Title Comment Comment Date Comment Link
Things I Wanted to Say But Didn't Know Where To

Am in complete agreement about science and religion not being exclusive...I have more to say about that here .

 12/12/2005 View
Things I Wanted to Say But Didn't Know Where To

I hope I didn't rag on your book too hard...I'm sleep-deprived. I'm sure there's something in my "Books Read" list that you can poke fun at if you like. :)

 12/11/2005 View
Things I Wanted to Say But Didn't Know Where To

Yes, Scott Peck is very good, very 70s-cool...I picture some woman named Bambi reading him on a shag rug in her keyhole blouse, patchouli burning away, thinking, Hey, this Bible stuff I’ve been sold is way too uptight! And there’s not nearly enough about relationships! This stuff gives me a gooooood vibe! And then she’ll start subscribing to Ms. and maybe try to read some Buddhism…no, probably not...but maybe the lifestyle/philosophy of tantra...

I’ve grown to like the 70s - I finally bought some bell-bottom jeans and I’m an admirer of Bowie’s glam period and also his drugged-out Berlin phase - but I like better what can only be called your staunch trust in reason (which has the added bonus of making one a good conversationalist).

I also agree that reason is a good tool to use with the hypothetical 15 year old. But what I would tell this kid is that premarital sex does indeed hurt people, and that’s part of the point; it’s the way romance works. It’ll also leave you burnt out and bitter before your time and make your future relationships that much more difficult. And if you have sex without emotional entanglements, you’re only training yourself to treat affairs casually. Neither way is good prep for either marriage or a meaningful life.

The only thing that works is to find something that captivates you, mind and heart, and religion has the capacity to do that. A redirected life, dedicated to God, passionately using your gifts to serve him is the only way to become a mature adult.

I’ve come to believe that this is the only way.

 12/11/2005 View
Things I Wanted to Say But Didn't Know Where To

Appealing to my intellectual exhibitionism always works, Merlin! Although I suspect you've got a better response up your sleeve...anyhow, here goes:

I disagree that the forbidden is always attractive. In any case, reason doesn't always destroy the allure of the forbidden either. Now if you add love to reason, you've got a fighting chance. Add the threat of punishment--which you hope you don't ever have to use--and you have an even better system.

I'm intrigued by your vision of a world filled with people who share the same premises and never let their reason be eclipsed by emotion, imagination, their senses, or their souls. I just don't think it's the world I actually live in.

I mean, what do you do when the authorities are Nazis? Or racists? Or they're just a little logically challenged and they can't follow your arguments? What if you know you're right, but they're smarter than you?

 12/7/2005 View
Things I Wanted to Say But Didn't Know Where To

I'd prefer to continue this discussion through email, if that's all right with you.

 12/4/2005 View
Things I Wanted to Say But Didn't Know Where To

No, you aren't living in la la land, grandpa chum. You're livin' in a bottle.

There has to be payment for sin, or the whole concept of "sin" becomes virtually meaningless.

 11/29/2005 View
Books Read In 2005

Allow me to recommend a book (you'll love it, it's printed on nice paper so you know it's not a dumb story): Am I a Snob? by Sean Latham.

 11/19/2005 View
Why Christians Fail

Well, take the dust speck out then, and email me. I don't bite. At least, not in cyberspace.

 10/1/2005 View
Why Christians Fail

"Christians love the wrong way, equating love with unqualified acceptance and being nice."

Take the board out of your own eye, man.

 10/1/2005 View
Films Seen 2005

Re: "Jesus I have not seen a movie in A MONTH. Someone beat me."

Maybe his Daddy'll whoop up on you. Shall I ask?

 9/28/2005 View
Cold Mountain Cringing

Oh, I think you might mop the floor with...um, logistics, no. Wouldn't work.

 9/28/2005 View
Cold Mountain Cringing

That confirms something that I've dimly felt about that movie for some time: that it's mediocre crap. Or maybe just crap.

I'd like to see you and Ebert debate movies, Jim. You have a Siskel-ean quality.

 9/28/2005 View
Films Seen: Listology Scoreboard 2005

As long as we're calling a spade a spade, why not a graph of who is doing what amounts of digging with theirs?

 9/22/2005 View
Films Seen: Listology Scoreboard 2005

Suddenly I'm very satisfied that I don't watch movies all that often.

 9/22/2005 View
Things I Wanted to Say But Didn't Know Where To

You need to think about the title of this list. There are things you don't know, but God does. And one of them is "where to" say things like that.

 9/21/2005 View