Aut Deus aut Machina

If causality holds true, and one thing causes another, even outside this universe, then whatever entity is postulated as the creator of the world must have the same questions asked of it. The first is: What created this entity? But we find that God is eternal and therefore improbable, and a universe-generating equally improbable. Supposing that these are the only possibilities, for the sake of argument, we first see that neither is obviously more likely than the other. Next, ignoring any mathematical objections to either the Multiverse or God, we ask, "which is more intuitive with my philosophy?" The easiest test for the Creator of all things is the personality argument.

We start this line of thought with man. Man assumes his own existence. He must then decide whether he has a personality, and would therefore come from a personal Creator, or whether he comes from an impersonal "machine," such as the supposed multiverse. If he assumes the former, he finds God. The latter, however, offers several conclusions. Man is labeled a machine, "God is Dead," and it becomes absurd to postulate things, since we are machines anyway. If God is dead, then man simply becomes a hedonistic, impersonal machine, tearing down every intuitive argument for ethics and goodness, and overall debasing man.

In order to have any belief in Love or Goodness, then, we must realistically postulate a Creator, a Personal God, or we must deny everything which we have ever believed. Aut Deus aut Machina.

Which Transcends All Understanding

It has been observed that the love of Christ creates some sform of emotion in many people- some react very charismatically, for example. However, when that sensation which evinces Christ is not seen, then what emotion could replace it? I suppose that the "Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding" (Phil. 3:7, ESV) is an apt substitute. Being less inclined myself towards outward displays of emotion, I find this hypothesis appealing. Emotion is a large part of the Christian walk, especially love. But if peace is joy, and joy an emotion, then in some cases we can observe this quieter, more subtle emotion.

Find the Time for Healing

Something happens, and you are deeply hurt. Your boyfriend/girlfriend cheated on you, things are going bad at home, someone dear to you is in a bad situation, you name it. There are good ways to deal with stress, and there are bad ways. First off, do not go around spreading rumors if someone hurt you, or telling everyone your story in any case. It will do you no good to lie or to "get sympathy." If something is hurting you, the best thing to do is to pray. God can solve any problem, no matter how trivial or how important.
For people that have hurt you, forgive them. For your enemies, forgive them. If you do not forgive your enemies and your transgressors, then God will not forgive your transgressions. It says so in the Bible, "And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors" -Matthew 6:12. If you feel that God is not doing enough, or you feel the urge to talk to someone about it, go to your counselor, parents, best friend, or loved one. But do not tell all, pick one. Keep everything you need to talk about isolated to one or (at most) two people. That way if rumors spread from it you know who said something, and you can easy stop them.

Do not get me wrong, I am at fault of not following these guidelines just as much as the next person (maybe even moreso). But this is somewhere I can warn you to not make the same mistakes as me, and where I can remind myself not to make the same mistakes.

New Year: New You

On New Years Eve I promised myself that this year I would be different; I would be happy and stress free, I would not care what other people thought of me, I would not ruin my relationships, and most importantly I would be close to God and stay that way. But instead of going straight to fulfilling these "resolutions," I almost broke one of them on New Years Day, found myself breaking under stress in the first week, cared more about what people thought about me than I usually did, and found myself relying on stress-reduction measures other than praying. How does this relate to a Christian blog, other than the God resolution? Well God has been pressing it on me that I can not do anything without him. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," Philippians 4:13 shows this exact thing. I was astounded at how easy it was for Satan to permeate my life and break me down because I thought I could deal with it alone. Even now I am still fighting with the problem of following God with everything and trusting in him always.
This post is not for you to go "look at how many problems that chick has," but rather to show you what mistakes not to make, to show you that we are not perfect, and to teach you what can happen when you stray from God.

The Happy Pessimist

There arises a case in modern philosophy, where one observes a seemingly paradoxical phenomena, being the happy pessimist. This case is philosophically pessimistic, but externally happy- even optimistic. In some cases, he may attribute his optimism to his pessimism. The pessimistic side of him is either Nihilistic or Christian, at least as it has been observed. The existentialist is too hopeful already to qualify. The Christian's optimism is unique to his one supposition, that is, that God lives. If he questions this supposition at all while exploring the ideas of nihilism, then he too will become a happy pessimist. The most obvious literary case of this may be Nietzsche's Zarathustra. But he is a humanist, and offers little theological value. The Christian's case is possibly seen in King Solomon, but that is best explored on one's own time.

The New

As a new year begins, it feels fitting to spend a moment putting away all the shame and guilt and sin of the past year, and to strive to better ourselves in this new year. SOme practical exhortations are given by Paul in Eph. 4:17-24, and Col. 3:1-17. As you read these passages, spend some time thinking about how you too can put off the old self and put on the new, and how you will do this throughout the rest of 2011.