The Warfare Is Mental

Useful Crop? Or Thorns & Thistles?

October 20, 2012

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful tothose for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that producesthorns and thistles is worthless and indanger of being cursed. —Hebrews 6:7,8

The writer of this text chose a good analogy. The analogy is given under the subheading of “warnings against falling away,” and the writer deems it a teaching of maturity. (v.1) We find a few components: land, the rain that falls on it, the act of drinking, the crop, those for whom the crop is farmed and the farmer. The way I see it, the land is us. The rain that falls on the land is the work and revelation of the Holy Spirit. The act of drinking in this rain signifies obedience and cooperation. The crop is the result. Those for whom it is farmed are other people. The farmer is YHWH.

A Recipe For Victory – Acts 1:8

March 12, 2011

For some time now, I’ve felt pressed to give TWIM a bit of a new direction. Make no mistake: I will still address arguments in philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, science, etc. However, I feel the need to share some of my writings directed specifically at believers, in the hope that they might find a different sort of encouragement here. In keeping with that, today I offer a short piece I wrote almost ten years ago, in hopes that somebody might be encouraged, regardless of their beliefs. As a matter of fact, I’ve been encouraged merely from re-reading the piece, especially at this pivotal time in my life. I hope another can say the same.

Just What I Needed To Hear

January 19, 2011

I’ve got a whole heap of posts brewing right now, but none of them are quite ready to pour. So, seeing as how I’ll be undergoing surgery Friday and probably unable to post until next week, I figured I’d at least throw something out there for readers to digest in the meantime.

A few weeks back, Matt left this comment, which contained a link to Victor Reppert’s blog, Dangerous Idea. I had seen the name around, but hadn’t spent any time on the blog. Since the link in Matt’s comment was directly related to our Responding To Universalism discussion, I had to investigate. What I found was one of the better Christian philosophy blogs around. I added it to my links sidebar, and have made a habit to check in semi-regularly. In a nutshell, I’m a fan of Victor’s approach: he has a tendency to parse through the details and clarify things, and—more importantly—he tends to let the reader think for themselves. Victor’s style is more, “having an intelligent discussion with oneself,” than, “let me interpret the facts for you then belittle you if you disagree,” the latter being unfortunately prominent amongst (a)theist blogs.

On The Doctrines Of Freedom And Individualism

January 27, 2009

I went and paid a visit to my friend The Ghost today, and I'm glad I did. Whenever I need respite from the stupidity of polemical arguments and fruitless banter, I visit him. The Ghost writes about real talk, straight-up soul-stuff that forces you to step back and examine yourself, your actions, and the world around you, and more importantly, how each of those things intertwine in their inherently symbiotic, causal relationships.

For a long time I've had a certain train of thoughts going through my mind, thoughts about freedom, individualism, and their intrinsic weaknesses. See, don't get me wrong, I love freedom in any and all forms.