the next one will want to be even more destructive for even more fame. I personally think we shouldn’t even share the names of school shooters and if we have to name them something, give them some embarrassing name. When we call a mysterious mass murderer the Zodiac Killer, that sounds mysterious. Give them a shameful name of some sort. Give a name that makes people laugh at them.

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts. Now I open it up to you. What do you think about school shootings and what can be done about them?

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Book Plunge: Cruel Logic

Can logic work against you? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Brian Godawa sent me a copy of his book Cruel Logic and I just recently got around to reading it. I am hesitant to review a fiction book since this is a thriller and there could be spoilers accidentally leaked out even if I have no desire. Either way, you have been warned. Let’s dive in.

Overall, there are three main plots going on and they all in their own way intersect. The main one in the book is a serial killer who was a philosophy professor who has escaped and is on a killing spree. His main game is catching former colleagues and seeing if they are willing to live out the philosophies they teach with a simple question. “Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t kill you.”

The second involves a professor at the university who knows the killer very well and his working with one of his students and a detective to track down the killer. In the meantime, as a professor of Western Civilization, he is getting into trouble with the faculty at the seminary. After all, his class is one promoting racism, the patriarchy, colonialism, capitalism, etc.

Finally, a young Christian who has come to the university for his first semester with his parents concerned about what impact the university will have on his faith. The student encounters new ideas he has not heard of before. He also comes to learn about DEI and how that works on a college campus.

Godawa has also one his research and cites sources for claims he makes about DEI. Also, for those thinking this will be a perfectly wholesome Christian novel, you are wrong. This is not a bedtime story to read to your children. This one has sex, violence, and profanity, not because Godawa is glorifying in sinful activities, but because he is trying to paint a real picture of what goes on in a college campus. At times, you could forget that this is a Christian novel, which is also a good thing.

There are also numerous twists and turns. There were times when I was going through the book when I was thinking, “This is all entertaining, but it seems too predictable. I think I know exactly what will happen next.” Most every time, I was wrong. Godawa has events happen that you will not expect.

Having said that, I think this is an important novel for parents especially to read who are thinking of sending their kids off to college. You need to know what is going on at a college campus and what your children can expect to see happen when they are there. Godawa’s book should be an eye-opener.

I definitely hope that something like this comes to the screen at some time as this would be a fascinating story to watch, though once again, I am sure it will not be kid-friendly. I have recommended some of my politically aware friends to read this book. Now I pass that suggestion on to all of you.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Book Plunge: Anarchy Evolution Chapter 9

What about the afterdeath? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

In wrapping up this book, we are going to look at the afterdeath, which is what I prefer to call the afterlife seeing as one’s life never truly ends. That being said, at the start, Graffin says without the thought of an afterdeath, we would all act like spoiled infants. Kind of hard to deny that if you look at the world around you.

Unfortunately, I fear a lot of people will act worse if they have power as well. Look at the greatest atheist tyrants in history. No Heaven to gain or Hell to shun. No judgment to be given to them. Why should they care about anyone else?

Graffin says many naturalists care more about improving the world than theists do because theists are focused on the next one. The problem with this is history. Many of those people most focused on the next one, as Lewis said, made the most improvements here. They did so because Jesus taught them to change the world.

Graffin also says many religious people say without Heaven and Hell there is no incentive to live a good life. I would hope more of my fellow Christians would say we live a good one because Jesus commanded us to, but that is a further incentive. If naturalism is true, why should I be good if I can get away with otherwise? What does good even mean?

He also says none of us have a plan for our lives from an intelligent designer. If he means an individual will, I agree. He then says that because there is no designer, we can wake up each morning and say what’s done is done and what can I do today?

You can do that as a Christian.

In many ways, you should do that as a Christian. We should realize the old is gone and all things are new. We should realize the grace of forgiveness.

So now it’s time to wrap things up as this is how the chapter ends and overall, this has been a rare enjoyable book on atheism. Some chapters, like this one, are short because a lot of the material is also about Graffin’s own life. If you care about music, you will probably like that.

I also made sure to highlight for my studies in my PhD program I am hoping to get into the information about music and resonating that showed up in this chapter. Graffin says it is a delight to hear someone listen to music he did and call it “My song.” It’s amusing to hear of how sometimes he pulls up next to someone and he can hear them playing his music in their car.

As a writer, I consider it a great compliment to hear someone say that something I wrote touched them in a powerful way. I still remember having someone at a church I used to attend in Tennessee tell me how much he liked a sermon I gave. When I asked what he did in response he said “That’s why I’m teaching Sunday School now.”

So this is actually a book that’s worth reading in the atheist world. Definitely so if you have a keen interest in music.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Book Plunge: Anarchy Evolution Chapter 5

What happens when suffering comes?

What role does tragedy play? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

In this chapter, Graffin introduces us to the role that tragedy plays in a life. I found myself moved by reading accounts of people he had lost in his life due to drugs and alcohol. I definitely resonated when he talked about how when you go through a divorce or lose a child to death, it is as if the laws of the universe have been broken. Divorce is easily the greatest tragedy I have gone through. Nothing comes close.

In contrasting to the theistic view, he writes that if there were no death, the world would not be able to contain the biological exuberance. This is certainly true. Yet he goes on from here to say that death requires and receives no justification. It’s simply a part of life.

If this is true, why do we all act like it is not that at all? Are we all just deluded? Why are we all sad? Why do we all try to make sense of death? Why is it that we are scared to see a corpse or to touch a corpse? We can say death is natural in a sense, but natural does not always equal good.

He also says it is hard to be a theist after looking at the fossil record and trying to explain all the death that came before us. No reason is given why this is so. Theism doesn’t require a perfect world at all. Why should it? From a metaphysical standpoint, I find that hard to conceive. Even with Heaven, it is a good world in every sense, but could we not add one more soul and say it is a better world? Only God is perfect in Christian theism.

He also says the central problem of theism is all the suffering in nature, but how can this be the central problem when it is a necessity of Christianity that that problem be there to be dealt with? Christianity has evil right at the center of the world in the cross. Also, if theism has to explain all the evil that comes about in a world made by a good God, can we not ask like Chesterton did that in a world of total chaos, why do we get so much good?

He says also that none of the explanations given for suffering is comforting or satisfactory. The problem is, he doesn’t interact with any of these theodicies. There are plenty of them. Is Graffin throwing all of them out? This is someone who has talked about being skeptical and about the joy of learning, but when it comes to his position, he is not skeptical of if naturalism can explain good and evil and he seems to show no interest in learning about theodicies from theism.

I do agree with him when he speaks out against at funerals saying that God thought it was that person’s time to go. We don’t know that. I always get cautious when I hear someone claim what God is or isn’t doing. How do they know? Do they have access to the divine throne room?

In the end, Graffin unfortunately does not really engage. I wish he had said more. We both agree that there is a lot of tragedy in this life, but Graffin doesn’t give me any hope or meaning to it. At least my worldview can do that.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth) Continue reading Book Plunge: Anarchy Evolution Chapter 5

Book Plunge: Anarchy Evolution Chapter 4

Is atheism an idol? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Once again, this is a refreshing chapter title to read as Graffin writes about The False Idol of Atheism. Would that more atheists would write this way. I have said before that the best service someone like Dawkins could do is to write about just science and not touch at all on subjects he has not studied. When he does so, he loses in those areas, but those who are skeptical of the science and know the other areas well will not take him seriously in the science.

In this chapter, Graffin talks a lot about his love of music, but says something tragic. He says that in listening to his mother’s album of Jesus Christ Superstar, he learned a lot about music, but he also learned about the basic outline of the New Testament. He considered it a bonus that he didn’t have to read about the New Testament to learn about the life of Jesus. What would he say to someone who said “I watched a movie on the life of Darwin! What a bonus! I didn’t have to read books on Darwin to learn about him!”?

This is not to say one cannot learn from such sources, but it is to say the best sources are normally books and one who wants to be informed should be reading them. I have produced materials like podcasts and YouTube videos, but I encourage people to go to the books. Learn from the main sources.

He says later that many people who come to naturalism start from a religious worldview and just ask questions and do not get answers. Sadly, this is true. Even more sad, many churches treat the questions as if they are a problem instead of embracing them. There are pastors out there who will have the judgment of souls on their hands for not tending to their flocks properly, a statement that should frighten every pastor out there. It should. That is a serious responsibility and you’d better be able to base your position in the pulpit on something serious.

He also says some people want to hold on to religion and run from scientific claims. Sadly, this is also true. If you insulate your worldview from reality, what good is it? Christianity must be capable of explaining everything just as any other worldview.

He then says he doesn’t understand the idea of spiritual, but not religious, to which I also agree. We live in an age where there is a spiritual vacuum. Naturalism just doesn’t cover it.

I am also pleased to read how he says that he doesn’t talk about Darwin’s reasons for rejecting theism when he teaches undergrad. What is more important in Darwin is what he thought. Even if one does not believe in evolution, this should be accepted. We need to understand what Darwin thought first.

Graffin then goes on to quote some song lyrics he has to a song and then talks about them in a statement I found quite inspiring.

In my opinion, the worst line in this song is the one where I made a bold claim about religion (“religion’s just synthetic frippery”). The rest of the song conjures up images that apply to everyone, regardless of whether they believe in God. And the most compelling lines of the song, in my opinion, are the questions. This song has been a perennial favorite among Bad Religion fans—believers and nonbelievers alike—and part of the reason for the song’s success, I think, is that its questions are ones that listeners ask themselves.

Graffin, Greg; Olson, Steve. Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God (p. 113). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

I appreciate someone who says they made a bold statement about religion and regrets it. He does acknowledge his band has Christian fans. Generally, it’s not a good idea to alienate your support base and I think a lot of atheists would revel in singing a song that blasted religion. Graffin is a step up from them.

He also talks about non-believers who seem to loathe God and form groups of their own which he says come off like the groups they tend to vilify. Indeed. In a way, internet atheism is a cult of its own. You have to buy into every argument and you can’t give an inch to your opponents on anything.

He says religious believers do not want to debate the big questions in life, but then says many atheists are the same way. I contend many religious people do not want to debate the big questions, but we should. We need to face the big questions head on because we believe Jesus answers the big questions. This is why I encourage atheists to read books that disagree with them, and sadly, they do not.

Yet after saying this, he ends the chapter saying it’s time to cast aside the endless debate on God’s existence. Not at all. If we want to talk about the ultimate questions, this is the biggest one. This is the one that shapes everything else. We must face it head-on.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)