The Temple

Interesting older interview…two parts

Daniel Dennett is the author of “Breaking the Spell,” a book about religion being the result of natural phenomenon. As a result of this premise he desires the “facts” of all religious belief to be a mandatory part of education in America. It is a fascinating video as he critiques Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”. His final plea is for people to discard the notion that morality is dependent upon the existence of God.

I find some of his observations to be fascinating, especially his observation that humanity is driven by culture which is driven by religion and the connection he makes to the idea of domination. It is important to listen to people like Dennett, they challenge us to examine our “interpretation” of facts. The interpretation of the facts he presents are driven by an anthropocentric world view, and he embraces human “design” in reverse engineering. All the things that theologians want to say about God, atheists want to say about humanity.

More to come later, I have a lot to say, but I am being distracted from sermon preparation…

from www.ted.com posted with vodpod

Technorati Tags: Daniel Dennett, Breaking the Spell, TED, Rick Warren, Religion, Morality

I heard David Levy on the radio a few weeks ago, nobody better than Stephen Colbert to highlight the problems with humor and sarcasm. The philosophical underpinnings are more disturbing than the moral challenges with this sort of industry. Philosophically, people will not have a problem with this and it probably will embrace it openly. As you listen to the guy you will notice that he sees no problem whatsoever with sex with a robot. The reason for this is that he is a materialist, as are many people in the world (at least when it suits them). Since he believes that all that exists is the physical/material, he correctly concludes that there is no problem with sex with a robot, or any other kind of sex for that matter. The moral component is difficult to supply if you are a materialist, because all we are dealing with is what the “material” needs or wants.

Christianity does not support materialism, rather we would philosophically be considered dualists (at least of a sort, a longer discussion for another post). Since Christianity assumes more to life than a physical component, we attribute a spiritual quality to sex. It is more than simple physical procreation. This philosophical underpinning gives foundation to monogamy, fidelity and purity in the sexual experience. Sex is not made up of simply the physical activity but includes the underlying spiritual component. Christianity will have a problem with this not simply because of the moral component, rather we are most uncomfortable with the materialist underpinnings that leads to moral .

Unbelievers and believers who are not adept at critical thinking and have not evaluated their mindset and personal philosophy will fall into the trap of being materialists at one level, and moral at another. For instance, when it suits people they argue that if it happens in the privacy of a bedroom, it is private and is nothing more than “sex”, like an itch that needs to be scratched. It didn’t include the spiritual component. So we try to divorce the biological act from the spiritual act, as if there was no inherent connection. If we are only material beings, with no spiritual component, we are simply talking about a physical activity. It is simply biological function without the procreation element, or the STD element. But the Scripture doesn’t know about this dichotomy. Christianity is about correspondence between thinking and acting.

from stevebag.vodpod.com

Technorati Tags: Colbert, David Levy, Sex with Robots, Materialism, Dualism

STR (Stand To Reason) is a weekly radio program/podcast hosted by Greg Koukl. I got his support letter today and actually feel compelled to send him some $. Take a visit to STR and listen to some broadcasts that are truly worth your time, unlike most of the stuff you hear on Christian radio and TV. This is a trustworthy source of information and he will challenge your mind and your thinking.

In his letter he quotes Will Durant (a historian and the author of The Story of Civilization) who says this about the gospels:

“No one reading these scenes can doubt the reality of the figure behind them.  That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic, and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the Gospels.”

Technorati Tags: Greg Koukl, Stand To Reason, STR

That is a quote from the Jim Rome Show (Jim Rome is a nationally syndicated Radio and TV Sports personality). I don’t give any citations because he repeats it on a regular basis. When it is stated in such blatant fashion, we recoil in objection. But let me site two instances where this idea has permeated our moral underpinnings and effects our decision making.

My third son got his license to drive this last Wednesday. If you don’t have teenage drivers in your home, or it has been awhile since you have had a teen driver around, there are some new laws regarding teen drivers. They are initially issued a “provisional” license that has some restrictions. They cannot drive with friends for a year. They can only drive themselves or someone over the age of 21. They also cannot drive between the hours of 11pm and 5am. As a parent and a driver I love these laws.

So, last night my son asks me if he can run over to Jeff’s house. Jeff lives about a mile from our home. It was 11:10pm.

So I told Caleb, “it is 10 after 11.”

To which he responded, “It is?”

Then he asked me: “Can I go?”

Now I have a few problems at this point. I am a cool dad, and I hate telling my kids “no.” We live in a rural area, and it really isn’t a big deal. I am a parent trying to teach my children responsibility. But I am experienced as a father, so I don’t fall for the trap my son has unwittingly laid for me. In his head, as in mine, we have the same thought: “It is not a big deal…it is only a mile…his older brother is at Jeff’s and he could drive home…we live in Nuevo and farm kids drive at 6″ and on and on it goes. But this is an issue of responsibility, and he is old enough to make his own choices and face the consequences. So I tell him:

“Caleb, I am not going to tell you if you can go or not. That is your decision. You and I both read the provisions on your license, and it is after 11pm. It’s up to you if you want to break the law. Do you know the consequences of being caught, and are you willing to pay them? More importantly, can you change the rules whenever they don’t suit you? I am going to leave it up to you.”

Now, he stayed home. I was proud. But I have to tell you we both struggled with the title. “It isn’t cheating if you don’t get caught.”

The second issue where I saw this permeating our decision making was standing in line this morning for my wife’s wristband at Barnes and Noble so she can go back tonight at Midnight and buy her copies of Harry Potter. I struck up a conversation with a 20-something young man standing in line ahead of me. He told me that he has already started reading the book online. (People have gotten the book illegally and posted scans of the entire book online).

Here is the problem with that. The book was illegally acquired and illegally posted. Now this young man had nothing to do with that. But he did go ahead and take advantage of the stealing, and read the book online. We would probably absolve him of the “crime” because all he was doing was reading something he was going to legitimately pay for tonight anyway…what is the harm. We wouldn’t have actually gone into a store and stolen the book, but we have less compunction to read a stolen book online. Is it because we don’t run the risk of being “caught” and are free therefore to indulge ourselves?

Is there any difference between that and, let’s say, watching two movies at a theater in a day when you only paid for one. You know, when your movie is over, just slip into another of the 15 theaters and watch another? Would it be any different if I stole the actual book from the store with your knowledge, and loaned it to you to read?

What is the big deal? It’s only a few days. I am not hurting anyone. It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.

Technorati Tags: Jim Rome, Cheating, Ethics, Provisional License, Harry Potter

President Bush vetoed a bill that would have allowed for Embryonic Stem Cell research. There needs to be more non-political discussion about this issue. My biggest problem is that we have opposition to this process and seem happy to have a victory for the pro-life movement, but the embryos are still being destroyed - without the research. So where is the moral victory? If in fact the destruction of an embryo at this stage of development is murder of the same order as the holocaust, are we opposed to it only if it means that the taxpayers pay the bill? Hundreds of thousands of unused embryos are destroyed by fertility clinics because couples no longer have a need or use for them. I fail to see what the problem would be if those embryos were used in research. Satisfied with our “moral” political victory, the so-called holocaust goes on.

“Cal Thomas’ article against stem cell research….is not particularly useful, because it does not deal with his fundamental belief that human personhood begins at conception. Similarly, articles by medical groups that promote stem cell research are not helpful, because they do not touch on their fundamental belief that embryos are not human persons. If there is to be any hope of resolving these issues, we must debate when human personhood begins. If we can reach a near consensus on this, then abortion, in-vitro fertilization, stem cell research and other debates will neatly resolve themselves.” Comment letter to the Jewish World Review

Here are some links to information on stem cell research:

http://stemcells.nih.gov/

http://www.duke.edu/web/pps114/project/10/

I am not endorsing the sites, they just looked interesting to me as I am reading more about this issue. My encouragement is not to take your cues on this issue from politicians, but to educate yourself - let’s talk about this.

Technorati Tags: Stem Cell Research, Bush Veto, Ethics