Commentary Telling It Like It Is To Those That Might Not Want To Hear It & Links To News Around The Internet
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Leftists Kooks Infilitrate Liberty University
A biology professor there is insisting that modern society has developed an unfounded prejudice against bare feet.
As part of his proof, he cites photographs of early 20th century school children with unshod feet.
What he fails to realize or point out is that those children were likely that way because their parents couldn't afford shoes rather than as a result of conscientious fashion choice.
This case reminds me of some nutcase pastor from the Baltimore area, who despite his many trips abroad and such, berated his congregation for having more than one pair of shoes because the Africans he had encountered didn't have more than one pair.
Of course, it was never mentioned if we shouldn't travel abroad because the average African doesn't tend to travel abroad.
Before this foolishness meets its conclusion, as in the case of those that disfigure themselves with religious tattoos or those that made a big production of being discalced in the times of medieval Catholicism, those that go about without benefit of shoes will be applauded as spiritually better than the rest of us and those refusing to participate in podiatric nudity as average Americans will be accused yet another drain on environmental resources.
by Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Historian Distorts Past In Pursuit Of Anti-Christian Animus
In the 4/19/10 edition of USA Today, religious antiquarian Phillip Jenkins, by comparing extremist Islam with assorted atrocities committed in the name of Christianity over the centuries, details from an historical perspective how any religion can be co-opted in the name of violence. Though his warning is in part a timeless one that needs to be considered in all ages, Professor Jenkins' case overlooks a number of important points.
First, it must be remembered that, though horrible, the lynching and dismemberment of Hypatia and the abuses perpetrated by Cyril highlighted by Professor Jenkins occurred centuries ago. The violence committed by Islamic extremists is going on today.
That does not diminish the evils inflicted so long ago or repudiate the lessons that can be learned from such ancient accounts. However, the danger arises when this sense of scholastic detachment is then applied to the issue of contemporary terrorism.
Secondly, it must be remembered that such violence perpetrated solely for expansive religious purposes in the name of the Lord by human hands is not endorsed by Christ during the dispensation of grace. In Acts 17, Paul debated and dialogued with the Athenian philosophers on Mars Hill; he didn’t crack open their heads.
For Christians, Jesus during the time of His first advent and Paul are to serve as examples in regards to faith, practice, and missiological strategy. It could be argued that Muhammad serves a similar function in the life of the Muslim.
It would be factually incorrect to say that all Muslims are prone to fanatic violence. However, those using violence for socioreligious ends are more faithful in emulating the example set by Muhammad and the text he promoted than supposed Christians committing violence are in living up to New Testament standards.
Professor Jenkins would no doubt argue that those emphasizing violent manifestations of Islam while neglecting violent expressions of Christianity are doing a disservice to history. He has committed this very offense by insinuating that violent atrocities are a phenomena exclusive to unhinged religions and not something plaguing other social institutions.
Jenkins writes, "Out-of-control clergy, religious demagogues with their consecrated militias, religious parties usurping the functions of the state --- these were the common currency of the Christian world just a few decades after the Roman Empire made Christianity its official religion. He continues a paragraph or two later, "...given a sufficiently weak state mechanism, any religion can be used to justify savagery and extremism."
Are you going to tell me that an historian of Phillip Jenkins' repute is not aware of the countless deaths that result not so much from a "sufficiently weak state mechanism" but from a state made too strong at the expense of other cultural spheres? For example, Jenkins writes, "Between 450 and 650 AD, during what I call the 'Jesus Wars', inter-Christian conflicts and purges killed hundreds of thousands, and all but wrecked the Roman Empire."
Such conflict is tragic. However, it could be argued that the Roman Empire was, to use a highly technical historical metaphor, heading down the toilet well before then and for a number of additional reasons.
Frankly, the Roman Empire wrecked itself. Christians didn't instigate the debaucheries for which the waning years of the Empire have become infamous such as gladiatorial combat, rampant orgies, and even incest among the ruling elite.
History is as much a reflection of the values of those writing it as it is about the past era being written about. As such, Professor Jenkins needs to be asked why he thinks the violence perpetrated by warring bishops is somehow worse or the victims any more dead than the Christians slaughtered by Roman authorities for little more than quietly adhering to their own convictions.
It would seem that the most important lesson to take away from the great tragedies of history is that innocent human lives are lost when institutions of authority assume power to extents and over matters they were never intended. The regimes more blatantly hostile of Christianity such as Nazism and Communism were actually the regimes that turned the slaughter of the innocent and dissidents into an exact science.
It has been said that those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Concentrating power in the hands of government at the expense of other social institutions in the name of preventing tyranny is one of the surest ways of bringing about that particularly undesirable state of political affairs.
by Frederick Meekins
Monday, October 18, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
University Abandons Mascot In Order To Brownnose Tolerancemongers
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Rick Springfield Depressed 40 Years Ago
Is The McRib Composed Of Waste Pork That Even A Dog Won't Touch?
Contrary to Glenn Beck's ruminations, one rides public transportation to get from point "A" to point "B". One does not do so for compulsory interactive socialization.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Quarterbacks Claim Breast Balls Too Slick
And will the NFL prounce about honoring prostate or testicular cancer.
Guess the game has become so feminized that there is no need to be concerned about those masculine afflictions anyway.
Can't the game just be played without making everything so solemn and ponderous?
If there is no explicitly Christian running in an election, how can it be a sin to vote for an unbeliever if there is no other alternative? Was Paul in mortal error for living in the Roman Empire? While leftist churches have been quick to chuck the notion of sin out the window, the hyperpious are often overly eager to guilt-trip their respective congregations.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Leftists Snatch Picture Books From Children
Friday, October 08, 2010
Baby Snatched Because Parents Members Of Online Political Forum
Granted, Evangelical Christians need to be cautious of their entanglements with Glenn Beck because he is a Mormon. However, he is about one of the few games in town in terms of exposing a number of the things he does. This is due in part because of the tendency in hyperpious circles to manipulate the young among their ranks into believing that the truly devout worthy of praise and emulation are involved with foreign missions and definitely not politics or mass communications.
Government To Keep Track Of Whose Privates You Like To Jiggle
Thursday, October 07, 2010
International Walk To School Day might have a place if its goal is to raise awareness of motorists to be on the lookout for perambulating pupils. However, if the occasion is promoted from the standpoint of brainwashing students as to the evils of automobiles or to track those least likely to comply with handed-down directives, it is not the business of educational authorities how a child gets to school. Maybe officials want more children run over or abducted so as to have statistical justification for additional surveillance of the American people and curtailment of any number of basic liberties.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
If Rushdoonyian Christian Reconstructionists want to reimplement absolutist interpretation of regulations regarding the Sabbath, are among those they plan to stone publically those that pop a piece of bread in the toaster? Will they also cut off natural gas or electricity to prevent malefactors from cooking?
Rush Limbaugh Calls Obama A Jackass
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Monday, October 04, 2010
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Britain Recognizes Druidry As An Established Religion
Congress Fritters Away Money On New PC Monuments
Seems now every group with the exception of White males has a federally sanctioned museum explicitly named in their honor.
Perhaps one day there will be a museum or at least a memorial to fiscal solvency.
Future generations in chains or the decrepit elderly on their way to mandatory euthanasia could be filed through catching a glimpse of murals or displays of what life was like when responsible spending was one of the pillars of character ensuring freedom and prosperity.
by Frederick Meekins
Friday, October 01, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Louisville area schools plan to integrate along income rather than racial lines. This should spark even greater outrage. In most cases, you can look at a person and tell what race they are. However, to hand down decisions as to financial status, one has to dig into private matters that the education establishment has no business asking or make the kinds of exaggerated stereotypes that tolerancemongers always assure us are inaccurate when they disadvantage their particular special interest or front group.
County to hold a lottery for 390 taxicab licenses. Why should government be permitted to restrict free enterprise to this extent? Authorities might have a role in making sure for the sake of public safety that drivers are sufficiently trained and vehicles adequately maintained. However, it is not the place of government to determine or protect profits of an economic system characterized by considerable liberty.
County to hold a lottery for 390 taxicab licenses. Why should government be permitted to restrict free enterprise to this extent? Authorities might have a role in making sure for the sake of public safety that drivers are sufficiently trained and vehicles adequately maintained. However, it is not the place of government to determine or protect profits of an economic system characterized by considerable liberty.
The grandson of a deceased medal of honor winner was denied entry to the West Wing of the White House despite being invited because casual dress is not permitted there. I guess Bill was in his formal wear when he slipped it to Monica. The office can't be any more defaced by a tike in a t-shirt with his grandfather's picture on it than it already has been by a number of its contemporary occupiers.
Obama Picked On Camera Dupes Based On Appearance
Death Threats Issued Over Tea Party Coloring Book
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Cowering Whites Keep Sharpton In Power
To the left of the infamous rabble rouser's visage, the title reads, "The Reinvention Of Reverend Al: From Tawana To Obama (What Sharpton's Longevity Says About Race In America)."
What it says is that White Americans have been so beaten over the head with the threat of being labeled "racist" that most are too afraid to expose this huckster for what he is.
At best, Sharpton should only be brought out occasionally as a semi-entertaining buffoon to serve as a foil on media interview programs rather than as any serious kind of policy visionary.
Utah police are investigating the stars of a reality series glamorizing polygamy over allegations of bigamy. If the queers, the shacked up, and chronic fornicators are going to insist that what we do in our bedrooms is our own business and in terms of legal benefits there is only one valid marriage among this group, on what grounds does the state turn around and prosecute consenting adults?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Leftists Call For Riot In Washington
Obama Propaganda Effort To Violate Property Rights
Americans Wallow In Religious Ignorance
Monday, September 27, 2010
Cover of the 8/4/2010 edition of Time Magazine depicting a sprawled out pregnant woman needing a few more clothes is accompanied by the headline "How the first nine months shape the rest of life". So unless the periodical also comes out condemning abortion, they are lending endorsement to premeditated homicide if they are now admitting that children inside the womb are indeed alive.
Regarding Revelation 16's 2nd Bowl Judgment. KJV says every living soul in the sea died. This is interpreted to include the fish as well. Therefore, does that mean fish have souls and as fellow vertebrates wouldn't this include the mammals as well? Their's might be qualitatively & ontologically different than ours, but doesn't the passage demand that the Biblical Christian ackowledge that animals have souls?
UN Appoints Ambassabor To Extraterrestrials
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Because the preponderance of students achieved standardized assessment benchmarks, the principal of Bladensburg Elementary dressed as a giant wiener and allowed students to squirt condiments such as catsup, mustard, and relish all over her. Perhaps the taxpayer-subsidized school lunch program needs to be curtailed sinc...e no one enrolled there is near starvation if food can be spared for such deliberate waste.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
School Girl Sentenced To Multiday Detention For Possessing Jolly Rancher
At the Institute On The Constitution's October 1st Friday event discussing the qualificiations for holding government office, the organization should clarify statements made by one of its spokesman about putting to death leaders of non-Calvinistic sects referred to as "false prophets" & what political rights/opportunities they think ought to be denied women & others not belonging to recognized Calvinistic churches.
Father Charged With Disorderly Conduct For Confronting Bullies
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Government Perverts To Grill You As To What Goes On Between Your Legs
Saw a Facebook post about a street preacher that disrupted a church service that began to play Christian rock. How is that godlier than the vile music? One can register one's disagreement in other ways, especially these days in light of advances in technology as evidenced by the facebook status update. If all else f...ails, just walk out, leaving the church (rather than yourself) the one looking like a public ass.
Obamacare Hoping To Slide By On Fewer Appendectomies
Monday, September 20, 2010
Delaware Candidate Confronts Marxist Past
Sunday, September 19, 2010
From a Christian Reconstructionists remarks, one gets the impression that the government /eccesliastical rulers are suppose to now enforce criminal sentences on mental adultery/fornication. And how is this to be enforced; will we be forced to wear mandatory blood pressure monitors? Would the Reconstructionists sentence such violators to death along with "false prophets" such as Glenn Beck?
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Police Stand By As Family Raped, Murdered, Set On Fire
In coverage of a lunatic possessing body armor believed to be a threat to the President, it was remarked one should not be allowed to threaten the President. And that is absolutely correct. But shouldn’t it be as much a crime to threaten all of America as a whole? As such, the Ground Zero Imam should be taken into custody as well.
A kook suspected of threatening the President is being charged in part with illegally possessing body armor. So basically, the police are allowed to protect themselves from homicidal miscreants but we as citizens are not allowed to protect ourselves from homicidal miscreants which easily include errant police. Since no one is harmed if an individual owns a bullet proof vest since the vest alone cannot be used as an implement of violence, a free citizen would be allowed to own a bullet proof vest.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Redskin Condemned For Insisting Women Gawk At Men's Winkies If Given The Opportunity
Identity Theft Conspiracy Sought To Discredit Theory Of Dead Sea Scrolls
So if Focus on The Family has altered its abstinence curriculum to cury the favor of Chinese Communist overlords, does that mean there will be an episode of the audio drama of Adventures in Odyssey assuring the kiddies its OK to compromise your values and to deny the Lord when it suits our higher purpose?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
At Least Marie Antoinette Would Let Us Have Cake
During his campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama lamented the tendency of Americans to eat what we want, drive SUV's, and keep our homes climate controlled at 70 degrees. Some will observe that I have already published a number of columns regarding the aforementioned sentiment. And I will continue to do so for as long as the Obama's hypocritically admonish to the minutest detail how we are to live lives of sacrificial austerity for the sake of the COMMUNITY while they themselves wallow in opulent luxury.
According to NBCBayArea.com, the President attended a fundraiser in California primarily for the benefit of Senator Barbara Boxer. Despite likely expending more in fossil fuels to reach his destination than the average suburbanite does puttering around town in a Ford Explorer or Jeep Cherokee, the opulence did not stop there.
When most regular Americans have a get together, they usually have cheese whiz and maybe Dominoes Pizza if they really feel like splurging. Such provisions, however, aren't quite good enough for those that not only think they are better than the rest of us but that it is their place to run our own lives as well.
According to SFGate.com, those paying over $17,000 per person to attend the fundraiser held at the Getty Mansion ingested quail eggs and caviar, salmon, avocado on tortilla chips, and Kobe beef short ribs with potatoes. For desert, those gathered had buckwheat crepes with roasted cherries and almond ice cream. If one is what one eats, wouldn't that now make Obama "buckwheat" with one granted linguistic amnesty from being denounced as racist since one would simply be making a dietary observation.
As the type that expect to be praised and heralded for all that they do, the Obamas's didn't start a vegetable garden at the White House as a way to relax by poking around in the dirt at the end of the day. Rather, to the First Lady especially, the very bounty of the Good Lord's earth is to be co-opted for the purposes of scolding the American people as to our ways deemed errant in the eyes of contemporary world Bolshevism.
One of the obvious reasons behind the garden is to rub the noses of the American parents in the nutritional insufficiencies of what they decide to feed their children. For example, should the social conditioning proposed by Frau Obama fully take hold, feeding your kids short ribs and ice cream all in the same meal will probably be grounds for a visit from social services should the neighbors catch wind of it.
The symbolism of the White House garden, however, goes beyond the centrality of nutrition to healthy living. The Obamas not only want to tell us what to eat but also from where to eat.
Catching on among those ashamed for enjoying a standard of living above that of Third World squalor are the Slow Food and Locally Grown Food movements. According to the advocates of these positions, the elites should admonish we lowly masses to only consume non-processed victuals grown in our respective areas. Most conveniently fail to mention that, if this mindset replaced current food production practices, Americans would be chained to their kitchens (or wherever else these fanatics allow us to prepare our sustenance) and more importantly, what is to prevent widespread starvation in areas where not much grows in the winter.
But so long as the likes of the Obamas have full bellies, it really doesn't matter what kind of gastronomical hardship their policy idiosyncrasies might impose upon the American people. It is the assumption, after all, among the circle Obama is most comfortable with that the population needs to be reduced anyway.
It has been argued that an army travels on its stomach. Other than the relationships with God and family, none are as profound as one's relationship with food.
A leader's attitude towards basic sustenance will reveal a great deal about his underlying political philosophy. Unfortunately, it seems Obama believes he is to be denied no culinary delight while you as a mere commoner are to endure happily a life of dietary aestheticism.
by Frederick Meekins
Find it interesting that Albert Mohler blamed men that the majority of those graduating with doctorates are now women. Perhaps most men realize what a crock and waste of time higher education happens to be. Are these women pursuing degrees in legitmate academic subjects such as the hard sciences and traditional versions of history or in things such as queer theory?
Government Deploys X-Ray Vans To Spy On Motorists
According to the 9/14/10 edition of USA Today, Colorado provides a free school breakfast for all students. From the text & photo, it seems this meal consists primarily of a carton of milk & a prepackaged serving of cereal. If parents can't afford this at home, THEY OUGHT TO KEEP THEIR PANTS ON & REFRAIN FROM PROCREATNG!!!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Time magazine's 2010 annual national service issue insists to "Teach Is To Serve". So if government teachers can get paid upwards around $45,000 to $50,000 and still be considered to be engaged in public service, why should the rest of us be continually hounded about "giving back to the COMMUNITY" for free when the occupations we are engaged in are as every much a social and economic necessity as the teaching profession.
First Nag Demands More Apples & Less Butter
Frankly, if one goes out to eat, one is going out for the slop. One can eat healthy at home.
Those that go around burning books or flags at mass rallies have too much time on their hands. A sizeable percentage of these probably live on some kind of welfare --- be it government (Food Stamps or foreign aide) or ecclesiastical (handouts collected from threatening congregations how they will incur God’s wrath if they don’t pony up into the collection plate).
Cops should have probably shot the owner along with or rather instead of the dog at the DC street festival. As with people that drag newborns out into extreme cold or heat, often those that have to drag their dogs to mass gatherings unless they are seeing-eye type dogs merely want attention for themselves and don't really care about their animals.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Christian Reconstructionist Inconsistent Regarding Chuck Baldwin
A fruitcake Christian Reconstructionist has condemned Chuck Baldwin's decision to retire from his Florida pastorate in order to move to Montana to start a new ministry focused on preserving what freedom remains.
The criticizer, who among other things believes Glenn Beck should be executed as a false prophet, contends that one cannot fight for freedom.
Hypocritically, the hyperpuritan making this claim himself works for an organization that purports to stand for the Constitution.
If we are to carry this analogy to its conclusion that one cannot fight for freedom, isn't that akin to saying it's sinful to go to work as that would be a sign of not relying on God to provide for your daily needs?
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 09, 2010
The Pastor of the The Dove Christian World Outreach might actually make a good Muslim. Of those studying (or rather brainwashed) under his tutelage, he dictates how much and where they can eat (sort of like Michelle Obama), how they may interact with members of the opposite sex, and even the kinds and extent of contact they may have with their families.
Eco Police To Sniff Around In Your Garbage
Questions regarding the Koran immolation. If the cult purchased the texts they plan to destory, isn't that supporting Islam with the pocket book? And are the Korans in question Arabic or English translations. If English, the fanatics most likely to fly into a rampage don't even view these texts as actual Korans.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
In for a penny, in for a pound. Burning the Koran is not the smartest move apologetically. However, if the Florida church backs down now, Islamists will view Americans as weak and will up their demands. Will it get to the point where American military leaders and the likes of Sean Hannity will insist that Christians be castigated for holding to the divinity and exclusivity of Christ?
Will Immigrant Horse Butcherers Get Light Sentence?
Congressional Democrats Plot To Herd The Masses Into Glorified Concentration Camps
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Regarding the threat by the church playing with less than a full deck to burn Korans: in America at least you are free to have as many Korans as you want for any purpose. In lands where Islamists rule, it is against the law to own a Bible and a capital offense to eventually be persuaded as to the veracity of that particular text.
If General Petraeus is now handing down edicts as to what kind of expression is going to set off radical Islamists in regards to the plans to burn Koran's by one church, is he also going to hand down similar opinions regarding sodomite nuptuals and tramps sauntering about with 3/4's of their jiggly bosoms exposed for all to see?
Friday, September 03, 2010
Are Fundamentalists claiming singles, especially women, shouldn't be permitted to live on their own because only women of ill repute did so in Biblical times also going to stick their hands between their employer's thigh when making a promise since it seems that was also the practice in Biblical times.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Those touting Zipcars as an alternative to automobile ownership should stop and think seriously for a moment. This concept is gaining in popularity on college campuses. As such, are these cars thoroughly screened and cleaned between renters. If not, when you are pulled over by police, are you willing to go down on a drug charge for the last person that borrowed the car and forgot to take their pot with them when they parked it?
John Lofton has threatened to "report me" if I dare post anything on his facebook wall. Guess he doesn't like me questioning his desire to see Glenn Beck executed as a false prophet. People need to wake up not only to the vipers outside of Evangelical Christianity but as well as the snakes they have let inside the tent as well.
Taser-Happy Cops Zap Cardiac Patient
Burro orifice John Lofton forbids me from posting on his profile asking him to clarify his position on wanting to execute those he disagrees with such as Glenn Beck. Given that the show he hosts for his employers at the Institute on the Constitution, the American View, sounds similar to some of my websites The American Worldview which the IOTC use to link to years ago, you'd think I'd deserve a bit more respect.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Did Prince Phillip Have Lady Di Murdered For Refusing To Bed Him?
If one of the organization’s primary spokesman thinks that Glenn Beck and Harold Camping should be executed, should average Conservatives and Christians feel at ease at a meeting of the Institute on The Constitution? For if one of the meeting’s organizers had his way, he would just as likely burn you at the stake. At the groups upcoming barbecue, just stop and think that it might very well one day be you turning on the rotisserie.
Contrary to a commenter of one of my columns posted at Redstate.com, my purpose as a commentator is not “to get conservative Republicans elected to office. To paraphrase the Bard,. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in you electoral system.” Politicians are to serve us and not we them. Anyone that believes that thought and expression should be curtailed to serve the alleged needs of establishmentarian Republicans are as much enemies of human liberty as any Democrat.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Red China Turns U.S. Human Rights Molehills Into Mountains
Before America as a nation takes this criticism seriously, perhaps we should consider what the law entails and how this compares with what goes on in Red China.
The Arizona law will permit police to ascertain an individual's identity and thus legality after initial contact. Essentially, this isn’t anything that isn’t already authorized by law and is perhaps an even better guarantor of individual liberty and dignity than what is already permitted.
In a number of decisions, the Supreme Court ruled that police could compel an individual to identify themselves even when it had not been established that the law had even been violated or that there was probable cause indicating such. Interestingly, there were no riotous mobs in the streets when it was thought these kinds of identity checks were only going to be aimed at actual Americans.
Even if scores of those with no legal standing in the United States are removed from the streets of Arizona as a result of the new law, they will still fair considerably better than those taken into custody in dictatorships. In Iran, several American coed tourists straying over the Islamic Republic’s border with Iraq were sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
And unlike illegals here, those there are not fawned over with lavish government handouts with their bureaucratic benefactors hoping the outsiders will recast the entire society in a foreign image.
It could be properly argued that the American students deserved some kind of punishment for violating another country’s sovereign borders. What likely cannot be argued against is that the accommodations they languished in made Camp Gitmo look like a swanky New York City hotel. Guards there are not going out of their way to provide American delicacies or to treat our holy books and founding documents with a nauseating degree of deference.
In China, one house church pastor sentenced to prison was allowed to languish and suffer without access to his diabetic medicine. And it could be argued that he can be considered one of the lucky ones. It has been claimed that organs are regularly harvested from dissident Tibetans and Christians.
If Red China had the illegal alien problem plaguing the United States, do you honestly believe authorities there would do little than look over the papers of these transnational vagrants, whisper sweet nothings in their ears, and release them on their recognizance which many have very little of to begin with given their connections to the drug trade, human smuggling, and assorted gangs. And given the propensity of a certain atrocity to occur throughout Chinese history (be it during the Great Cultural Revolution or in rumors a few years back regarding what was being done to fetuses), if a wife in China told her husband that they would be having a little Mexican later that evening that wouldn't mean he should expect to have a taco or burrito for dinner.
Many infringements upon human rights stem from an improper understanding of the relationship between social institutions such as government and the individual. In America, the extremes of these have been minimized in part due to the assumption that the individual possesses worth of his own created in the image of God. The individual is not owned by the state.
As an officially atheistic socialist country, the Chinese Communist Party and state see themselves as the highest authority with these determining that it is not so much the individual that counts but rather the group as a whole. After all, if we are simply nothing more than animated primordial ooze as the Darwinian insists and upon which Marxist-Leninism rests, it is kind of hard to get worked up over one person when there are over a billion more walking around easily capable of taking the place of a defective cog in the machine of state.
Since in the Communist system you are less an individual, the more the system provides of those things deemed to be necessities by the overseers (under whom fewer things end up being defined as necessities than in a free market economy) in such command societies such commodities extended only so that the goals mapped out for you by the COMMUNITY might be achieved. In a constitutional republican system, it is believed that the individual is best suited to determine for themselves which needs and desires should take priority for oneself and one's family. Granted, the system is not perfect, but it is far preferable and more in line with what God intended for humanity.
Thus, that is no doubt why China would rank homelessness as a human rights violation while not batting an eye at putting a bullet in the back of the head of a House Church pastor so that his kidneys might remain undamaged for organ harvesting. In America, those who love liberty must first inquire as to why the individual is homeless before formulating an appropriate policy response.
Though it is not politically correct to mention it these days and even if they represent only a fraction of those without a domicile, frankly there are those that simply refuse to do that which is necessary to maintain a residence or they engage in behaviors that cause their homes to be lost. Of those that went into vapors when Glenn Beck critiqued the subject, tell me where is the social justice to take from those working and scrimping in order to hoe their own path to give it to those living irresponsibly and demanding a standard of living far above a subsistence level with a few basic comforts that they are not willing to exert the labor necessary to acquire?
One might feel sorry for the children of such deadbeats and somehow provide enough for the children to get by without hardly a single bread crumb going to such pathetic excuses for parents. It is preferable that such outreach come from the private sector free to point out the deficiencies of individual character and the blunt steps necessary to correct the situation. Often in these times where we must constantly walk around on eggshells for fear of offending some self-enlightened leftist do-gooder with a law degree or a bullhorn and definitely too much time on their hands, government is unable to articulate those steps necessary for complete restoration.
And while we are at it, perhaps something needs to be said about and to these women that fall for scumbag men. If you find the boozing and carousing attractive when you are young only to have it morph into not knowing how you are going to feed the five kids because he's blowing the milk money on beer and backhanded you across the face because you dared ask where he was the night before, other than for tossing his rear in jail, don't expect much pity and especially don't expect some behaved guy you wouldn't give the time of day to 15 years ago to take you in as if he has some obligation to provide for another man's progeny.
One of contemporary liberalism's most glaring intellectual deficiencies is that it assumes that the remainder of the world, when you come down to it, lives no differently than the people of the United States. Before we pull out the sackcloth and ashes to belittle ourselves embarrassingly on the world stage, let’s at least make sure we don’t waste the effort on autocrats, thieves, cutthroats, and homicidal mass murderers.
by Frederick Meekins
What is Planned For The Ground Zero Mosque Mystery Floors
Monday, August 30, 2010
Parents Letting 13 Year Olds Race Motorcylces Are Downright Negligent
Friday, August 27, 2010
For once, Jim Wallis is correct. Glenn Beck is no Martin Luther King. Despite the Fox News correspondents attempts to emphasize the equality called for in a number of King’s speeches, ironically Beck who claims to view history as pivotal in restoring liberty to America, comports himself so as to downplay the connections King had to a number of subversive socialistic front groups and individuals.
Iowa Police Downplay Violence Against Whites
Thursday, August 26, 2010
At an event where he shoved his nose up the backside of radical Islam, self-loathing Jew Michael Bloomberg said not building the Ground Zero mosque would "undercut the values...so many died protecting." What value then is being upheld by refusing to let the St. Nicholas Orthodox Church from being rebuilt?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Home Owner Association Classifies "Don't Tread On Me" Flag As Yard Debris
Taliban Launch Attack On Afghan Girl's School
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
A White House "water carrier" acted like the Obama Administration had extended Franklin Graham the epitome of tolerance by recognizing that the evangelist is titled to his opinion when Graham pointed out that, according to Islamic law and tradition, Barack Obama was considered a Muslim through his father’s parentage. Technically, Graham’s statement would be considered a FACT rather than an opinion. I guess this is one way we simply disappear entire inconvenient epistemological realities now.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
American Teen Duped Into Being North Korean Pawn
Court Grants Right To Lie About Military Service
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Lessons In Apologetics #4: Pragmaticism & Combinationalism
The next theory of truth and religious knowledge is pragmatism. Developed initially by Charles Sander Pierce and expanded by William James, pragmatism is the theory that truth is not determined by what one thinks, feels, or discovers but rather by what works.
Christians may instinctively recoil from this initially. However, the proper response to this epistemological methodology needs to be more nuanced than the believer might originally suspect.
Providing in part an alternative to the early 20th century viewpoint promoted in large part by Sigmund Freud that belief in God was psychologically harmful, in works such as "The Varieties Of Religious Experience", James believed religion should be judged by its results in the life of the individual. Overall, James concluded that, "In a general way...on the whole...our testing of religion by practical common sense and the empirical method leaves it in possession of its towering place in history. For economically, the saintly group of qualities is indispensable to the world’s welfare (109).”
However, any alliance the Christian apologist may make with William James is tenuous at best. For example, James categorized the pantheistic outlook of Mediterranean paganism as healthy and those emphasizing the need to be “twice born” as epitomizing a Germanic dourness characterized by an obsession regarding man’s fallen nature and need to be saved by God (105).
Though few in number, Christian apologists have adapted pragmaticism to the defense of the faith. Foremost among these is Francis Schaeffer.
Schaeffer’s method might not be considered solely pragmatic by the methodology’s purists as he does not allow a worldview’s viability to determine whether or not it is true but rather to show how the Christian worldview is the most consistently livable. Schaeffer refers to this test as an experiential teleological argument (110).
In a Schaefferian apologetic, one takes the propositions of a particular worldview and projects them onto the movie screen of life. For example, Schaeffer noted how the materialism of Jackson Pollock drove the artist to suicide and how musician John Cage did not adhere to the philosophy of chance that categorized his music when it came to picking potentially deadly mushrooms
The next epistemological methodology is combinationalism. Throughout this discourse thus far, it has been observed that, while each methodology contributes something to our understanding of God and knowledge, none of these approaches is sufficient enough to stand alone as the only way through which to obtain an understanding of reality. But instead of falling into a state of solipsistic dismay that nothing can be known since each approach falls short, combinationalists suggest that the insights of each method ought to be knit together in order to produce the most comprehensive understanding possible.
One such apologist utilizing this approach is Edward J. Carnell. Carnell combines rationalism, which he defines as a “horizontal self-consistency so that all of the major assumptions of the position can be so related together that they placate the rules of formal logic” and evidentialism, which he categorizes as “a vertical fitting of the facts” in that one’s assumptions must cohere with the “real concrete facts of human history (122).” Together, these elements make up systematic consistency.
However, even combinationalists must proceed with caution. As Geisler points out in “the leaky bucket argument”, if the other methodologies are insufficient on their own, these do not necessarily hold the epistemological water any better when they are combined together (129). Furthermore, often when one proceeds to evaluate a worldview, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of presupposing the worldview before it has been established or the facts are spun in such a way to fit into the worldview.
For example, Geisler uses the example of Christ's Resurrection. Geisler writes, "An apologist...cannot legitimately appeal to the miracle of Christ's resurrection as a proof for the existence of God (129)." This statement, shocking on its face value, means that God is already presupposed if the event is categorized as miraculous in terms of its explanation. Geisler reassures, "On the other hand, grant that God already exists, then the resurrection may very well be a miraculous way of confirming that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God (129)."
Source:
Geisler, Norman. "Christian Apologetics". Baker Academic, 1988.
By Frederick Meekins
Billionaires Minding Their Own Business Shouldn't Have To Explain Why They Haven't Taken The Oath To Give Away 1/2 Their Fortunes
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Liberals Falling All Over Themselves Over What To Call Terrorist Compound
A Harris Poll laments women treated with less chivalry. Maybe it's because fewer of them act like ladies. Why should you go out of your way for someone with an earring in their nose and their bosom falling out of their low-cut blouse who doesn't even have the decency to cover over their tramp stamp?
Monday, August 16, 2010
According to the Riverdale Park Town Crier's July 2010 edition, at the 90th anniversary celebration of the town charter a speaker highlighted the town's "strong ties" to the Hispanic community reaching back to the municipality’s “earlier years”. Was mention made of White folks or are we just expected to pay the increasing tax bills and to keep our mouth’s shut?
Dr. Laura Surrenders To The Thought Police
Julia Roberts Renounces Christ, Embraces Hindu Paganism
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Granted, his is not the most informative program in the lineup. However, the fact that Huckabee has a show on Fox News rather than pastoring a church is a bit of a stretch as credible evidence that he has walked away from God. Who is to say that God has not called him to this change during this season in his life? More importantly, isn't the assumption that formalized professional ministerial positions are superior to other vocations one of the reasons why culture is now such a fetid cesspool?
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Apparently Jennifer Anniston Comprehends Neither Biology Nor Social Sciences
If there is no "fiddling" involved, from where are the necessary gametes acquired?
More importantly, if women don't need any assistance from men in raising children, don't let them look towards a fat uncle named Sam either in terms of handouts nor to strongarm the deadbeats fathering these youngsters.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Liberals are having the vapors that Fox News has an insufficient number of African American viewers. Are these multiculturalists also going to toss a hissy over the very name of Black Entertainment television alienating Whites? Instead of blaming Fox News for not appealing to Blacks, maybe Blacks should be chastised for not liking Fox News as such is likely an indication of preferring a life of indolence and government dependence.
Palin Is Correct: Some Teachers Need An Eyerolling
Anne Rice Renounces Christianity
Government Forbids Collecting Rainwater Falling On Your Property
Monday, August 09, 2010
The Obamas should sit their rearends home like just about everyone else. Sick of these spineless pundits going on how they don't "begrudge" the New Lord his recreation. Yet it must be remembered it was Il Duce that condemned the rest of us for daring to eat what we want, driving SUV's, and keeping thermostat on 70 degrees.
Doubt Magic Johnson ever had AIDS or HIV. Would he have been allowed to play basketball with a President of the United States where there might have been an accident where this pestilence could have been transmitted? But I guess Johnson no more disease ridden than the members of the gay bathhouse Obama is said to be a member of.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Friday, August 06, 2010
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Parents Lose Custody Of Tot Named Hitler
Crazed Chinamen Continue Pupil Slaying Rampages
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
A nun was killed in a carwreck by an illegal alien. Though a tragedy, maybe the Catholic Church might reconsider it's lax and even embracing attitude towards illegal aliens. More importantly, would this sad story have even made the headlines if the victim had been a Baptist church lady rather than a Catholic worker?
Monday, August 02, 2010
Hispanic Impregnates 13 Year Old
The girl's parents are probably as much human scum as her violator and probably barely speak audible English.
Guess there are some that would claim this filth shouldn't have to show police their ID's or immigration papers.
Let's hear what the immigration status of all parties involved just happens to be.
A theonomical Christian Reconstructionist has theorized that the only valid marriages are between Christians. Unless this statement is clarified, this means that the children born to non-Christians would be illegitimate bastards & that should Reconstructionists come to power, they would deny basic civil and contractual rights to those not members of their Calvinistic churches.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Lessons In Apologetics #3: Experientialism & Evidentialism
The next methodology is experientialism. Though fideism strives to make faith alone the justification for religious knowledge or belief, Geisler observes that this faith is ultimately justified in terms of an experience had by the individual (65).
To the experientialist, God or the Ultimate is not so much something to be understood or comprehended but rather felt. Stretching all the way back to the Neoplatonist Plotinus, experientialism views what the believer refers to as God as "the one beyond all knowing and being (66)."
In fact, God is so far beyond what the finite mind is capable of comprehending that to really say anything about God is highly inaccurate as to do so would be limiting God. As such, the best the individual can aspire to is an intuitive mystical union with the universal by turning inward through an ascetic detachment from the physical world around us in pursuit of a metaphysical unity.
Friedrich Schleiermacher provided for a more accessible apprehension of the cosmic or divine by equating religious experience not so much with monastic solitude but rather with the feeling of absolute dependence we all feel from time to time. According to Schleiermacher, this feeling is actually the World Spirit reaching out to us and actualizing within each of us.
To experientialists, dogmas and doctrines are not that important (that itself actually a doctrine though) as these conceptual formulations are merely shadows or echoes of the deeper experience. While experientialists are correct that the individual must have some kind of encounter with God beyond that often referred to as "book knowledge", one begins to trod upon dangerous ground when the experience becomes the ultimate criteria for judgment by positing that those having more intense experiences are somehow more in touch with the cosmos as in the case of certain meditation cults.
If experience itself is made the highest standard, the individual will end up not knowing whether or not he is being led into deception. I John 4:1 tells us to test the spirits to see if they are from God.
The next apologetic methodology is evidentialism. Rationalism, fideism, and experientialism are largely inwardly focused approaches to knowledge of God with both fideism and experientialism also being highly subjective as well. Evidentialism tends to be more objective as it points to evidence existing independently of an individual's internal emotional or intellectual states to make a case for the existence of God.
While experientialism stresses the importance of a personal acquaintance with what we categorize as the divine, evidentialism provides an anchor to prevent such hypothesizing from meandering off into exceedingly esoteric or individualized speculation by providing a basis for belief any interested party is free to investigate at their own leisure. The primary forms of proof offered by evidentialists are nature and history.
Nature is probably the form of evidence best used when the individual being appealed to is not yet even a theist. This proof for the existence of God is known as the teleological argument in that it holds that the intricate structures found in the world point to the need for a designer.
This idea is expressed in terms of the Watchmaker Hypothesis formulated by William Paley. Paley contended that, if one found a watch in the woods, one would from the intricacies of its parts working together in tandem for a purpose assume the contraption would need a designer. Likewise, since the world is no less complex and actually even more so, it is only logical to conclude that the physical universe around us would also require a designer.
Having lived from 1743-1805, Paley himself did not face the Darwinian onslaught. However, others since then have tweaked the argument to make it stronger against criticisms such as those of John Stuart Mill. Mill argued that the watchmaker analogy was weak because we know things like watches have watchmakers and, without a perspective beyond which a finite human being is capable, Hume's speculation of organicism with the world growing like a vegetable could very well be correct.
To counter the Darwinian and Humean notions that given enough time a number of elements could be reshuffled enough to fortuitously result in the world we see around us, A.E. Taylor and F.R. Tennat have argued that the world around us shows too much adaptation and anticipation to have been the product of random chance. For example, Taylor notes how the body’s need for oxygen is anticipated by biological structures such as membranes and organs. Geisler writes, “In fact, mind or intelligence is the only known condition that can overcome the improbabilities against the development and preservation of life...In short, the order evident in natural development of life is evidence of God (90)."
While this brand of evidentialism is vital in convincing the atheist or agnostic that God exists, it is not enough to bring someone to a saving knowledge of Christ as many of the world's religions such as Judaism, Islam, and even apostate forms of Christianity are full of theists barreling down the road to Hell. An evidentialist approach emphasizing history directly confronts the unbeliever with the decision he will have to make to decide his eternal destiny.
One of the aspects of Christianity that sets it apart from many of the other religions and belief systems is its historical nature in that the validity of its claims ultimately rest upon the veracity of actual events. II Peter 1:16 says, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty?"
Since these events took place within the flow of normal time, by utilizing research methods similar to those used to investigate the past such as the examination of ancient documents, one can construct an intellectual framework reasonably assuming that Christ did indeed exist. Prominent evidentialists utilizing history would include John Warwick Montgomery and Lee Strobel.
Despite the strength of evidentialist apologetics, its efforts to elevate religious dialogue beyond one's internal feelings (the burning in the bosom referred to by the Mormons which could very easily be indigestion), the approach is not without drawbacks. For while facts can indeed exist as objective realities, the individual can often go to great lengths to put a spin on them that fits them into an individual’s preconceived worldview.
For example, those inclined to marvel at the world around them can more easily be persuaded that everything was created by a wise and loving God than those who view the world through a survival of the fittest mindset focusing on the violence, bloodshed, and disease that often characterizes both the human and animal realms. Evidentialists will counter that often the theistic interpretation turns out to be the most credible rather than naturalistic ones that stretch plausibility such as the Apostles absconding with Christ’s body or Jesus being revived in the cool of the tomb.
Source:
Geisler, Norman. "Christian Apologetics". Baker Academic, 1988.
By Frederick Meekins
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Political Theorist Proposes How To Handle The Zombie Menace
Obama Minions Propose Involuntary Servitude
For if the contemporary woman is not going to be a stay-at-home wife and mother, on what grounds should they be exempt from a life of service or even death on behalf of the state?
If every one is equal, your life is no more valuable than mine. If men can be compelled to sacrifice against their will, why not women?
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
O'Reilly Advocates Assassinating Head Of BP
Monday, July 26, 2010
A theonomical Christian Reconstructionist posits that blasphemy is promoting lies about God and that those promulgating such ideas should be given the death penalty. How long would such a policy be in place until it was extended to cover those promoting theologies radical Calvinists abhor such as Dispensationalism and Arminianism?
If the spokesman of a Christian organization highly regarded among paleoconservatives starts to advocate the death penalty for a class of offenders that this punishment has not been applied to for centuries, isn't it a valid question to ask to what extent this reinstituted penalty would be applied? More importantly, should the head of this organization who once held high political aspirations be asked to clarify his own position regarding his underling's provacative ruminations?
Police Enforce Nonexistent Laws Regarding Photography
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Obama announces he wants his daughters to put babysitting money into savings accounts. Wonder if their accounts will be subject to the same scrutiny as everyone elses all in the name of preventing narcotics traffic, terrorism, and such related boogeyman. Or since this is the "First Children", are we not allowed to raise such questions.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Will Paycheck Fairness Act Screw Over Men In Favor Of Women?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tweets About Whale Wars
Though Whale Wars is an interesting program, in light of it, Discovery Networks should broadcast from a favorable standpoint a program about a band of prolife activists disrupting the operations of an abortion clinic.
On Whale Wars season 2, episode 8, the Japanese whalers should be applauded in their restraint by only use an acoustic weapon on the Sea Shepherd copter. These beatnik environmentalists should just be grateful a surface to air missile wasn't used.
Perhaps the Japanese whalers should get their own rubber dingies and toss noxious substances onto the Sea Shepherd ship for a change. Given the disgusting things Asians are known to eat, are pungent aromatic assaults the best way to deter the whalers?
Will there be a season of Whale Wars where the Sea Shepherds plan to harass Eskimos for hunting cetaceans? Guess the Japanese are too close to honorary White people to be able to gum up the conceptual relativism of these leftwingers by asking who are they to impose their dietary values on another culture.
The Sea Shepherds ought to be glad they are not dealing with the Japanese of the World War II era. Say what you want about that empire's faults, it's doubtful they would put up with hippies harassing that nation's ships.
Seems Paul Watson is the only crew member to grow obese on a vegetarian diet. Most of them look pathetically sickly and thin. Even the crews pet African looked plumper than the average Westerner onboard
With the sinking of the Ady Gil, maybe the organization now knows how it feels to have one of their vessels rammed.
It was stated that $5 million was paid for the Sea Shepherd's vessel the Bob Barker. Was that bid closest to the actual retail price without going over?
by Frederick Meekins
Blacks Riot To Avoid Going To School With Other Blacks
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Glenn Beck Announces He Might Be Going Blind
Obama Spends Tax Dollars To Establish Abortion & Islamic Law In Kenya
Monday, July 19, 2010
If Glenn Beck correctly points out the similarities between Obama's policies and Communism and Nazism, then why is it wrong for a group of Tea Party activists to do so with a billboard? Guess Tea Party luminaries don't think you should be permitted to exercise your own free thought and speech until you are a Fox News millionaire as well.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Just learned from a Christian Reconstructionist how we are never to go through an emotionally down period about anything. So, if their ilk ever siezed power, not only will we have to hold membership in their Calvinistic churches in order to enjoy the rights of citizenship, I guess they will send "happy police" around ...to ascertain if the smiles plastered across our faces are irritatingly broad enough.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Congress Threatens To Raise Retirement Age
A percentage of hardcore fundamentalists condemn Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ" as a graven image because the actor portraying the title role isn't really Jesus. If so, wouldn't it also be idolatry to have a dramatic reading of the words of Jesus or to even read the text aloud in the privacy of one's own home because the voice enunciating the words isn't really the voice of Christ?
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Boycott The Boycotters
A headline from the 5/25/10 online edition of the Washington Post bemoans "For Some Washington Drivers, Convenience Outweighs Calls For BP Gas Boycott”. The story laments the tendency of certain consumers who “...prioritize convenience over taking a moral or political stand.”
For starters, in this day where it is constantly pounded into our heads that no one is to impose their views on any one else or to even dare to suggest that certain values might be superior to others, on what grounds are we expected to do something because someone with no real binding authority over us tells us to?
Many of the rabblerousers behind the BP boycott are some of the same nags behind the boycott of the state of Arizona regarding the immigration law. Yet these crusaders would turn around and become moral libertines if some pro-family coalition organized a boycott of states such as Vermont authorizing sodomite matrimony.
In all fairness, busybody progressives are not the only ones to use boycotts not so much in pursuit of a policy objective but rather to exert power and control over their respective constituencies.
I remember in the early 90’s in some Christian circles how an edict was handed down how the truly spiritual wouldn’t shop at K-Mart because at the time its B. Dalton Booksellers subsidiary was selling a line of erotic novels. From the vehemence behind the pronouncement, one almost feared the possibility of expulsion from the more doctrinally rigorous Christian schools if it was discovered that was where one’s parents shopped every once in a while.
It is a good thing to have as much information as possible as to the implications of one’s socioeconomic decisions. However, when an interest group advances beyond the function of conveying information regarding a perfectly legal and acceptable product to demanding that a certain action be taken in response to the purveyors of the product for reasons tangential rather than inherent to the particular product in question and threaten with sanction or approbation those deciding not to go along with the particular campaign, the group presenting the overly enthusiastic warning may also require additional scrutiny as a threat to our liberty.
by Frederick Meekins
Before denouncing the Tea Party movement as racist, shouldn't the NAACP expunge this epistemological tendency within itself. Is its "One Nation" counter rally going to renounce minority set asides and the denigration of White folks as epitomized by the Black Panther terrorists that Eric Holder let off scott free?
Monday, July 12, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 09, 2010
Illegal Boatpeople Now Referred To As "Seafaring Immigrants"
Many Disability Pensions Faked
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
The Bronx Turned Into A Mexican Ghetto
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Because the California State Legislature has failed to pass a budget, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has reduced the salaries of state employee’s to minimum wage levels. In turn, will the mandatory employee contributions to their assorted benefit programs be reduced accordingly? Furthermore, if an employee is to have their salary reduced to minimal levels, they should in turn put in the minimal effort.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Lessons In Apologetics #2: Rationalism & Fideism
In a rationalist methodology, there exists in the mind a number of innate ideas or principles that allow the individual to arrive at an understanding of the universe. These include principles of logic such as the law of noncontradiction. It is from contemplation upon ideas generated through reflection upon such foundational principles that the thinker is able to postulate systems of truth in a manner reminiscent of mathematics and geometry.
For example, in his system, Descartes started from his "cogito, ergo, sum (I think, therefore I am)" as his ability to doubt was the one thing he could not doubt. From here, Descartes built a theistic proof.
Descartes begins this with the admission that, since he lacks knowledge, he is imperfect. However, to realize one is imperfect, one must have knowledge that perfection exists. Yet perfection cannot arise from within the imperfect. Therefore, there must be a perfect mind from which perfection originates and this is God (31).
An apologetic utilizing the rationalist approach possesses a number of strengths as well as drawbacks. As to its strengths, the rationalist method stresses a consistency of reality.
It follows that a rational God would create a universe that regularly operates in accord with verifiable laws that we as His creations would be able to arrive at through deliberative contemplation. As rationalists posit, the mind to an extent must possess some kind of mental architecture to process the jumble of sense experiences the individual is bombarded with almost constantly. Even Scripture indicates that part of man's knowledge regarding God and His character is innate as Romans says that even the Gentiles, who were not formally given the Law in the same direct manner as their Hebrew counterparts, still had many aspects of the Law written upon their hearts.
Despite the strengths of the rationalist approach to apologetics, the methodology is not without drawbacks. The foremost is the acknowledgement that it can be argued that the rationally consistent does not always translate into the realm of necessarily actual and does not provide the bedrock certainty its advocates claim. For example, regarding the ontological argument, Geisler notes, "But it is not logically necessary for a necessary Being to exist anymore than it is for a triangle to exist...But the point here is that there is no purely logical way to eliminate the 'if' (43)."
Of the next religious epistemology, fideism, Geisler writes, "In view of the fact that empiricism led to skepticism...and that rationalism cannot rationally demonstrate its first principles, fideism becomes a more reliable option in religious epistemology. Perhaps there is no rational or evidential way to establish Christianity (47)." Thus fideism holds that truth in religious matters rests on an accepting faith rather than a critical scrutiny.
As with the other methodologies, fideism comes in a variety shades. On its more moderate side, one finds Blaise Pascal. At the more extreme end of the spectrum, one would find the likes of Karl Barth.
As a fideist, one might find Pascal a bit subdued. Though one would assume reason had no place in fideism, Pascal did not dismiss rational appeals outright. He just did not build his foundation or case upon them. Of Pascal's position, Geisler writes, "A proof at best may be the instrument by which God places faith in one's heart (49)."
Thus, the real difference between Pascal and the rationalist was basically a differing estimation in what each thought reason could achieve. To the rationalist, the thinker is able to deduce their way to a logically irrefutable foundation for a belief in God. To Pascal, such proofs were not absolutely conclusive and the chasm separating doubt and certainty had to be crossed by a bridge of faith.
Since at best, in the mind of Pascal, the individual is left with a fifty/fifty chance regarding the existence of God, the matter did not come down to a dispassionate calculation but rather to a matter of personal existential destiny best summarized by his famous wager (49). According to this wager, if the odds as to whether or not God exists are about even, one is better off believing God exists and then be proven wrong since upon death you would merely pass out of existence than to say God does not exist and then be proven wrong upon death as then one would end up in Hell.
At the other end of fideism's spectrum stands the Neo-Orthodox such as Karl Barth. According to Barth, God is "wholly other" in that God can only be known through faith in revelation. Geisler summarizes Barth's position as such: "We do not know the Bible is God's Word by any objective evidence. It is a self-attesting truth (54)." Thus to the Barthian, the accounts contained in the Bible transpired on a plane beyond the parameters of objective, investigative history. One either accepts them by faith or one does not. Therefore, the believer does not have to answer and is immune from those such as the Higher Critics claiming to apply the rigors of scholarship to the scriptural texts in the hopes of either authenticating or discrediting these documents.
As with rationalism, fideism has both strengths and drawbacks. Fideists are to be commended for holding that the God of the Bible is much more than the God of mathematics. Though there is merit in the attempt to prove that belief in God does not violate reason and logic, there is a great danger in reducing God to the level of a distant first cause not all that interested in how human beings live their daily lives. Fidesits are also correct that ultimately, no matter how much evidence one might collect or how many syllogisms one might be able to deduce, one has to make a leap of faith over those gaps of doubt that remain no matter how small they might be.
Yet despite the strength of their methodology, it has shortcomings as well. Foremostly, fideism makes it very difficult to engage in a debate or discussion with someone holding to another worldview if one must accept a comprehensive system of faith solely by faith without evaluating between them with some agreed upon criteria. Geisler writes, "...either a fideist offers a justification for his belief or else he does not. If he does not, then as unjustified belief it has no rightful claim to knowledge (63)."
Source:
Geisler, Norman. "Christian Apologetics". Baker Academic, 1988.
by Frederick Meekins

















