Category: Philosophy

How to Love People You Don’t Like

How to Love People You Don’t Like

My title may strike some as expressing an un-Christian sentiment. Surely, Christians should like everyone, shouldn't they? What does it mean to "like" a person anyway? I would say that in loving we don't have to like everything people do or say or think. We don't have to like that which is evil or that which offends the Spirit within us. We don't have to smile at something we're convinced is wrong or which we have no affinity for. We have the dignity and right to have our own views, tastes and preferences. If I say I don't like your music I'm not committing a sin. However, we are required and commanded to love.

Who Made God?

Who Made God?

The idea that the universe created itself and ended up producing Beethoven's Sonata NO.14 in C is, to me, the most ridiculous, preposterous idea that could be imagined. But a common question which believers in such ideas ask, in order to stump Christians, is "Who made God? Where did he come from?"

Knowledge and Wisdom

Knowledge and Wisdom

People often use the words "knowledge" and "wisdom" without distinguishing between them. While the two are closely related, they don't have quite the same meaning. According to the Cambridge Dictionary wisdom is"... the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments". This is perhaps a definition of human wisdom at its best. You can have all the knowledge in the world but without wisdom you're prone to making mistakes.

The Good, the Bad and the Pitilessly Indifferent

The Good, the Bad and the Pitilessly Indifferent

If there's no God to decide what's good and what isn't good, who decides what's true and what isn't? Who decides what's right and what's wrong? In a world where God doesn't exist there can be no absolutes: there is no ultimate right or wrong except what humanity decides is so. "Good" and "bad" are entirely subjective concepts, and open to change. To paraphrase a certain president from not long ago, "Truth is fluid".

HOW TO BE A WINNER WHEN YOU’RE A LOSER

HOW TO BE A WINNER WHEN YOU’RE A LOSER

Some of the most difficult words of Jesus for us to accept - believers or unbelievers - speak of blessing and gain through loss, weakness and failure. "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3); "... many who are first will be last, and the last first" (Matthew 19:30).