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Apologetics4all – Dr. Williams' Religion Blog

~ Respectfully giving reasons for faith – 1 Peter 3:15

Apologetics4all – Dr. Williams' Religion Blog

Category Archives: Philosophy

Welcome SHSU SSA Members

16 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Grief, Death, and Dying, Historiography, Philosophy, Ratio Christi, Reality Blog

≈ Leave a comment

ssa-logo

I was pleased to accept an invitation to address the SHSU Secular Student Alliance at their Nov 16th meeting.

For the students who I met there, I created this landing page for you in the event that you come to my blog seeking more information about my remarks.

Since I am a full-time Chemistry professor and not a full-time blogger, my posts are few and far between. And they are not a comprehensive treatment of the Christian religion. Still, I think they are useful and encouraging or I would not have written them.

I welcome your questions about anything I have written, preferably personally. Let’s have lunch at the South Paw. I’ll buy the first one. OK?

My main remarks were on What I believe and why I believe it.

I talked about Christianity being the best description of reality – the way things REALLY are. No doubt this is a curious claim.

I discussed evidence outside of Christianity that corroborates the main points in the life of Jesus.

You may have incorrect thoughts about what the word ‘faith’ means within a Biblical framework. This series of posts at the Ratio Christi at SHSU blog should help you understand that there is No Such Thing as Blind Faith.

If I had to predict what tomorrow’s questions will be, I’d choose the following:

  1. The Problem of Evil and Suffering. (Video 1 and Video 2)
  2. Moral Issues
  3. Science Issues (The Big Bang and Fine Tuning)
  4. Philosophical Questions (Contingency and Ontology)
  5. Biblical Questions (What is the Bible? The Story in the Bible. Literary Styles in the Bible. The Bible as Meditation Literature. and The Use of Narrative Passages in the Bible.)
  6. Specific Questions about Biblical Passages (Go to the Bible Project to see an OVERVIEW OF EVERY BOOK OF THE BIBLE. Their work is masterful!)

None of this will matter if you are unable to entertain the idea that you might be wrong in your assumptions. Yes, that cuts both ways. I’m okay with that.

Are you?

God bless you for making it this far.

-DW

The Six R’s of Education

21 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Education, Philosophy

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what-to-study

Welcome to the start of the Fall 2017 School Year.

This post is for teachers AND students. I hope it encourages you to start the semester strong.

You have heard of the Three R’s of Education – Readin’, Ritin’, and Rithmatic.

But there are three other R’s that are a vital part of education. In fact, they hold the key to progress in the first three R’s.

They are Responsibility, Respect, and Reverence.

Responsibility

How many problems in education would be fixed immediately if all parties thought about THEIR particular responsibilities. The state, the school boards, the school administrators, the teachers, the students, and their parents (grandparents or guardians) all have responsibilities that cannot be eliminated. The other parties cannot fill the role of any missing member of this set of responsible parties.

Respect

Even when it is hard to give or seems unearned. Respect should be taught, and it should be modeled. Be the first to offer respect, especially when it is difficult to do so. There are many impressionable eyes watching your behavior. I’m speaking to the parent, the teacher, and also the student. Be the first to offer respect.

(Repetition is the mother of pedagogy.) Be the first to offer respect.

Reverence

This is the least obvious of the 6 R’s. But I think reverence is the master key that is missing in many schools.

I always associated reverence with holy places or churches. But actually, reverence is simply recognizing a place as being special.

School is a special place.

The Christian world view would agree with this concept. Education is a part of what we call Common Grace. It is a gift from God just like our fruitful planet and our rational minds.

What if we taught reverence for the actual school?

It was a different time and a different economic situation, but when I was in school, it made sense for a teacher to challenge me if I put my feet on the desk with the question, “Do you put your feet on the furniture at home?” The implication was “no”. And if I wouldn’t do it at home, then I shouldn’t do it at school. But this question doesn’t make any sense to many of our students.

Some of our students don’t have furniture or even homes.

New questions could be asked,

“Is that how you treat the place that is changing your life for the better?”

“Is that how you speak to a person who is pouring their heart and soul into your education?”

“Is that how you treat your fellow students, who are trying to better themselves just like you are?”

I say we raise the bar – not just to the first three R’s for state testing purposes, but to the 6R level – where students recognize their responsibilities, where they respect the dignity of those behind them, with them, and above them in the educational endeavor, and where they come to revere the facilities and persons who daily sacrifice on their behalf.

We raise the bar for the staff as well – where they seriously approach their responsibilities, where they will be the first to offer respect to each other, the students, and ‘the bosses’, and where they will also revere the facilities. Yes, even those broken down facilities that will not quit in the task of changing lives in Huntsville and beyond.

What a master key reverence can be. When combined with the other 5 R’s, we can do AMAZING THINGS at our schools.

 

Where do these thoughts come from? Well, when it comes to taking the initiative, we have no better example than God. 

8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [Romans 5:8 CSB]

 

Therefore, let us be the first to offer all things good.

Darren Williams

Who is DW?

What does he believe?

Mature Moral Thinkers

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Philosophy, Ratio Christi

≈ 1 Comment

Perusing the books in the Visiting Scholar Office at Reasons to Believe, I came across a nice text, Thinking Well – An Introduction to Critical Thinking by Steward E. Kelly (2001, McGraw Hill ISBN 0-7674-1848-4). So I took it home to browse at the pool this evening.

I enjoyed Chapter 8 especially where Dr. Kelly expounds upon the characteristics of mature moral thinkers. In reading this section, I was struck by our current situation in the US and elsewhere. Reasoning and rational discourse appears to be completely absent from our media.

Yet, I still have hope. In my personal conversations, people are still interested in meaningful dialog. In fact, they light up when I am gracious and careful in my speech.

So to further promote good moral reasoning and gracious dialog, I quote Dr. Kelly’s list. (with very few mods)

download

Characteristics of Mature Moral Thinkers

Given the controversy surrounding the domain of ethics, we should say a few words about the characteristics of people who think well about moral matters. These people could be described as being morally responsible and having good moral character. And they would possess many or all of the following characteristics. (He cites, “The following list is adapted from William Hughes, Critical Thinking“)

  1. Independence of judgement

    We believe what we believe on the basis of (hopefully good) reasons, and not because it is fashionable, convenient, or the like. In this sense, the individual should be morally autonomous.

  2. Justification by appeals to principles

    All moral judgments are ultimately answerable to appropriate moral principles. If no particular moral principle supports our moral judgement, then we need to rethink our moral reasoning behind that judgement.

  3. Generalization of moral judgments

    We believe that, whenever it is morally wrong for someone to do something under a particular set of circumstances, then it is morally wrong for everyone else to do that action under those same circumstances. (Pojman’s Test of Universalizability)

  4. Consistency

    First we need to live according to the principles we have adopted. People who consistently fail to live up to their own standards are guilty of hypocrisy and will lose the respect of mature members of the moral community. Second, we should apply our principles consistently across the board. (If we believe that it is morally wrong to break the law with respect to murder, but morally OK with respect to speeding laws, we need either to show that the two cases are relevantly different or to change our thinking about one of the two matters.) Finally, the principles we adopt should be consistent among themselves. (For example, suppose Lou adopts two moral principles 1) it is morally wrong to eat meat, and 2) it is morally right to do as we wish as long as it gives us physical pleasure. The problem here is that many people get physical pleasure from eating meat, so it would be impossible for them to obey these two conflicting principles.) 

  5. Awareness of complexity

    We recognize that life/reality is complicated and that applying the relevant moral principle and gathering all the relevant facts can be complicated and even perplexing. Reality is often not as simple as we make it out to be.

  6. Knowledge of the relevant facts

    We do not make moral judgments until we have all the relevant facts in hand. (For example, for emotionally volatile issues, much arguing takes place even though the facts are either lacking or distorted.)

  7. Recognition of our fallibility

    Humans are finite and limited creatures. There is much we do not know. We tend to believe what we want to believe, and many thoughtful and morally informed people will disagree with us on any moral judgment we might make. To think that a moral judgment is correct simply because it is our own is to display a form of arrogance that is not justified. (The Greeks called this hubris.)

  8. Tolerance

    We should always respect the moral judgments of individuals who have made the effort to gather the facts and carefully apply the proper moral principle. We can significantly disagree with others yet treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve as fellow human beings.

Note that the morally mature individual may not have full possession of all eight characteristics; rather, moral maturity, like many good things, is a mater of degree. The fact that few will ever attain high moral maturity does not mean that these are not worthy ideals for which we should strive.

I hope you will benefit from this little post on the characteristics of mature moral reasoning. Let’s become examples of mature dialog and calm conversation in high contrast to the shrill shout fests on the nightly news and commentary shows.

“Come now, let us reason together”, says the LORD
-Isaiah 1:18

Some commentary

It is easy to point to someone (or several someones) in a group to discredit that group or to complain about that group. I confess that I fall into this very often. You will catch me complaining about “the media” all the time. My complaints are that “they” do not appeal to moral principles, or if they do then these principles are not universally applied to all sides of the issue. But I am personally inconsistent because I am painting a whole industry with a single broad brush.

People do this all the time with whoever is on the “other” side. Christians do this to atheists, etc. People do this to Christians as well, so I have been on both sides of the assuming game. It’s a subtle trap.

So, let’s not paint our opinions of an individual onto the group, nor the group onto the individual. But let’s also not throw out our moral convictions. Use this short list to check yourself. Present your views graciously, consistently, and with all the facts you have gathered. And then listen to your conversation partner as they do the same.

-Darren

Your First Philosophy Book

25 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by D. L. Williams in Campus Apologetics, Philosophy, Ratio Christi

≈ Leave a comment

For my fellow Ratio Christi Chapter Directors who have not studied philosophy, formally, yet…

This is a reblog of RTB Scholar Ken Samples recommendation of an introductory philosophy text. He makes a compelling case. I think I’ll buy it.

Here is an excerpt, but you should read the whole article and should subscribe to Ken’s blog.

“For several years I struggled to find a textbook that would buttress my diligent efforts to teach philosophy to young men and women in a challenging and stimulating fashion. By far, the best introduction to philosophy textbook I have ever seen or used is Ed Miller’s outstanding book Questions That Matter (hereafter QTM). Allow me to explore this work by mentioning five reasons why this book is a truly exceptional textbook in philosophy.
[continue to Ken’s blog to read the whole thing…]
-Darren

Reflections

My favorite way to spend the day

This current blog series on Reflections is intended to encourage Christians to read more vigorously by providing a beginner’s guide to some of the Christian classics in such fields as theology, philosophy, and apologetics. Hopefully a very brief introduction to these important Christian texts will motivate today’s believers, as St. Augustine was called to in his dramatic conversion to Christianity, to “take up and read” (Latin: Tolle lege) these classic books.

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This week’s book, Questions That Matter, originally written by Ed Miller and later revised with coauthor Jon Jensen, is not a Christian classic but rather an introductory textbook to philosophy. However, this is not just any textbook. This is, in my view, the very best introduction to philosophy text available today. Anyone interested in philosophy, especially Christians, should start their study of philosophy with this book.

Why Is This Author Notable?

Ed Miller holds dual doctorates in…

View original post 553 more words

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