Worldview
On a cloudy afternoon in March I went to Barnes & Noble in Grandville, ordered a grande tea, and wrote for 5 hours. I wrote and wrote. I looked back at a few books that have influenced me the past few years and tried to draw from them while also telling a bit of my own story.
I remember reading once in college that
“The human personality has a natural inclination to reveal itself. Furthermore, when that inclination is blocked and we close ourselves to others, it is very likely that we will experience emotional difficulties.”
“Emotional difficulties” sounds more unpleasant than pleasant, ergo (Conan O’Brien, anyone?) I condensed my 5 hours of labor into 10 blog posts, so as to not experience emotional difficulties.
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01: My 75th Birthday Party
There are a million ways to move forward in a million directions for a million reasons. I’m tired of looking for the one thing, the one sermon, the one book, the one song, the one person, the one experience, the one class, the one quote, the one day that’s going to change my life. Winter [...]
02: Along the Way
I’ve had a phrase rattling around in my head for a while. If I were to write a book perhaps this would be the title because it seems to be a good way to approach life, as I’m learning that it’s more of a journey than a destination: “Along the Way…”
It has come to my [...]
03: The (Condensed) Story of My Spiritual Life
Growing up I always thought I was a Christian because my family to church a few times a month and I believed in God. In High School I began attending a conservative Baptist church with my friends, felt convicted during one of the altar calls (which took place every Sunday), walked the aisle, prayed a [...]
04: Theology Like Stars
Let’s say that we live in a world in which we navigate our way through by looking at the stars.
My first observation would be that the point is not to stare up at the stars our entire lives – the stars are only there to guide us along our way. The point is to walk [...]
05: Presuppositions & Interpretation
“All arguments are rationally avoidable in the end.”
–Dr. Tim Keller
I was floored last year when I learned that there are no completely airtight cases. It’s possible to rationally argue your way out of anything.
Anything.
To make my point, here’s an absurd example. Let’s say that I don’t believe I exist. 99.9% of people will tell you [...]
06: Postmodernism, Belief & Knowledge
Here is a very brief sketch of what I’ve learned about our (Western) world’s basic approach towards knowledge (and thus, towards living. I am not interested in random knowledge or philosophy for the sake of filling my brain. If I wanted useless information in my head I would watch ESPN all day. The point of [...]
07: My Bias & The Bible
For the past several years I have been searching for the best way to view the world. I have read hundreds of books, blogs, and articles; listened to thousands of hours of lectures and teachings; and spent way too much time pondering the ultimate questions. If I have learned anything from these exercises it has [...]
08: The World is Good, Evil, and Being Rescued
During my spiritual toddler years I thought the world was a temporary and evil place. I still believe it is one of those. My opinion has changed, though, after being convinced by the very same text that was used to teach me the opposite. But I also have eyes and ears and [...]
09: Story, Rescue, So What?
“We are the sum of the stories we tell ourselves, and those stories are necessarily rooted in our experience, and by how we choose to interpret the experiences of others. These mechanics of memory create a new, present reality that then determines the future.”
– The Stories We Tell Ourselves, Newsweek July 14, 2008
Contrary to [...]
10: Sources & Socrates
I have only referenced 10 sources here, as this is a very brief sketch. Perhaps in the future I will explore these topics more in depth. For now, though, this is it. Consider it version 1.0. Life is an excellent adventure, and in the words of that Socrates dude, “The unexamined life is not worth [...]
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