Rawls' Rejection of Utilitarianism

If you were an atheist, what kind of ethical system would you appeal to? One possibility is utilitarianism. But utilitarianism has some problems.

See, e.g., this article on John Rawls' attack on utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism seeks to answer the question: how can we maximize people's preferences. How can we achieve the most satisfaction possible for everyone. But utilitarian theory, claims Rawls, "has some odd consequences." Why, e.g., is rape "wrong?" The article states: 

"A utilitarian would have to answer that the pain to the victim outweighs the pleasure to the rapist. Surely, though, this is not why rape is wrong; the pleasure the rapist gets shouldn’t be counted at all, and the whole thing sounds ridiculous. (By the way, Judge Richard Posner, who might be called Jeremy Bentham redivivus, accepts just this view of rape in his Sex and Reason.)"

Consider this. Executing a few Danish cartoonists may bring pleasure to a Muslim mob. Doing this would achieve greater satisfaction for a greater number of people. "A utilitarian would have to endorse the execution." Herein lies the problem. "As Rawls says, “there is a sense in which classical utilitarianism fails to take seriously the distinction between persons.”"

Rawls rejects utilitarianism, and puts forth his own theory in his famous A Theory of Justice. 

Fruit-Bearing Is Non-Circumstancial

Michigan Central Station, in Corktown, Detroit

The biblical fruit of the Spirit flourishes in every connected Jesus-follower, no matter what the circumstances. As do the Big Three of faith, hope, and love. 

It's like the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat. A thermometer reacts to the environment, going up and down, contingent on the temperature. But with a thermostat we set the environment. A person who is like a thermostat sets the spiritual environment to God's Kingdom. We do this as we abide in Christ, like a branch connected to Jesus the Vine.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.

8 

They will be like a tree planted by the water

    that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

    its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

    and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Howard Thurman writes:

"The prophet Jeremiah pictures the man who depends on God, who has God for his confidence, as a tree planted beside a stream sending his roots down to the water. He has no fear of scorching heat, his leaves are always green. He goes on bearing fruit when all around him is barren and serene. In other words such a man looks out on life with quiet eyes." (40-Day Journey With Howard Thurman, 24)

As we maintain our God-connectness we "live serene," and view life through "quiet eyes."

One-Hour Seminary - What About People Who Have Never Heard of Jesus?

Jesus claimed he was the way, truth, and life, and that no one came to the Father except by him. If Jesus is the only way to God, what about people born before he lived? How are they saved? What about people living during his time, but miles away from Israel? What is the eternal status of people groups who never heard the name of Jesus?

I'll answer those questions this coming Tuesday night, 9-10 EST, streaming live on Facebook. Twenty-five minutes of teaching; a half hour of live Q&A.

Become a Facebook friend and tune in to One-Hour Seminary.

What Scientists Think About Religion

For years Rice University sociologist Elaine Ecklund has been researching the relationship between scientists and religion.

She published her results in Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think.

She summarizes her findings in this essay - "What Scientists Think About Religion." She writes:

"Almost a quarter of Americans think scientists are hostile to religion. But what do we really know about how scientists think about morality, spirituality and faith?
From 2005 to 2008, I surveyed nearly 1,700 natural and social scientists on their views about religion, spirituality and ethics and spoke with 275 of them in depth in their offices and laboratories. It turns out that nearly 50 percent of scientists identify with a religious label, and nearly one in five is actively involved in a house of worship, attending services more than once a month. While many scientists are completely secular, my survey results show that elite scientists are also sitting in the pews of our nation’s churches, temples and mosques."

For updates and links to her writings, here's her website.

Dr. Michael Brown Speaking at Our Summer 2018 Conference

We have secured Dr. Michael Brown as one of the main speakers at our summer 2018 Holy Spirit Renewal Conference.

June 24-28

You can find conference information and registration HERE.

What Makes Jesus Different From Other Gods? - Questions With God

Darren Wilson has released his "Questions with God" video series.



It was my privilege to be part of this project.



In this clip Darren asks me the question, "what makes Christianity different from the other world religions?"



You can check out the videos HERE. You can see the promo clips HERE.

Keep Going Deep

I begin each day with the Psalms, Proverbs, and Thomas Merton.

I began reading Merton in the late 70s.

In 1990 I picked up this book, and read the daily entries for years.

Ten years ago I got this on my Kindle, and read it every day.

Why read Merton? Because few people had a more focused commitment to developing the heart, with the belief that the shape of the heart shapes outward action. (See Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart.)

Jesus went after human hearts. If we want culture to change, focus on changing the inner life.

We see Merton's commitment to this here. He writes:

"I believe that I have the right and the duty to try to go on to a more pure and simple and primitive form of life...
The one thing necessary is a true interior and spiritual life, true growth, on my own, in depth, in a new direction. Whatever new direction God opens up for me. My job is to press forward, to grow interiorly, to pray, to break away from attachments and to defy fears, to grow in faith, which has its own solitude, to seek an entirely new perspective and new dimension in my life. To open up new horizons at any cost. To desire this and let the Holy Spirit take care of the rest."
(A Year with Thomas Merton, Kindle Locations 4489-4497)

That's from today's Merton entry. Add that to my Psalms and Proverbs readings for today, and I am focused on life's most important thing.

Plus, God spoke to me, and said, "Do not be tempted by the shallow waters of relevance. Keep...   going... deep."

***
If you want to go deeper, see my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

If You Commit, Follow Through

Maumee Bay State Park, Ohio

It is better not to make a vow

than to make one and not fulfill it.

Ecclesiastes 5:5

We've all made a commitment that we have not followed through on. I have. Some do this habitually. The result is they become unbelievable.

If you make a commitment, follow through on it. To commit without follow through means nothing, creates distrust, and is a sign of entitlement if you defend your inaction.

Don't assume people will understand and grade you on a curve. John Townsend writes:

"This belief system says:
 • I’m a good person and I have good intentions.
• I try my best.
• People will see that I am trying.
• I give people a break and they should do the same with me."

Townsend explains:

"This is understandable. We should be understanding and recognize that people have good hearts and are trying hard. But at the heart of this belief system lies a much darker and unhealthy assumption: I am entitled to be judged on my intentions and not my actions. This quickly becomes a demand that no one hold me accountable for the fruit of my behaviors. It’s entitlement speaking once again, and it’s bad for everyone."
- John Townsend, The Entitlement Cure: Finding Success in Doing Hard Things the Right Way, pp. 184-185)

Praying Within the Big Dance

Bamboo, near Brasilia, Brazil

Since 1981 my extended praying day has been Tuesday. On Tuesday afternoons I go alone to a quiet place, away from distractions, and talk with God about what we are thinking and doing together. Solitary praying is one-on-one, God and I, for several hours.

As I meet with God I carry certain core beliefs with me. They are:

1. God exists. God is real. There is a God. God is. Without this, praying is an illusion. In the act of praying I am keeping company with the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, necessarily existent (everlasting; without beginning or end), personal agent who created and sustains all things. This is no small appointment I have!

2. God is a personal being. God desires relationship. The Christian idea of God as a Trinity makes sense of God as essentially relational. God, in his being, is three relating Persons in One. God, as a Three-Personed Being, makes conceptual sense of the idea that God   is   love. Everlastingly, the Father has been loving the Son, the Son has been loving the Spirit, the Spirit has been loving the Father, and round and round in the Big Dance. To pray is to accept God’s invitation to the Big Dance.

3. God made me. For what? For relationship with him. God desires relationship. He made me for such a partnership as this. When I pray I am living in the heart of God’s desire for me.

4. God knows me. In praying God’s Spirit searches me out. God is aware of my deepest thoughts and inclinations, many of which are beyond me. God knows me better than I know myself. This would be devastating, were it not for the fact that…

5. God loves me. God, in his essence, is love. Therefore, God cannot not-love. This is good news for me! As I put 4 and 5 together I’m singing “Amazing Grace” accompanied by tears of gratitude and joy.

6. God desires me to love and know him in return. God has called me into a reciprocal relationship. Between God and me is a give-and-take.

This is where praying comes in. To pray is to enter a loving-knowing relationship with God. When I talk with God I often begin by asking, “God, is everything all right between you and me?” This is the “Search me, O God” moment. Then, I listen. If God reveals something that’s breaking relationship with him, I confess it. It then becomes God’s delight to forgive me. God loves doing this because God is love. God desires to heal anything that breaks relationship.

In praying, I talk to God. I express my love to God. I voice concerns to him. I don’t hesitate to ask for myself if my request feels kingdom advancing. This is called “petitionary prayer.” I meet some who feel weird about asking for themselves. That feeling is not from God.

I also pray for others. This is called “intercessory prayer.”   All these kind of things and more are what happen when I talk with God.

In praying I listen to God. When God speaks to me, I write it down. I keep a spiritual journal, which is a record of the voice and activity of God to me. In this way I remember the things God says to me. God’s history with me is more precious than material things and accomplishments.

I have found that God has much to say to me today. I take “This is the day the Lord has made” literally. Today is the day of encounter for me. God has plans and purposes for me, which have to do with his kingdom and his righteousness. I seek these two things in the first place. Then God will add all good things unto me.

There is no formula for this, because praying is relationship with God. Praying cannot be programmed. No two dialogues are the same. Praying is a movement, not an institution.

There is more to prayer as relationship than the things I have shared above. Yet there are essentials that apply to any strong relationship: listening, understanding and being understood and, of course, love. I have such things in mind, residually in the background of my soul, when I am praying.

- John Piippo, Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God (Kindle Locations 134-171). WestBow Press. Kindle Edition.

Two Books That Help in Understanding Culture

Two of the best books I read this summer are:

The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, by Tom Nichols

People are now exposed to more information than ever before, provided both by technology and by increasing access to every level of education. These societal gains, however, have also helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues. Today, everyone knows everything: with only a quick trip through WebMD or Wikipedia, average citizens believe themselves to be on an equal intellectual footing with doctors and diplomats. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism.

As Tom Nichols shows in The Death of Expertise, this rejection of experts has occurred for many reasons, including the openness of the internet, the emergence of a customer satisfaction model in higher education, and the transformation of the news industry into a 24-hour entertainment machine. Paradoxically, the increasingly democratic dissemination of information, rather than producing an educated public, has instead created an army of ill-informed and angry citizens who denounce intellectual achievement.

Nichols has deeper concerns than the current rejection of expertise and learning, noting that when ordinary citizens believe that no one knows more than anyone else, democratic institutions themselves are in danger of falling either to populism or to technocracy-or in the worst case, a combination of both. The Death of Expertise is not only an exploration of a dangerous phenomenon but also a warning about the stability and survival of modern democracy in the Information Age. (from amazon.com)

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, by Adam Alter.

Welcome to the age of behavioral addiction—an age in which half of the American population is addicted to at least one behavior. We obsess over our emails, Instagram likes, and Facebook feeds; we binge on TV episodes and YouTube videos; we work longer hours each year; and we spend an average of three hours each day using our smartphones. Half of us would rather suffer a broken bone than a broken phone, and Millennial kids spend so much time in front of screens that they struggle to interact with real, live humans.

In this revolutionary book, Adam Alter, a professor of psychology and marketing at NYU, tracks the rise of behavioral addiction, and explains why so many of today's products are irresistible. Though these miraculous products melt the miles that separate people across the globe, their extraordinary and sometimes damaging magnetism is no accident. The companies that design these products tweak them over time until they become almost impossible to resist.

By reverse engineering behavioral addiction, Alter explains how we can harness addictive products for the good—to improve how we communicate with each other, spend and save our money, and set boundaries between work and play—and how we can mitigate their most damaging effects on our well-being, and the health and happiness of our children. (from amazon.com)