If you are unfamiliar with Hamilton's "Aaron Burr, Sir," I highly recommend giving it a quick listen before proceeding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1CEolFz5do There is one line from this song that resonates in particular: "If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?"Hamilton the Musical Just take a moment to reflect upon this quote. For those of... Continue Reading →
A Defense of Theism in Modernity: A Longitudinal Review
By definition of agnosticism, I’m somewhat agnostic, and yet, I am a strong theist. The two can coincide because agnosticism is concerned with knowledge, and "theism" focuses on belief. Agnosticism describes God as unknowable, and through a means of natural knowledge, I agree in terms of knowing God fully, though one can come to partially... Continue Reading →
Finding Faith within “Indoctrination”
Far too many people tell me that my beliefs are nothing more than a fairy tale, that faith is nothing more than religious "indoctrination," and that if I were "more educated," I wouldn't be so superstitious. Quite honestly, these words are not only discriminative, but also incredibly isolated from truth. I'm hoping that the existence... Continue Reading →
My body, my rights
You're absolutely right, but what if I were to tell you that this is not the issue being debated? “God is entirely ‘pro-choice’ ... he is entirely for our freedom since he gave us freedom in the first place. But some choices negate our vocation to love. Some choices can never bring happiness. We are... Continue Reading →
Belief is not Brainwashing
When I define belief, it is something that one chooses to profess as one's own despite knowledge or awareness of other conflicting forms of belief. It is a conscious choice.Brainwashing, on the other hand, does not allow for one to have knowledge or awareness of anything other than what is explicitly presented. Can certain beliefs... Continue Reading →
How can there be a God and Evil/Suffering in the World?
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a popular agnostic philosopher and religious skeptic. He argued, "If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, there could be no evil," which meant that he essentially believed that an all-powerful, all-knowing and genuinely-good God would not allow the evils that are quite apparent in our world today to exist. Though,... Continue Reading →
Which religion is the least “closed-minded?”
I don't mean "closed-minded" in a general sense, for anyone of any/no religion can be described as having an "open-mind." In fact, curiosity and our desire to research Truth are both products of human-nature. We're all innately open-minded, but we can be conditioned by our environment to close-off certain possibilities despite thousands of years of... Continue Reading →
Did Jesus Mean to Start a Church?
Short answer: Yes! And no, I'm not referring to a church building. A Church (with a capital "c") is something that goes beyond physical borders, beyond both time and space. The popular Jewish and general non-Christian understanding is that Jesus did not intend to start a new religion. He was a noble Jew who simply... Continue Reading →
“Radical Idea:” Jesus is God
I'm writing this particularly for the people who wish to learn more about the Christian doctrine's arguments for how the historical, biblical Jesus could be God, let alone a part of the Trinity (Click for the official doctrine of belief). I recently got into a discussion with a friend who thought this idea was completely... Continue Reading →
“I see truth in all religions”
Very good. You should. The phrase, "I see truth in all religions" is in and of itself unproblematic. I am not going to negate the fact that multiple religions share commonalities and truths. Because, well, they do. If you hunt around on my webpage or merely peruse the rest of the Internet, there are dozens... Continue Reading →