“Why?” Chapter III, Parts 12 & 13 (pp. 121-169) Thanks to those of you who are persevering with me through “Why? On Suffering, Guilt and God” by Abram van de Beek (here referred to as “vdB”). Now we turn to Chapter III in which vdB says he is going to discuss Christian views of God’s goodness, leaving behind views that take a s their starting point God’s omnipotence. (The next installment here will be about Chapter III, Parts 14 and... Read more

The Difference between the Bible and Bible Interpretation This is an illustration of critical realism (explained in an earlier but recent post here) and its application in theology, especially theology that seriously attempts to base itself on the Bible as the inspired Word of God written. When I was growing up…my spiritual mentors (pastors, denominational leaders, speakers, accepted authors, etc.) did not make a distinction between the Bible itself and THEIR interpretation of the Bible. “My Bible says…” was the... Read more

What Does “Destroy Leftism in this Country” Mean? According to news reports, Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, has said publicly that, if elected, he would “destroy leftism” in America. I have no personal opinion about Ron DeSantis either as a person or as a politician. However, assuming news reports are correct, such a statement sounds to me like dangerous demagoguery. What I want to know, but typically the media doesn’t say, is what he meant by “destroy”... Read more

Can the Trinity Be Explained? This train of thought, leading to this blog post, began the other day when I stumbled across a Youtube video entitled “Why Isaac Newton Was Hiding a Deadly Secret” (Channel “Thoughty2”). I was intrigued to see (really, to hear) what the “deadly secret” was. A long time ago I learned about Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) in some high school science or history class. But I didn’t learn that much about him. Later I learned that... Read more

Truth and Knowledge: A Critical Realist Perspective I know I have discussed this here before, but after 2K blog posts I don’t recall when or in what way, exactly, and I have new readers. Even long-time readers may have forgotten this perspectives on truth and knowledge. I am a critical realist. That phrase doesn’t cover all of my philosophy, but it is a big part of my philosophy and impacts almost everything else, both in my philosophy and my theology.... Read more

“Why?” Chapter II, Parts 9-11: Suffering and God’s Providence Continuing here my review of and commentary on A van de Beek’s book “Why? On Suffering, Guilt and God.” Some of you are reading the book. Hopefully by now you have read up through Part 11 (“God as Potter”). Next we will go on the Chapter III: “God Does Not Will Evil.” The title of Chapter III gives us a clue what Chapter II has been about—Christian answers to the question... Read more

Is Any Religion True? Most often we hear “Are any religions true?” I’m changing that to “Is any religion true?” There’s at least a slight difference between the two questions. But I won’t go any deeper into that here, now. The question has to be parsed out carefully by defining the words. What does “religion” mean? What does “true” mean? Here, by “religion” I mean a religious system of beliefs. I realize, of course, that religions include more than beliefs,... Read more

“Why?” Chapter II, Parts 6-8: My Commentary This blog post continues my commentary/review of Dutch theologian A van de Beek’s book “Why? On Suffering, Guilt and God.” This is part of a series, a kind of “book club” within this blog. I have already commented on Chapter I a couple weeks ago. Whenever I read a non-fiction book, especially a theological book, I look closely for THE key sentence (or two or three together) in each chapter. That is the... Read more

Can a Christian Be “Defender of the Faiths?” King Charles III of the UK is by law “The Defender of the [Christian] Faith” as well as “Chief Governor of the Church of England.” However, in the past, before he became king upon the death of his mother, he has declared that he intends to be “Defender of the Faiths [plural]” as well as “Defender of the [Christian] Faith.” Notable at his coronation were representatives of world religions including The Bahai... Read more

About Reading More of “Why?” Setting a Date An old saying goes “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” well, don’t judge “Why?” By the first few chapters. Although Beek drops clues to his conclusions in these early chapters, mostly he is “clearing the ground,” so to speak, eventually to build his own theodicy. This is more typical of European works of theology than of American. First he has to show that he knows all the traditional views (although I... Read more