The Dawn Treader

One question.  The answer makes all the difference.

"How do skeptics refute the argument that by knowing nothing they know something?"

I was asked that by one of my students.  Since I have some friendly skeptics who read this blog, I thought I would pose the question and see what feedback I get.

Here is some background.

We discussed skepticism in class.  Skepticism is a philosophy that questions everything.  Full blown skepticism is similar to agnosticism in that everything is questioned and unknowable.

The problem is, of course, that full blown agnosticism is self-refuting.

If you claim to not be able to know anything, then how can you claim to know that agnosticism is warranted?  How can you know you are agnostic if you can't know anything?

Likewise, how can skeptics escape being skeptical about skepticism?

Isn't skepticism an exercise in logical suicide?

So, if there are any skeptics out there who want to step an answer her question, I would be happy to pass it along.

"The country has become divided into people who find Palin's question flesh-crawling creepy, and those who do not. "

~ Jeff Schweitzer, Huffington Post

Schweitzer of the Huffington Post has had it.  That's it.  No more Mr. Nice Guy towards Sarah Palin, whom he calls a staph infection.

Phew.  I was wondering when the Huffington Post was going to stop being so hopey-changey towards Ms. Palin.

"Just as in 1861 we can no longer solve our differences by meeting half way. One side must prevail, and the only way to precipitate that victory or defeat is to engage in the battle. So let's rumble. Bring it on, and let's give the American people a clear, stark, unambiguous choice for what this country will become."

Ten hut!  Hopey-changey is over.  Fort Sumter has been fired on.

I guess politics has been civil up to this point, but get ready.  Exit civil.  Enter civil war.

The Green Police ad was clearly the funniest, though I guess some people did not think so.  C'mon folks, lighten up a bit.

The underwear commercials were the dumbest.  The Tebow ad was the most brilliant in terms of bang for the buck.  Focus on the Family got amazing mileage out of a harmless little mother son moment.  Simple.  Inexpensive.  Amazing publicity.  Brilliant.

Weigh in.

"When love of one's people becomes an absolute, it turns into racism.  When love of equality turns into a supreme thing, it can result in hatred and violence toward anyone who has a privileged life.  It is the settled tendency of human societies to turn good political causes into counterfeit gods."

~ Pastor and Author, Tim Keller,

"We can look upon our political leaders as "messiahs," our political policies as saving doctrine, and turn our political activism into a kind of religion."

~ Pastor and Author, Tim Keller,

"In my estimation, the key to understanding this phenomenon, and by extension, this race, is recognizing the fact that voters, in the aggregate, are irrational."

~ Blogger Tom Girsch, Lean Left

"While the honor is mine, this Senate seat belongs to no one person, no one political party. This is the people's seat"

~ U.S. Senator Scott Brown, Senator From Massachusetts, in his victory speech to the chants of "People's seat!" 

How do you know when political power has become a counterfeit god?

Tim Keller says to look out for two things.  One, fear becomes one of the chief characteristics of life.  One party wins, and those in the other party start to talk about leaving the country because it is going down the tubes.  Hopelessness.  Powerlessness.  Fear.  Two, "political opponents are not considered to be merely mistaken, but to be evil."  Politics becomes about demonizing the other side.

I don't think it takes a PHD in political science to see that both of those red flags are waving.

Tgirsch calls it irrational.  I agree, but for probably a different reason.  I think it is irrational for anyone to view politics as a cure to solving our problems.  I think voters electing a President whose main issue was "change" and "yes we can" was irrational too.  Change to what?  Yes we can what?  Now, we have "people's seat".  Have we become a nation of chanters?

The key to understanding this phenomenon is not that people are irrational insofar as it goes, but to understanding that politics has become a counterfeit god.  We seek salvation from political leaders and political parties and political doctrines.

This misidentifies the human problem.  The problem is not powerlessness.  The problem is rebellion in the human heart.  The problem is arrogance.  The problem is self-worship and self-focus. The problem is an addiction to self, not powerlessness.  Misidentified problem.  Misidentified solution.

Obama cannot save us.  Scott Brown cannot save us.  Democrats cannot save us.  Republicans cannot save us.

Those are counterfeit gods.  They will only disappoint.

There is only one true God.  Salvation comes from Him alone.

All truth is simple... is that not doubly a lie?

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Some call the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche, (1844 -1900), the father of postmodernism.   His thoughts certainly continue to influence many postmodern thinkers and academics.

His skepticism about truth is common in our culture, both inside and outside the church.  Though few actually have read or go around quoting Nietzche, their ideas about truth and knowledge are clearly shaped by Nietzschean concepts.  His ideas seem particularly popular among academics.

But does his view of truth hold up?

"All truth is simple... is that not doubly a lie?"  Like Nietzsche's view of truth, this quote is doubly confusing.

The two lies, apparently, are that there is truth, and that it is simple.

This fails the baloney test twice over.

One, there is truth.  Nietzche presupposes truth in uttering statement about truth.  He has to, or what would be his point in uttering at all?

Two, truth is quite simple.  Truth is what really is.  If you say something that matches reality, then it is true.  Truth is quite simple, actually.  I agree that determining truth can often be a challenge.  But is the concept of truth itself hard?   Nonsense.   Truth is simple.

The sad truth is that many followers of Christ are so confused about how simple truth really is.

"It was also a year of Change, especially in Washington, where the tired old hacks of yesteryear finally yielded the reins of power to a group of fresh, young, idealistic, new-idea outsiders such as Nancy Pelosi. As a result Washington, rejecting ``business as usual,'' finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it." ~ Dave Barry

"Sometimes God seems to be killing us when he's actually saving us. Here he was turning Abraham into a great man - but on the outside, it looked like he was being cruel." ~ Tim Keller, , p.20.

I've never viewed God's testing of Abraham with Isaac as an act of deliverance for Abraham before. I processed that Bible story as something God used to build Abraham's faith and to foreshadow the substitutionary atonement of Christ. Tim Keller offers an additional compelling thought. Isaac, as the only son and heir of Abraham, was the object of adoration and was becoming the center of Abraham's life. When our world centers on something other than God, then we are worshiping a counterfeit god. The Biblical word is idolatry.  Idols enslave and destroy us.  The disturbing story of God's testing of Abraham is truly an act of grace. It is an act of deliverance. Obviously, Isaac was delivered.  God provided the ram in his place.  But Abraham was delivered as well. Abraham was saved from an idolatrous love that would have derailed and destroyed him.  Through the furnace of testing, God purified and saved Abraham.  What looked like cruelty was in fact, redemption.

"GTE* is fast becoming what Peter Berger calls a ‘plausibility structure’. It is a set of beliefs considered so basic, and with so much support from authoritative figures and institutions, that it is becoming impossible for individuals to publicly question them. A plausibility structure is a ‘given’ supported by enormous social pressure. The writings of the new atheists here are important to observe because their attitudes are more powerful than their arguments. The disdain and refusal to show any respect to opponents is not actually an effort to refute them logically, but to ostracize them socially and turn their own views into a plausibility structure." ~ Tim Keller

*GTE stands for Grand Theory of Everything, which is the attempt to use biological evolution to explain every aspect of human nature.

"This email is circulating on the internet.  Curious to hear your reaction."  ~ Mr. D

 How many zeros in a billion?

The next time you hear a politician use theword 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending

YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of it's releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age..

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain... let's take a look at New Orleans .. It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans .

Interesting number...what does it mean?

A. Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans  (every man, woman, and child) you each get $516,528.

B. Or.... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C. Or... if you are a family of four... your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington , D. C  HELLO! Are all your calculators broken??

Building Permit Tax     CDL License Tax     Cigarette Tax     Corporate Income Tax     Dog License Tax     Federal Income Tax (Fed)     Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA)     Fishing License Tax     Food License Tax     Fuel Permit Tax     Gasoline Tax     Hunting License Tax     Inheritance Tax     Inventory Tax     IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)     IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)     Liquor Tax     Luxury Tax     Marriage License Tax     Medicare Tax     Property Tax     Real Estate Tax     Service charge taxes     Social Security Tax     Road Usage Tax (Truckers)     Sales Taxes     Recreational Vehicle Tax     School Tax

(pause, to catch my breath)

State Income Tax      State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)     Telephone Federal Excise Tax Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax     Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax     Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax      Telephone State and Local Tax     Telephone Usage Charge Tax     Utility Tax     Vehicle License Registration T ax     Vehicle Sales Tax     Watercraft Registration Tax     Well Permit Tax     Workers Compensation Tax

(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes)

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago... and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt...We had the largest middle class in the world... and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened?  Can you spell 'politicians!'