If You Want to Learn How to Think Clearly...

 

                                                                 (Our grandson Levi)

If you want to learn how to think clearly, see this new book by two brilliant philosophers, who are also followers of Jesus. 

Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult: A Beginner's Guide to Life's Big Questions

by Garrett DeWeese and J. P. Moreland.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book, written by two men who are both high-level philosophers and exemplary Christians, will serve to initiate neophytes into the significance, joys, and challenges of philosophy as well as offer journeymen philosophers (such as myself) a rich banquet of philosophical reflection. I applaud the inclusion of new chapters (on aesthetics and the philosophy of religion) to this edition."

-- Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary, author of Philosophy in Seven Sentences

"I think the title of this book is misleading. DeWeese and Moreland, who have trained countless students to think clearly and pursue truth, don't make philosophy slightly less difficult, they make it incredibly more accessible. It is no easy task to simplify without being simplistic, to explain without short-selling the essentials, but by succeeding they've served us all well."

-- John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview and host of BreakPoint

"Fuzzy thinking leads to careless living. This is true even for Christians. The world cries out for meaning but many believers remain silent, embarrassed by their shallow faith. Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult is a boot camp for the mind led by two 'drill instructors' who are at the same time highly respected philosophers and committed Jesus followers. DeWeese and Moreland help the reader think more clearly about thinking and also about reality, knowledge, ethics, and the good life. Don't read this book just to have your mind tickled. Read it to sharpen your thinking so you can love God with all of your mind."

-- Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries

"In my opinion, Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult is unrivaled among introductions to philosophy―Christian or not. DeWeese and Moreland cover all the philosophical terrain with clarity, depth, and insight. More than that, they weave their conclusions into a fully integrated, captivating, biblical world picture. This is a rarity―certainly not something you can do on your own. The result is a Christian and intellectual tour de force. I have assigned this book to students for fifteen years and more. I can tell you this with confidence: it will sharpen your thinking and increase your faith. It is indispensable for prevailing in our spiritually troubled times."

-- Richard Brian Davis, professor of philosophy at Tyndale University

"Philosophy is never an easy subject to master, but it can be made easier! Here two well-known, well-respected, and excellent philosophers, Garrett DeWeese and J. P. Moreland, provide an outstanding roadmap that attempts to do just this―provide an overview with easier explanations and punctuated with many examples and illustrations to help along the way. Highly recommended!"

-- Gary R. Habermas, distinguished research professor at Liberty University

"Here's your chance to learn the fundamentals of philosophy in an accessible, easy-to-understand format. In the end, you'll wonder how you ever got along without this essential foundation to your faith."

-- Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ and God's Outrageous Claims

"If you want clear thinking on thinking clearly, this book's for you. DeWeese and Moreland undertake an ambitious project, explaining philosophy to nonphilosophers, with a good sense of subject and audience. Readers receive a working introduction to philosophical vocabulary and concepts in an accessible, applied style. It requires effort (they promised it would be only slightly less difficult!), but the reward is greater clarity on what is real, true, and good―a worthy goal for any Christian."

-- Robert Drovdahl, Seattle Pacific University

"Few writers in philosophy are as accessible to the novice as Garrett DeWeese and J. P. Moreland. Once again, they have filled a great need for an introduction to philosophy in Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult, second edition. Two features contribute to making this book an excellent introduction. First is its comprehensiveness. With the addition of two new chapters on aesthetics and philosophy as well as the expansion of a number of other chapters, the book now covers a host of subjects on the traditional topics in philosophy. The metaphysics chapter itself is worth the price of the book. Second, they write in such an accessible style that it makes philosophical discussions not only clear but also enjoyable to read. The book is full of excellent examples and illustrations that clarify many philosophical concepts. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the basics of philosophy and would especially recommend it as a text for an introduction to philosophy. I plan to use it for my future classes."

-- Mark W. Foreman, professor of philosophy and religion at Liberty University and coauthor of How Do We Know?

PENTECOST AND RACISM

Prayer Is an Education

 

                                                     (My Back Yard, after an April snow.)

In Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov Father Zossima offers this counsel on prayer: Young man, be not forgetful of prayer. 

Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, 

there will be new feeling and new meaning in it 

which will give you fresh courage, 

and you will understand that prayer is an education. 

Here are some takeaways from this quote for me. 

• To pray is to learn praying. We learn more about prayer by actually praying than by reading about prayer.

• To pray is to learn about God. An intimate education in the being of God is gained in a life of praying. We learn things about God by praying that we cannot learn by reading about God. 

• To pray is to grow in discernment regarding the ways of God. Praying teaches us the distinction between deciding and discerning. 

• To pray is to learn to hear the shepherding voice of God. In a life of praying we learn discipleship. 

• To pray is to gain and feel the heart of God. To pray is to grieve and rejoice with God. Praying educates us in sorrow and joy.

• To pray is to learn trust in God. To pray is to trust. I cannot authentically pray without trust-jumping into the arms of God. 

• To pray is to gain an education in obedience. Where there is disobedience, the prayer life screeches to a grinding halt. In the obedience that emerges from the act of praying trust grows, hence prayer grows and flourishes. 

• The praying person graduates with a PhD in patience.

(From my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.) 

Churches Drunk on Earthly Power

Wildflower by our kitchen window.

 Richard Foster wrote a book called The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power. Tim Keller wrote Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters. John Piper wrote Living in the Light: Money, Sex, and Power. The Big Three temptations in life are, arguably, money, sex, and power.

To quest after money, sex, and power is to desire the "world," as understood in Romans 12:1-2. Church leaders have done this, led their churches to follow, and in so doing have lost their way. Hence, the Consumer Church. The Entertainment Church. The Metricized Church. People-pleasing. Happy. The worship of Numbers.

See, e.g., The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus' Path of Power in a Church that has Abandoned It, by Jamin Coggin and Kyle Strobel. Their focus is on churches that have succumbed to earthly power, and how to walk in the power of Jesus.

When I began to read I found this book was delivering more than I expected. For example:

"In a culture drunk on power and in need of an intervention, the church has too often become an enabler. In many places, churches openly affirm the way from below. Instead of being told how desperately I am in need of God, I am repeatedly told how much God needs me. Instead of being exhorted to pick up my cross and follow Christ, I am told that Jesus wants to be my partner in the plan I have to rid my life of all struggles and challenges. We hear gospels of moralism, centering on my power to become a better person, and we hear sermons offering up God as merely another resource along my journey for successful and happy living. Sermons become pep talks amid a quest for power and significance. Instead of worship being an invitation to come before God in humble awe and reverence, worship becomes an experience meant to lift us above the travails of everyday life and give us a sense of transcendence. Instead of hearing God’s vision of redeeming all things in Christ by the power of his Holy Spirit, we hear of the pastor’s vision to grow an even bigger church that does bigger things so that he can be powerful and we can be powerful with him."  (pp. 14-15)

***

My two books are:

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God

To Be Free Is Not to Be Relevant

(Pelican, in Cancun)

The only fish that goes with the flow is a dead fish. Beware of the flow.

The person that only goes with their desires is a slave. The one who reacts in response to an urge, a feeling, that they have to do something, is not free. 

Thomas Merton writes:

"No person who simply eats and drinks whenever he feels like eating and drinking, who smokes whenever he feels the urge to light a cigarette, who gratifies his curiosity and sensuality whenever they are stimulated, can consider himself a free person." (Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, 85)

The fish that swims against the flow is alive. Free people swim upstream.  "Freedom," for the follower of Jesus, is choosing what God wants, against urges, feelings, and desires. Against culture. This is a higher form of living.

When God interrupts your evening agenda, and calls you to help the needy person, freedom is getting out of your jammies, putting on your clothes, and heading into the snowy night on a rescue mission in spite of your feelings. 

Interruptibility is a mark of freedom.

To serve others selflessly is a sign of freedom. To self-deny is to be free. To be free isn't to do what you want, it is to be free of what you want. 

Can a person freely choose according to their desires? Yes. This happens when both mind and heart have been morphed into the "mind of Christ." This person is one who, "whether he eats or drinks or whatever else he does, does all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Merton writes:

"This does not mean that he merely registers in his mind an abstract intention to glorify God. It means that in all his actions he is free from the superficial automatism of conventional routine. It means that in all that he does he acts freely, simply, spontaneously, from the depths of his heart, moved by love." (Ib., 15)

Trying to be "relevant" places too much emphasis on "the flow." "Relevance" is the wide gate that leads to destruction. Jesus goes against the flow of culture. His followers swim with him, upstream. 

The Jesus Movement is not relevant, but counter-cultural. In many cases, it defies relevance.

Progressive Christianity - Collected Thoughts

 

At our annual summer conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin, I'll be presenting an hour and a half workshop on progressive Christianity. I'm working on my presentation today.

Here are posts I have made related to this. (There are more coming...)

And note: I could never self-identify as a "progressive" Christian. 

What Is "Progressive Christianity?"

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity: Point #1 

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity: Point #2

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity: Point #3

Postmodernism Pollutes Progressive Christianity (An Example)

EXPLAINING POSTMODERNISM

It Is Irrational and Unloving to Affirm All Beliefs

Love Does Not Affirm Sin

The Return of Sin

The University of Affirmation

Welcoming and Sometimes Disaffirming

Should We Affirm Everyone's Worldview?

God Save You From Yourself (Not "You Be You")

To Love Is Not to Agree

To Disagree Is Not to Hate

Love Is Not the Greatest

God Is Presently With Me, In Experience

(Glen Lake, Michigan)

9 AM. May 4, 2021

Pandemic. The economy. Cultural upheaval.

God's presence. 

I'm in God's presence, this morning. I am experiencing the presence of God.

God's presence is not a function of life's circumstances. God is not limited by whether we sail on smooth waters or stormy seas. God is in the chaos as well as the calm. 

God's presence is experiential. I have stacks of spiritual journals recording my encounters with God, ranging from possible (could have been God), to probable (probably was God), to certain (beyond a reasonable doubt, that was God).

It is possible to experience God. There is nothing logically impossible about experiencing God. "Experiencing God" is not logically incoherent, like "square circle" is.

It is probable that I will experience God. Because I find the Christian story to be true, I expect to experience God. Experiencing God's presence is integral to the social imaginary of Christian theism. Today, I have expectation.

I know I have experienced God. I have had events and situations where it would be unreasonable for me to disbelieve. In such instances, reductionism to a purely physical explanation without remainder would require a leap of faith too vast for me to make.

These experiences keep me going, spiritually. They encourage me. They change me. They guide me. They provide ongoing confirmation to my belief that God comes to me as Emmanuel, God-with-me.

Thomas Merton writes:

"There exists some point at which I can meet God in a real and experimental contact with His infinite actuality. This is the “place” of God, His sanctuary— it is the point where my contingent being depends upon His love. Within myself is a metaphorical apex of existence at which I am held in being by my Creator. God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of Himself. A word will never be able to comprehend the voice that utters it."
Merton, Thomas, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 37)


***
My two books are...

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God

Letter to My Church Family - May 3, 20211

 

                                                                       (Levi and me.)

Good Morning Redeemer Family!

Here are some things I want to share with you.

GIVING. You can give online to our church's General Fund - HERE. Thank you!

MOTHER'S DAY! We have special gift bags for our moms this coming Sunday. Once again I am including a 5X7 photo of picture I took a few months ago. If you are a mom who is not able to come Sunday, and would like a gift bag, please send me your home address. Trevor Robinson will bring it to you on Sunday afternoon (thank you Trevor!).

SUNDAY MORNING MAY 16. Tim and I will stand on the platform together and co-preach on PREPARING FOR PENTECOST. We are excited about what God is going to do!

HOW TO COMMUNICATE WHEN IN CONFLICT. I will share how to do this - Sunday evening, May 16, 7 PM. Feel free to invite friends who might benefit from this. The zoom link is -  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81697331062

PENTECOST SUNDAY, MAY 23. Robby Dawkins will preach. We are looking to have this service outdoors. More information TBA. Invite a friend for this Holy Spirit event!

ON A PERSONAL NOTE...  Today I begin what may be a summer-long study of the Book of Romans. In addition to the biblical text, I am using several commentaries on Romans that I have collected over the years. If you are interested in joining me on this study, let me know, and I'll share with you resources and thoughts.

Blessings and Love to you all, on this great day that the Lord has made!

PJ

The Spiral of Silence

 

                                                                  (Monroe County)

Imagine there is a theory, called X. Five years ago "liking" X was unpopular. But today, X is popular. So, a lot of people now are liking X. If X was not popular today, these same people would not publicly like X, just as they were voiceless concerning X five, maybe ten years ago.

The "spiral of silence" explains this behavior. "The spiral of silence counts among the most cited and replicated theories in social sciences." (Here.)

The theory of the spiral of silence can be broken down into the following core hypotheses (Ib.):

• Most people are afraid of social isolation.
• Therefore people constantly observe other people’s behavior in order to find out which opinions and behaviors are met with approval or rejection in the public sphere.
• People exert “isolation pressure” on other people, for instance, by frowning or turning away when somebody says or does something that is rejected by public opinion.
• People tend to hide their opinion away when they think that they would expose themselves to “isolation pressure” with their opinion.
• People who feel public support, in contrast, tend to express their opinion loud and clear.
• Loud opinion expressions on the one side and silence on the other side sets the spiral of silence into motion.
• The process is typically ignited by emotionally and morally laden issues.
• In case of consensus on an issue in a given society, it is unlikely that a spiral of silence will be set into motion. The spiral is usually elicited by controversial issues.
• The actual number of partisans of an opinion is not necessarily decisive for their weight in the spiral of silence. The opinion of a minority may actually be perceived as majority in the public sphere if their partisans act assertively enough and publicly defend their opinion with emphasis.
• Mass media may have a decisive influence on the formation of public opinion. If the media repeatedly (in a “cumulative” way) and concordantly (in a “consonant” way) support one side in a public controversy, this side will stand a significantly higher chance of finishing the spiral-of-silence process as winner. 
• Fear of and threat with social isolation operate subconsciously: Most people do not consciously think about how their behavior is oriented by public opinion.
• Public opinion is limited in time and space. Wherever people live together in societies, public opinion will function as a mechanism of social control. However, what specifically public opinion approves or rejects will change with time and differ from place to place.
• Public opinion stabilizes and integrates society because conflicts will be resolved through spirals of silence in favor of one opinion. This is what is referred to as the integration function of public opinion.

The University of Affirmation

                                                 (My back yard, a week and a half ago.)

A year ago one of my former philosophy students asked to meet with me. They had become a "progressive Christian," a term I could never embrace. (See, e.g., here, here, and here.)

At one point in our discussion the former student shared a belief about a certain philosopher's theory. I responded with, "You are wrong about that." I proceeded to tell them why they were wrong, but the look on their face told me I had upset them.

"How can you say I am wrong! You have offended me!"

I responded, "Because you are wrong. And, I'm not saying that to offend you."

My response didn't help them. I had wounded them. I had hurt them. (See 1 below.)

Here was, in this former student, manifested much that is wacked out in American culture. Here was Philip Rieff's "triumph of the therapeutic," Tom Nichols's "death of expertise," Jonathan Haidt's "coddling of the American mind," and Bradley Campbell's "rise of victimhood culture." Here was Neil Postman's "public discourse in the age of show business," and David Wells's "no place for truth." 

Here was the open abyss of the "spiral of silence." 

Here was the irrational face of "cancel culture." Before me was sitting a graduate of the University of Affirmation. Which, BTW and "Yay!", universities and scholars are rising up against, in the name of education, in the name of truth and academic freedom and free speech, to include entertaining dissenting voices.. (See here.)

***

1) In the postmodern metanarrative, authorial intention means nothing. To tell this former student that I had no intention of wounding them carried no weight, due to their unconscious and nonreflective embrace of the postmodern metanarrative.