Hello, patient, [nonexistent] blog audience! I truly am horrible with this thing. I'm not sure why I have it up. As mentioned before, I prefer good old ink and paper when expressing myself (I even prefer to write drafts of my short stories and plays in Moleskines and other kinds of notebooks--thank God Almighty for beautiful, wonderful, though arguably overpriced Moleskines!), and would probably do well to just adapt old journal entries on theology and spirituality--of which I have more than plenty--into blog entries until I get used to writing here. I'm just not acclimated to it. But I don't reckon it's too fair to type out more entries about how hard it is for me to maintain a blog. I do want to get my thoughts and ideas out there so I can get feedback, and, as well, participate in larger conversations. Also, as an aspiring professional writer, I hope to hone my skills as a publishable wordsmith. Nothing's better for that than writing for other people instead of just writing for myself most of the time.
Anyways... If I do have any loyal readers out there, the only reason I can think of for your faithfulness is that you're imperturbably curious. Well, God bless you, nonetheless. I'll have something better for you soon. I just wrote this as sort of an exercise. Then again, that's what the last few entries have been...
Oi...
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
And the Journey Continues... a.k.a. WTF is up with Reformed Theology?
It's been a minute since my last post, as I'm still somewhat getting used to this whole blogging thing. Indeed, what with my overall inclination towards (and, quite frankly, substantial preference for) good old-fashioned ink-and-paper journaling, I'm not sure I shall ever grow terribly used to blogging. Be seeing as [who I consider] my esteemed colleague in the reflective smartass Christian camp, the Cynic Sage, has put this blog on his favorites list, I felt only obliged to try to continue this thing. I am ashamed at how bereft of eloquence I am on this thing. I should probably just start copying some of my journal entries onto here.
But I do reckon I'll try to ramble a little bit about things on my mind the best I can, for as long as I feel like it (which might not be long at all)... Here's a topic:
Calvinism.
Now, I know this isn't very Christian of me to say, but dishonesty isn't very Christian, either, and I reckon there's ultimately more good than harm in being truthful about my feelings on this. By and large I'm only blowing off some steam in saying it this way, but here goes: Insofar as I understand it (which admittedly is probably not as much as I ought), I bloody loathe Reformed Theology. I do not care for it. TULIP, quite frankly, can kiss my Arminian arse. Is it just me, or is Calvinism particularly conducive to being a dick? And I must say, I can't see why it's getting so popular these days. A lot of the Christian bloggers I stumble upon these days are of the Reformed tradition. Not to bash any of these guys, I'm just saying why would you be attracted to a theological framework that basically says that God is an arbitrary cosmic puppeteer, and that it's okay, because He's God and all (that pretty much bypasses the hell out of any consideration of the Euthyphro Dilemma--and not necessarily in the good way the ancient Hebrews would have). Granted, most of them would answer that it's the most biblical position. 2,000 years of Christian history as well as hearty debate amongst Protestants--to say nothing of the conflicts between Protestants, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox Christians--since the Reformation pretty much shows that this is debatable. But besides even that, I think it's telling that it's out of the Calvinist tradition that we got loopy concepts like Presuppositionalism (that silly Van Til!).
Wow--I've exhausted my willingness to type on this thing just that quick. No worries, though--I will have more to say on this in due time. Later's!
But I do reckon I'll try to ramble a little bit about things on my mind the best I can, for as long as I feel like it (which might not be long at all)... Here's a topic:
Calvinism.
Now, I know this isn't very Christian of me to say, but dishonesty isn't very Christian, either, and I reckon there's ultimately more good than harm in being truthful about my feelings on this. By and large I'm only blowing off some steam in saying it this way, but here goes: Insofar as I understand it (which admittedly is probably not as much as I ought), I bloody loathe Reformed Theology. I do not care for it. TULIP, quite frankly, can kiss my Arminian arse. Is it just me, or is Calvinism particularly conducive to being a dick? And I must say, I can't see why it's getting so popular these days. A lot of the Christian bloggers I stumble upon these days are of the Reformed tradition. Not to bash any of these guys, I'm just saying why would you be attracted to a theological framework that basically says that God is an arbitrary cosmic puppeteer, and that it's okay, because He's God and all (that pretty much bypasses the hell out of any consideration of the Euthyphro Dilemma--and not necessarily in the good way the ancient Hebrews would have). Granted, most of them would answer that it's the most biblical position. 2,000 years of Christian history as well as hearty debate amongst Protestants--to say nothing of the conflicts between Protestants, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox Christians--since the Reformation pretty much shows that this is debatable. But besides even that, I think it's telling that it's out of the Calvinist tradition that we got loopy concepts like Presuppositionalism (that silly Van Til!).
Wow--I've exhausted my willingness to type on this thing just that quick. No worries, though--I will have more to say on this in due time. Later's!
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