Category Archives: Philosophy
Stockholm Syndrome
A few years ago, a girl named Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home in Utah by a fanatical Mormon who wanted her as his second wife. Within two months, he and his wife were able to take her out in public with them, and she never tried to escape. When the police finally found [...]
Clifford’s Principle, pt. 2
At the last Grab a Brew, someone asked a question: “Would you rather be right with no evidence to back you up, or wrong, but with good evidence for it?”
I had never heard or considered this question before. My own answer was immediately obvious, but as he continued, it became clear that this is not [...]
Three Stages of Passion
The three stages of passion:
Ignorant and excited
Knowledge, accompanied by disillusionment
Greater knowledge, resulting in renewed and lasting excitement
Each of them has its exclusive wisdom. There is a uniqueness in the optimistic curiosity that believes and hopes for the best; there is a uniqueness in the skepticism that causes a person to seek the truth and reject [...]
Selfless Faith
I want you to know that I understand.
I have never taken Islam or Mormonism seriously. I believe they are fabricated religions that gained traction because of charismatic founders and blind followers. They don’t pass the most basic tests of validity, and a person would need to remove the batteries from a great number of smoke [...]
Consequences, pt. 2: Postmodern Legos
I remember the day I became disillusioned with advertising. I was eight years old and Mom had taken me to the 1/2 Price Store in Crossroads Mall (now Gordman’s). We had a long-standing shopping protocol: I am well-behaved and patient while she shops, and she lets me go by the toy department before we leave.
I [...]
Faith, pt. 1: Objections
If I doubted my faith, it wouldn’t be due to scientific evidence or philosophical reasoning. The most compelling arguments against my faith are the practical ones, the arguments based on things that can be observed rather than those that can be reasoned.
Christianity is a last resort for desperate people. Most high-profile conversions, like Brian Welch [...]
On Creativity
Central to our universe is the concept of limits: that our creativity is restricted to that which already exists.
As an example, try to imagine what a sixth sense would look like. Science and movies offer their conjectures, but all descriptions of a proposed sixth sense are nothing but combinations of the other five senses. In [...]
Free Will vs. Determinism
Determinism and free will, two ways of looking at a truth that is far greater than either of them.
Two godly, mature men will pray the same prayer over Romans 8 and 9, as many have before throughout history, asking God to reveal to them the correct interpretation. To one, the Spirit reveals a sort of [...]
