Theology

I recently commented on Facebook that we have no ground for trusting in reason on the basis of naturalism. A couple folks asked me to elaborate. The basic line of reasoning is a bit too long for a Facebook comment so I lay it out here.

I’m just stopping in the shadows of Castle Craggs to eat a late lunch, read a bit, and write a blog post. Here’s what’s on my mind. We accept that God knows things we don’t know. And we wish to do his will.

In the shower just now to think. (I do that a lot.) And after a moment I said out loud to myself, quite surprised at what I had realized,  “Why should I believe anything I’m thinking?

Jeremy Taylor tells a story of Diogenes, the famous street philosopher who is said to have slept in a tub in the streets of Athens. Late one night Diogenes saw a man stepping out of the dark doorway of a notorious tavern.

So, as Christians we believe in a doctrine of original sin. We believe that by nature we are sinful and desperately in need of grace to free us from our own nature. I see this in my own life.

I am Jack’s raging bile duct.

I love God.

I love people.

So does He.

This is why I get utterly furious when I learn about pastoral sex scandals and folks using God as a tool to take advantage of the unsuspecting.

I’ve been thinking about Mary & Martha lately. The lesson is basically a very practical example of how the gospel is lived. It is about how grace is applied practically in being and becoming who God wants us to be.

So here’s my latest. I was set the question, ‘Why should we worship Jesus?’

attention to earthly things bends my soul away from the knowledge of things above;
earthly love extinguishes in me delight in heavenly things.
The habit of vice has wiped away in me the knowledge of true good.

I’m reading through