When Jesus confronted “doubting Thomas” he challenged him not to acquiese in doubt (“believe!”) and yet responded to his request for more evidence.
–Timothy Keller
The Reason for God (2008, p.xxiii)
read 3-10-08
Archive for July, 2008
Jesus’ Response to Doubting Thomas
Posted in Jesus, Timothy Keller, doubt on July 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Doubt of Moral Absolutes is a Leap of Faith
Posted in Timothy Keller, exclusivity on July 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Some people say, “I don’t believe in Christianity because I can’t accept the existence of moral absolutes. Everyone should determine moral truth for him- or herself.” Is that a statement they can prove to someone who doesn’t share it? No, it is a leap of faith, a deep belief that individual rights operate not only [...]
Listen Patiently to Your Own Doubts
Posted in Timothy Keller, doubt, faith on July 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A [...]
The Culture Wars
Posted in Christ and Culture, Timothy Keller on July 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The culture wars are taking a toll. Emotions and rhetoric are intense, even hysterical. Those who believe in God and Christianity are out to “impose their beliefs on the rest of us” and “turn back the clock” to a less enlightened time. Those who don’t believe are “enemies of truth” and “purveyors of relativism and [...]
A Spurned Lover
Posted in East and West, Orhan Pamuk, Turkey on July 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Still, the melancholy of this dying culture was all around us. Great as the desire to westernize and modernize may have been, the more desperate wish was probably to be rid of all the bitter memories of the fallen empire, rather as a spurned lover throws away his lost beloved’s clothes, possessions, and photographs.
–Orhan Pamuk
Istanbul [...]
No One Was Quite Sure
Posted in East and West, Islam, Literature, Orhan Pamuk on July 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Although everyone knew it was freedom from the laws of Islam, no one was quite sure what else westernization was good for.
–Orhan Pamuk
Istanbul (2006, p.10)
read 6-26-08
So I’ve Been Told
Posted in Literature, Orhan Pamuk, memory on July 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I feel compelled to add or so I’ve been told. In Turkish we have a special tense that allows us to distinguish hearsay from what we’ve seen with our own eyes; when we are relating dreams, fairy tales, or past events we could not have witnessed, we use this tense. It is a useful distinction [...]
