Radically Happy

  • John 4A The Bad Samaritan

    Questions: How should we relate to our neighbors?Does Jesus care about our sex life? What is worth worshipping? Are all religions equally correct? Can they quench our deepest thirst? “Read More” to pursue answers in the Gospel of John.

  • Review: What Dr. Ernie Prabhakar Believes About God

    A catalog of creedal and apologetic posts about faith, truth, and Christianity. [Last updated 2007-01-10].

  • Explaining Jesus to a Twelve-Year Old

    One of the more delightful requests to emerge from my Reasoned Conversation on FoRK (about Christianity and atheism) was the challenge to explain Jesus in a manner that could be understood by an intelligent 12-year-old. I have perhaps taken that too literally by framing my response as a letter to…

  • John 3B StartDown

    Questions: Is religion a competition? Whom exactly do we follow? Whose glory do we seek? What success have we earned? Click “Read More” to pursue answers in the Gospel of John.

  • John 3A Hiding in the Dark

    Questions: What is truth? Where does it come from? How can we know it? What do we do when faced by it? Even if it conflicts with our preconceptions? Why do we fear it? “Read More” to pursue answers in the Gospel of John.

  • John 2 Drinks, Drives

    Questions: Who invited Jesus to the wedding? Why does he get involved? Who is he to enforce God’s laws? On what authority? Dare we be so bold? “Read More” to pursue answers in the Gospel of John.

  • John 1B Came and Saw

    Questions: Why did people follow Jesus? Why do we tell others about him? What kind of empirical evidence do they seek? Is it sufficient? How is that similar to or different than the way we follow others? “Read More” to pursue answers in the Gospel of John.

  • What is Church? by Philip John

    It means to share, to communicate, to be partakers, have communion, partnership, companionship etc. Also study the action words accompanying the word “one another” in the Bible.Love one another Bear one another’s burdenPrefer one another Submit to one anotherEdify one another Confess faults to one anotherAccept one another Be hospitable…

  • John 1A Beginning Word

    [Having finished Book I of the Psalms, I decided to turn my attention to the New Testament. And there’s no better place to start that the Gospel of John.] Questions: How would you begin to tell the most incredible story you ever experienced — especially when others have told it…

  • DiaBlogue: Metric [vs] System?

    Dear Alan, I must say, I think we are dangerously close to actually making forward progress! Alas, I’ve often felt this way before, only to discover that it was merely a superficial agreement masking a deeper misunderstanding. 😦 I think part of the challenge is that we each have underlying…

  • DiaBlogue: Universal Utilitarianism

    I appreciated the necessity and relevance of his request for me to clarify my position, but given our recent failure to find (solid) common ground I wasn’t quite sure where to start.Fortunately, his reference to Daylight Atheism’s post on The Ineffable Carrot and the Infinite Stick (I love the title…

  • Praise the Source of Faith and Learning

    Francis, Collins , aka the Genomic Guitarist, led this song during the 2006 ASA Annual Meeting. I didn’t attend, but I was strruck by the lyrics as printed in the Newsletter, so I wanted to capture the lyrics and music here.

  • Psalm 41 Poor, Me

    Questions: How do we obtain the Lord’s blessing? Can we “buy” God’s favor with good works? Will He allow us to get revenge on our enemies? Can we trust in our own integrity? Or are these the wrong questions? “Read More” to pursue answers in the Psalms.

  • Eternal Life by Philip John

    But almost everyone believes that you need to earn your place in heaven by your good works and pious living.There is a saying that the road to Hell is broad and easy but the road to heaven is narrow and hard — but is it?Before we look at that we…

  • DiaBlogue: E-TOE, the Line of Argument

    In his exploration of The Ethical Universe, Alan clarified that he no longer thinks of (I) [belief in] Truth as “inherently good”, but what I might term ‘instrumentally good‘ in relation to (II)Love [for others] and [III] [personal] Happiness. I am pleased that he concurred with my analysis of the…

  • DiaBlogue: Good and True

    To help address that suspicion, let me ask Alan a few (hopefully simple) questions:a) Do you consider (I) a statement about objective reality, or of personal preference?To use our earlier terminology, is this (i) a “real” statement which is objectively true or false, or is it merely (ii) an “imaginary”…

  • DiaBlogue: The Ethical Trilemma

    Having finally Found: Two Goalposts, which I support and he denies: I. Ontological dependence on an omnipotent, benevolent Deity as the ultimate source of virtue and truth II. Epistemic dependence on received Scripture as a reliable indicator of divine will Alan and I can now turn our attention to pursuing…

  • God, On Divorce

    A friend of mine recently asked me about God’s thoughts on divorce. I figured I should do some research, so here’s a (partial) list of the passages I’ve found that use the word in the NIV.

  • DiaBlogue: Looking for an Argument

    I must commend Alan for his diligence in following through on my recommended reading, given that I’ve only now got around to reading his last three posts — from July! To be sure, I regret that Chesterton was such a disappointment, but I will (perhaps too generously) ascribe that to…

  • Psalm 40 Wait/Lift-ing

    Questions: Why do we wait? Will God lift us up? Has he already done so? Even if we’re still surrounded by trouble? Is that rational? Is there sufficient evidence? “Read More” to pursue answers in the Psalms.