Before the advent of AI, plagiarism was the English teacher’s reigning “bane of existence”. I spent hours warning students against plagiarizing the work of other authors.  From a lawyer’s perspective, plagiarism is theft of intellectual property. And it carries a penalty.  It is not illegal to steal ideas, of course – those are there for the taking – but one cannot “borrow” someone else’s words or even their sentence structure. (You don’t avoid a charge of plagiarism by using a thesaurus to swap out a few of the original words with their synonyms.) I would often push the possibility of…

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.” – Mortimer Adler If this happens in the context of Christian beliefs, it’s a sound bet the person conceives of faith as primarily a mental assent to various propositional truths.  He can repeat “what” he has read in books or heard from the pulpit, especially if it has been repeated often.  But if you ask him the “how” and the “why”, you will get nothing but stammering or shrugging.  In the best case scenario, that momentary embarrassment becomes the impetus…

“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Peter almost ended his relationship with Jesus before it got off the ground. He listened to Jesus’ teachings for a short time, and then Jesus caused Peter’s fishing net to overflow with fish after being lowered into waters where the experienced fisherman knew there were no fish to be had.  A miracle. And then? Overwhelmed with the sense of his own sinfulness, Peter wanted to put distance between himself and the Son of God.  It’s almost as if Peter, anticipating God’s rejection, decided to beat Him to the punch.  Preachers…

When Jesus first used Peter’s fishing boat as an impromptu pulpit and then commanded him to put down his nets for a catch, the haul was so large that the nets began to tear under the weight. What happened next seems to be the climax of the story. And perhaps the most significant aspect was what did not happen. Note carefully: It was not that Peter asked to follow Jesus – only to have Jesus respond, “Depart from me, for you are a sinful man”. No, it was the exact opposite.  Peter fell on his knees and pleaded with Jesus,…

Certain preachers (especially those of the Calvinist persuasion) paint humanity as dirt – foul and worthless. Certainly not something to be loved. But something to be disdained. And punished. Avoided, maybe, too. Even from birth. Voddie Baucham likes to say that babies are “vipers in diapers”.  And his audience laughs and applauds. He speaks this way of Yahweh’s image-bearers! The ones whom He made “a little lower than the angels” and then “crowned … with glory and honor”. (Psalm 8:5) Inspired by the Holy Spirit, King David reminded God’s people: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the…

I came across a concept that might help explain the present state of American culture. And much of life in general.  I heard it explained on Chris Williamson’s Modern Wisdom Podcast #675. Since this is a family-friendly blog, we shall call it The Bullsnot Asymmetry Principle. Simply stated, the principle goes like this:  It takes far less energy to produce bullsnot than to refute it.  Therefore, the world is filled with unrefuted bullsnot. When I was younger, I often wondered, if the Truth is the Truth, why does it always seem to be the minority position?  The BS Asymmetry Principle…

I listen to theological debates on YouTube sometimes in the mornings while I exercise or get myself ready for the day. A large part of the fascination for me is how two people can confidently hold diametrically opposed opinions, try to persuade each other … and not gain an inch of concession. I always end up rooting for the one who strikes me as most humble. Albert Einstein famously said, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” Too many Christians seem to operate more like this: “The more I learn, the more arrogant, condescending,…

In my dissertation I intend to put what social scientists have learned about habit formation, willpower, and self-discipline to use in helping believers achieve a healthy and consistent personal study of Scripture. I anticipate needing to make the case that science is not opposed to faith and is not to be distrusted.  (I know this because one of my professors already expressed reservations about my using scientific findings in this way!)  I came across reinforcement for my approach while listening to C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity today: “Christianity has not, and does not profess to have, a detailed political programme for…