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 Click here to read Part 1 of this essay.

In the above argument as detailed by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, only three of God’s characteristics are highlighted: omnipotence, omniscience, and his moral perfection. This is an overly simplistic view of God. People who make these arguments based on this portrayal of his attributes are attempting to put God in a box and confine him to their strict limitations and their personal ideas of who they think he is or who they think he should be. Based on what the Bible says, God is the exact opposite of a being that can be summed up in three short statements. God is infinite, and therefore he is infinitely complex and multifaceted, and he probably has an infinite number of characteristics. Whenever we think about God, we must try our best to consider all of the different aspects of his character. The index of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology lists at least 44 different attributes--and that is still just a partial list (1278). For instance, consider God’s justice. The Bible clearly states that the evil in this world is a result of the fall of man, due to man’s free will. Adam and Eve sinned, and through them all mankind has sinned (Geisler 390). In Romans 5:12 we read, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned” (Holy Bible 1059). Since God is a just god, man is receiving and will receive his just recourse for sin: “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) (Holy Bible 1060). As a result of man’s sin, the formerly perfect creation has been indelibly marred. It is no longer the perfect Eden that God first created.

• Who was Jesus?
• What was the significance and meaning of Jesus Christ's life and mission?
• Why did he die?... And why did he die so willingly?
• How has he impacted history?
• How has Jesus impacted our lives? (Spiritually, and even culturally)
• What is the modern significance and meaning of Jesus' life, death, 
• and resurrection?

• How does this man named Jesus apply to my life here and now?
•  

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The problem of evil: it is a topic that has haunted theologians and bolstered the faith of atheists for centuries.

In his introduction to “Nonmoral Nature,” Stephen Jay Gould references this exact problem. For his purposes, he puts a naturalistic spin on it. Gould writes, “If God is benevolent and the Creation displays his ‘power, wisdom, and goodness,’ then why are we surrounded with pain, suffering, and apparently senseless cruelty in the animal world?” (638) Gould then proceeds to defuse “the problem” by arguing that nature is actually “nonmoral.”

As a result, the problem of evil does not apply to nature. In this paper I am going to tackle a grander sense of “the problem of evil.” I will address it primarily as it relates to human pain and suffering in this world.

The following is the final segment of an essay that I wrote for my 4000 level Topics in Philosophy class: "Happiness and Suffering."

Click here to read part 3. 

Since I think that this pursuit and use of spiritual gifts does justice to the philosophers that I have been examining in this paper, specifically Aquinas and Haybron, I will spend the remainder of the paper discussing spiritual gifting and some of its applications to happiness. This will in no way be an exhaustive treatment of spiritual gifts. Instead, it will be a cursory introduction. As I mentioned above, a belief in our own inability to reconcile ourselves to God and an acceptance of Jesus’s blood and his work on the cross in order to reconcile us to God is a prerequisite for an understanding of spiritual gifts. In this way, my view is completely in line with Aquinas’s view.

The following is an essay that I wrote for my 4000 level Topics in Philosophy class: "Happiness and Suffering." I have split it up into several pieces and will be publishing it here on Cranial Collision over the next week or two.

Click here to read part 2. 

Before I address the issues with Haybron’s concept of self-fulfillment, I do want to acknowledge the fact that his move from Aristotle’s broad nature-fulfillment to a narrower self-fulfillment was a wise one. Haybron spends the entirety of chapter 8 in his book The Pursuit of Unhappiness developing this transition, but I think there are a few critical points which he makes that can illuminate the transition for us in a few short sentences. On page 157 he writes, “. . .what counts toward my well-being must not depend on what any other individual, or group or class of individuals—actual or hypothetical—is like.” Later on 168 he adds, “The perfectionist’s fundamental mistake lies in not recognizing that well-being is what we might call a success value: it concerns the success of an organism in achieving its goals.” By perfection, Haybron is of course referring to Aristotle’s nature-fulfillment: becoming the perfect example of the human race.

The following video contains a creative and interesting illustration about evangelism for modern Christians.  I definitely believe that it's worth viewing and thinking about as a follower of Christ integrated as a member of society and that it does speak a lot of truth in regard to the current state of the Church and how the Christian community (in general) views evangelism and sharing their faith.  I hope that you find it equally as thought provoking, creative, and entertaining.



 

Tim Tebow Praying - Photo Credit

In a recent article on Fox Sports Exclusive, Jen Engel chooses to examine the constant scrutiny and ridicule that Tim Tebow, starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, has been subjected to lately.  The source of such insults and slander span from private to public sectors - from national television, to casual conversations between friends. All of these confrontations and comments have created a growing "debate" and argument in the sports community, which actually encompasses the United States and beyond in this case.  As of late, it has provided constant fuel for the conversation regarding religion, faith, and the constrictions (or lack there of) that should be placed on such 'aspects' of life. 

The following post outlines some key points and maxims concerning the attribute of self-sufficiency that Yahweh, God, possesses as determined from Biblical scriptures.  
I hope you find these statements to be interesting and thought provoking and that they will impact your life and how you view God; that it would lead you into a more reverent and worshipful mindset based on His holiness and glory.



• If anything was necessary to God, that thing would be a measure of His imperfection.    
  Imperfection is something that is entirely impossible of God's character.

• "Whatever God is, and all that God is, He is in Himself."
   All life is a gift from God.  He cannot receive anything that He has not first given.

• God is solely unique in that he is the only thing that is complete - the only thing that does not
   require something outside of itself in order to exist.

         "The human mind, being created, has an understandable uneasiness about the Uncreated.  We do not find it comfortable to allow for the presence of One who is wholly outside of the circle of our familiar knowledge. We tend to be disquieted by the thought of One who does not account to us for His being, who is responsible to no one, who is self-existent, self-dependent and self-sufficient."

The list for each of us could go on and on....  But when people ask me what I am thankful for, the most prevalent and important thing that comes to my mind to be thankful for is God's Grace.  What he has provided me through Jesus Christ is beyond all compare, far above the measure and influence of anything else in my life. It is this grace that gives peace, satisfaction, joy, meaning, and purpose to all other areas of my life. 

Earlier this year, Cranial Collision featured a post authored by Nick Roen titled "Worship: Are We Worshiping Music Instead of God?"  I would like to highlight this post again, continuing our topic from last week on how to keep worship authentic. 

A psychiatrist working at Yale University, George Mahl, counted and examined ten speech disfluencies (including the infamous "uh" and "um") with the purpose of measuring a person's anxiety level.  He calculated that, on average, during every 4.4 seconds of spontaneous speech, one disfluency occurs in a person's speaking.   (Source)

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"One of my friends has a question but wants to stay anonymous:
Why didn't He write the Bible in plain English instead of a bunch of stories and riddles that allow room for misinterpretation?"

Hey, thanks for the question! This is definitely a tough one, and Christians have been asking this question for millenia.

Questions. Creative Commons Photo Credit

My brother, AJ, was a part of the Campus Crusade ministry at UW-La Crosse last semester, and as a part of that ministry they started a Facebook group called "God. Why?" which was designed to let people ask difficult questions that they have been wondering, and then hopefully help other people provide answers to them.

In this new series entitled "Tough Questions,"  I'm going to take a crack at answering a number of these questions.

I'm not tackling this project because I think I know it all or even because I think I am the most qualified person to answer these questions. Rather, I just think that these questions need good answers, and that someone needs to make an attempt to provide them.

I may not be able to provide exhaustive responses that cover every single angle, but I will do my best to provide a Biblical perspective on the topic!

Your Turn: Do you have a tough question about Christianity that you want answered? Feel free to leave it in the comments section below, or email me at g.gaheil AT gmail DOT com.

With every week that passes by, 
I seem to realize more and more just how short life really is.

The changing of the seasons, illness, cancer, death, accidents, age, time-usage, friendships growing deeper, and friendships becoming forgotten, natural disasters, war, evil, the weakness and fragility of my own body...

1. "For after all the foundation of eloquence, as of everything else, is wisdom." -Cicero

2. “The human mind has the capacity to rationalize to itself any and all human actions.” -Michael C. Brannigan

3. ‎"Nature has herself appointed that nothing great is to be accomplished quickly, and has ordained that difficulty should precede every work of excellence..." -Quintillian

4. ‎"For human well-being mostly depends not on what people have but, among other things, on what they do with what they've got." -Daniel M. Haybron

5. "For many of us, the majority opinion constitutes the litmus test of whether something is morally right or wrong. This is logically absurd." -Michael C. Brannigan