Sign in with Facebook
Not all denominations shared in the immense rise in membership rates, and to the degree that denominations rejected traditional doctrines and ceased to make serious demands on their followers, they ceased to prosper. The churching of
...more
“Chapter 3 presents an argument for Darwin’s premise that all organic beings need at least occasionally to cross with other individuals of the same species, since nature abhors perpetual self-fertilization. Darwin had stated this premise in the Origin but provided little evidence for it. Here he does fulfill his promise to expand on his abstract with pages and pages of observations.”
― Darwin's Bluff: The Mystery of the Book Darwin Never Finished
― Darwin's Bluff: The Mystery of the Book Darwin Never Finished
“261. And for me, to be a ruler is a worthwhile ambition, even if you're in Hell.”
― John Milton's Paradise Lost In Plain English
― John Milton's Paradise Lost In Plain English
“The difference between the church and the world therefore is not spatial, that is, between where God is and where he is not. There is no in here and out there when it comes to the church (see appendix 3). Instead, the church in essence experiences God’s presence visibly now, ahead of the time when God shall visibly reign among the whole world. The difference between the church and the world then is just a matter of timing. The church experiences the kingdom ahead of time. The rest of the world is heading there; they just don’t know it yet (“for he shall reign until all things have been made subject” [1 Cor 15:25, my translation]).”
― Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission
― Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission
“Recognizing the problem, some secularists are searching for ways to salvage an objective status for morality. The favored strategy is to invoke evolutionary psychology. Hardly a week goes by without an article appearing in the popular press claiming that natural selection has explained the origin of this or that moral trait. Typically the argument goes something like this: You Christians claim that it is impossible to have morality without God. Well, we’ve solved that problem. Evolutionary forces can produce empathy, cooperation, mutual aid, and all the other forms of social bonding. These behaviors are selected for because they help secure genetic fitness and promote survival. Voilá, evolution becomes the basis for moral realism. And evolutionary biologists become the new priests. As a New York Times article says, if “morality grew out of behavioral rules shaped by evolution,” then “it is for biologists, not philosophers or theologians, to say what these rules are.”40 But”
― Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning
― Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning
“II-238. Suppose he should relent / And publish Grace to all, on promise made / Of new Subjection; with what eyes could we / Stand in his presence humble, and receive / Strict Laws impos'd, to celebrate his Throne / With warbl'd Hymns, and to his Godhead sing / Forc't Halleluiah's; while he Lordly sits / Our envied Sovran, and his Altar breathes / Ambrosial Odours and Ambrosial Flowers, / Our servile offerings. This must be our task / In Heav'n, this our delight; II-238. Let's say he forgives us all if we promise to worship him. Are you ready to follow his laws, sing his praises, bring him flowers? II-248. how wearisom / Eternity so spent in worship paid / To whom we hate. II-248. It would make us sick to spend eternity worshiping the one we hate. II-249. Let us not then pursue / By force impossible, by leave obtain'd / Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, our state / Of splendid vassalage, II-249. Let's forget about fighting a war we can't win, or returning to Heaven in miserable slavery. II-252. but rather seek / Our own good from our selves, and from our own / Live to our selves, though in this vast recess, II-252. Let's make the best of what we have here where we don't owe anybody anything.”
― John Milton's Paradise Lost In Plain English
― John Milton's Paradise Lost In Plain English
Philip’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Philip’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Philip hasn't connected with their friends on Goodreads, yet.
Polls voted on by Philip
Lists liked by Philip
