The final arbiter
The final arbiter (of truth) is individual conscience and power of reason. A man may be a heretic in the truth if he believes things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly says so, not knowing of the reason, though his belief be true, his very truth becomes his heresy. John Milton, Areopagitica
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pragmatism
Occham’s razor favours the simplest solution. Water favours the path of least resistance. People prefer the most pragmatic belief. Belief in a 6000 year-old earth is pragmatic in the sense that it keeps your worldview nice and simple. Belief in an old earth is also pragmatic in that it allows for a diversity of origins…
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certainty
Why are we convinced that in spite of the complexity of the world, our own paradigm is infallible? 10% of american businesses disappear each year, but it’s uncomfortable to admit our own fallibility. Sometimes we need to be shocked out of our god complex.
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restorative justice
We should base justice on creating restoration, by addressing root causes of problems. This will enable us to prevent the same shit from happening again. “Eye for an eye” is not justice. You cannot set things right by creating more of the same. In one sense, every murderer could plead insanity. What’s the difference between…
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exile
Peter Enns compares Adam’s banishment from Eden to Israel’s exile, in this mind-expanding talk which I greatly enjoyed. It will, of course, ruffle all sorts of conservative feathers. In bringing out a few highlights, I seek intellectual honesty. Claim: “Genesis reads well as an Israel-centred story on a universal stage, and this makes timelines less tense”. Genesis…
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Hatch
oh conniving incubator direct your brooding righteous anger to devise an assassination plot for greed See Also: Zoomable Hatch
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As far as the east is from the west…
…so far has been the journey of the Genevan tunes. The Turkish psalms of Polish Hugenot, Ali Ufkî, represent the convergence of Goudimel’s Genevan melodies onto Ottoman musical tradition. I note that the European Union and the Turkish Ministry of Cultural Affairs have effectively capitalized on this convergence of togetherness. Of course there have been other musical attempts…
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Salvage Something
"The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation." Excerpt from T.S. Eliot, "The Dry Salvages" (No. 3 of "Four Quartets") Text: The Dry Salvages Audio: T. S. Eliot reading: The Dry Salvages See Also: Zoomable Salvage Something
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Flesh Word
Flesh Word straddles the interface between idea and action. It’s a kind of language game. In my head and heart are heavy, violent, dark things, as well as hopeful things. And to explain/express them, I’m limited when I resort to frameworks of language. But the free-flowing advantages of digital tapestry extend also to written work.…
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