Right Reason

Why is it that so many of the attacks on the Christian faith that I see in opinion pieces and blogs contain so much that I don’t recognise as anything resembling my faith – in spite of me being a Christian? Bear with me as I offer some thoughts on why I think so many criticisms of Christianity – along with so many versions of Christianity – miss the mark.

Consider this list:

1. God (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) exists

2. God is uniquely revealed to us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, whom God raised from the dead

3. By having a relationship with God though Jesus, who is God’s own son, we can have eternal life, and know and enjoy God forever

4. God is the ultimate basis of objective moral facts

5. People to whom God revealed himself one way or another wrote the Bible, which on the whole presents a reliable picture of who God is

6. When I talk about believing in Jesus “as a matter of faith,” that’s my way of saying that it’s not about having good grounds for belief, or accepting evidence for the truth of those beliefs.

7. A big part of my conviction that Christianity is true arose (and maybe is still sustained) by powerful, moving religious experiences that I attribute to the work of the Holy Spirit.

8. In addition to my faith that I will have eternal life eventually, I trust that God will always “look after” me in this life because I am his child, and he has a wonderful plan for my life that will make me happy and fulfilled.

9. When I pray, or even better, if I can get a lot of people to pray, and even better, if I can get them to pray really hard, God is more likely to give me what I ask for.

10. It’s really important to me that my understanding of the origin of the universe or the precision with which the biblical writers recorded all the events that they record is correct, otherwise the way that I think about my whole worldview could be mistaken.

11. It’s important to me that I know and can explain why X exists (where X is some feature of the universe, whether something in biology intersecting with the question of design, or X is the existence of suffering, or the existence of widespread ignorance or disbelief in my God). Otherwise, there’s a serious hole in my view of God.

That’s a list of eleven claims. If you believed them all, and called that whole list “Christianity,” and then at some point you came to doubt the validity of the last six of these claims, then you’ve come to doubt most of what you consider Christianity to be about. If you find yourself in that position, where one after another of your cherished beliefs have fallen to criticism that you couldn’t address, you might well start to think that the whole thing is a house of cards and give it up entirely. You shouldn’t, but you can perhaps see why somebody might think that. Imagine that you had eleven cards face down on the table in front of you and you previously thought that they were all aces. Your friend sits down opposite you and tells you that they’re not aces, so you decide to prove him wrong. One at a time, you start turning the cards over: Not an ace. Not an ace. Not an ace. Not an ace. Not an ace. Not an ace. That’s six in a row! Stop, you’re just embarrassing yourself. These cards aren’t aces after all. Now imagine that each card represents what is, in your view, an essential element of your Christian faith. Six in a row – all false. You can see why some might be tempted to quit at that point.

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A while ago I mentioned that I was speaking on an Episode of Elephant TV on the subject of Christian views on War and Peace.

Elephant TV is a very professional production consisting of episodes where Christians holding different perspectives on a range of hot topics get a chance to briefly set out their position, giving the wider Christian public (and any interested onlookers) a chance to hear the issues set out, hopefully prompting them to explore further on their own. Pat Brittenden and the crew have advised me that the episode I took part in is now available over at the Elephant TV site.

It’s not free but it’s cheap, and it’s a project worth supporting, so if you’re at all interested, check it out. It’s the kind of thing that would make a great viewing session for a group, followed by your discussion and drinks. 🙂

Glenn Peoples

1 Feb 2013. Here it is. Over the last little while my family has moved house (from Dunedin to Wellington) and begun settling into a new environment, we’re all living together again (!), and as promised Say Hello to my Little Friend is back in action for 2013!

This isn’t going to be like 2012. 2012 was slow. Now that life is back to something resembling normality, you’re staring down the barrel of blog and podcast output of 2011 proportions. Regular blogs, podcasts, reviews, and off-site activity to boot, including a stint as camp speaker for the Word of Life church in Auckland in late April.

As we launch headlong into 2013 here at SHTMLF, here are just a few reminders / requests / notices / whatever:

• If you’d like to have me speak at an event on any of the subjects I cover at the blog (or others, just ask), feel free to drop me a line. I’d love to take more opportunities to speak to groups on theology, biblical studies, apologetics or related issues, but the trick is knowing where the interest is.
• If you’d like to become a supporter, helping me to produce material here at the site and also providing me with the opportunity to invest in more resources to increase my output and to take part in potentially more speaking engagements, have a look at my donate page for my info.
• You’re always welcome to contact me with suggestions for future blog and podcast subjects. I can’t promise anything, but asking never hurt anyone.
• Lastly, invite your friends to check this site out! I want to spread the word far and wide to liven up the discussion and to let more people know about what’s available here, to make this year at Say Hello to my Little Friend better than ever. They should read the blog policy before jumping into the discussion.

Enjoy 2013

New year’s day 2013 is just six hours away. But that’s not what you should be counting down for.

Friday, 1 February 2013. That’s the day you should be counting down for.

Now get off the internet.

When I was in Oxford in 2010 it was my quaint pleasure to have a few pints (although not all during the same visit) at the Eagle and Child Pub on St Giles – a pub since 1650, and a favourite meeting place at midday on Tuesdays for nearly two decades of the “Inklings”: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Tolkien’s son Christopher, Lewis’ brother Warren (“Warnie”), Owen Barfield, Roger Lancelyn Green, Adam Fox, Hugo Dyson, R. A. “Humphrey” Havard, J. A. W. Bennett, Lord David Cecil, Nevill Coghill, and in the time leading up to Lewis’ death, Walter Hooper. The Inklings would usually meet to discuss pieces of writing that its members were working on, and occasionally to engage in a bit of literary frivolity.

Not long ago I met with fellow Wellingtonian Richard Goode, who blogs over at Eternal Vigilance, at Trax Bar and Café at the Wellington Railway Station. We discussed philosophy (ethics and philosophy of religion) and politics (sensibly, nothing like what you see on New Zealand news media), and I realised again how much I miss that in real life. It’s not exactly the Eagle and Child, I know, but Richard put to me the idea of meeting regularly to discuss a reading and inviting like-minded people to the “New Inklings.” The fact that that day also marked the world premiere of Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit seemed to make the suggestion all the more apropos. Richard and I are Christians with a PhD each in philosophy, and the readings would have some connection to one or both of those things at various times; philosophy, theology, biblical interpretation, social and justice issues from a Christian perspective, religion in the public square and probably other things.

We welcome those who would like to meet regularly for similar discussion. You don’t need a PhD, but a somewhat academic background wouldn’t hurt, and you’d certainly need academic interests. Do you have to be a Christian to take part? Well, not all of the original Inklings were (although granted, our subject matter will be a little different from theirs), and provided you’re interested in discussing the above issues with respect, good will and an irenic spirit, feel free to come along. Once we get a few people coming along (future gatherings will be advertised via our respective blogs and social media), we’ll also discuss things like how often we’ll meet in future, perhaps the venue, and such sundry matters.

So – our next meeting is…

When: 5 pm, Wednesday 12 December, 2012

Where: Trax Bar and Cafe, Platform 1, Wellington Railway Station

Topic: Theism, Atheism, and Rationality (a fairly well-known paper by Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga)

See you there!

Glenn

You’ll have noticed, if you’re a regular, that much of 2012 has been very quiet here.

As I announced back in April 2012, in May 2012 I moved to Wellington to work on a project for my employer. My fairly lowly job title and salary didn’t change, but the work was more engaging and the move would hopefully give me some experience that might help in getting a new job. I generally keep personal details out of the blog, but I don’t mind admitting that finances have never been great since graduating in 2008 (not that they were great before then, but that’s to be expected). Plus, if we could eventually move to Wellington there would be more opportunities in terms of jobs, speaking opportunities and who knows what else (Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and is centrally located). At the time we didn’t know whether my time in Wellington would be long or short-term. We’ve found out since then (a few weeks ago) that my time with the project has been extended until the end of June 2013, so we started making plans to move to Wellington with a view to me using the next six months or so securing a permanent job after June.

I thought that perhaps the blog output might have increased during my time here, but I was wrong. It’s hard to be in “normal” mode – or hard for me at any rate – when you’re away from the ones you love, living in a permanent state of limbo (or so it has felt). Plus, my access to the internet has been a bit more limited than before (I’m staying in an apartment building where the cheapest internet access I have is mobile broadband, which is fairly pricey here in New Zealand). I’ve been living apart from my wife and our four children for seven months now (visiting home one weekend per month, but for the last several months that became three visits every two months), and it hasn’t been easy – being a hermit is an interesting insight into one’s own mental health! Husbands and wives (and their children, some of the time) should be together.

However – and this is the point of this blog entry – all that’s about to change. A few days ago I was very pleased to learn that my application for a permanent job here in Wellington (with the same employer that I currently have) was successful and I will be starting on the 4th of February 2013. Change is in the air. Today my wife and kids say goodbye to our former home in Dunedin and start making the trek north (they will be joined by my wife’s father, who will make most of the trip with them). I suppose we’re technically homeless. They’re off to my in-laws (north of Wellington), where I will join them all for Christmas, and some time between now and the end of January we need to find a house to rent in Wellington (I still have this apartment until then). Wellington is much more expensive to rent in, but I’ll be earning a little more in my new role, so it evens out. We’ll just have to swallow hard and go a little more into the red to move our things up. The theory (and a pretty plausible one, say I) is that it’s worth it in the long term (and it’s still cheaper than replacing everything). Now… to seek out and make the most of the opportunities this may present.

I do aim to be more proactive in 2013 in reaching out beyond the blog and podcast. More on this in the near future.

So – there’s some background into what’s happening with me and why things have been a little slow here. I’ve set aside hopes of an academic role for the next little while in order to focus on reality (!!), but I’m certainly welcoming this change and the opportunities it may present. Once we’re set up in our new place, things should pick up again, and once we’re a couple of months into 2013 the blog and podcast should be back in full swing. It’s nice to see that there have still been plenty of visitors to the site, and here’s to many more in 2013.

Glenn

What, if anything, should the idea of sin do to our political vision?

Here’s another short post on religion and politics (even shorter than the last one), and it won’t be the last in the short term (I’m chipping away at a longer post on classical liberalism and welfare). A friend of mine commented recently that one of the reason’s she’s not a libertarian is that she believes that human beings are sinners. Another person quickly replied that the reason that he is a libertarian is that he believes that people are sinners. Both of these friends are evangelical Christians.

I think the first to speak in this instance was correct. There may be other reasons not to be a libertarian, granted, but one of the reasons is that human beings have this tendency to do the wrong thing; to be selfish, to not consider the needs of others, to be more concerned about our own rights than the rights of others and so on. If we lived in a libertarian society then, I strongly suspect that the plight of the less well-off would be much worse, among other things.

But it’s important not to make the opposite error: The error of thinking that since individual human beings are so messed up, what we really need is a group of these human beings in control with all the power, making sure all the areas of our life where we could go wrong are regulated. If one human being is a sinner, how is that problem solved if we put a bunch of sinners together and give them all the power? Just as individuals can go wrong by neglecting their responsibilities towards others in this thing called society that they want to have the benefit of belonging to, so those in power can go equally wrong. Their ideas about what is ultimately good for us, about how the goods of society are best spent, about what values should be enshrined in law, about what causes we should support, etc, are surely susceptible to error if each of those in the ruling party is as bad as the rest of us, and the idea of a group of sinners like us having the ability to force everyone to support those ideas and submit to them – all of them – is deeply dystopian in my view.

This is why I think that if the Christian idea of sin should push us in any direction politically, it should push us away from either of these extremes: From libertarianism at one end and socialism or any form of totalitarianism at the other. I think the classical liberal model does a good job of this.

What say you?

Glenn Peoples