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Thomas Aquinas and the Reasonableness of God
One of the great questions of mankind throughout the ages has been the question of whether the existence of God may be proven with certainty. This question has been especially important to theologians and philosophers. One system of philosophical, theological thought which developed during the Middle Ages that attempted to answer this profound question was known as Scholasticism. Within Scholasticism, Thomas Aquinas stands as one of the most prominent thinkers of this philosophical and theological discipline. Of his most famous works approaching the proof of God, the demonstration of God’s existence in five ways contained in his Summa Theologica stands out in a compelling way. In this paper, the person…
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Article Review
(Author’s Note: The following is an assessment of my thoughts regarding an article titled, Homosexuality: One Parishioner’s Perspective (A deconstruction of the context of Bible verses used against LGBT rights). I believe the review of the article is fair according to biblical accuracy, flow of logic, and overall sense of objective truth. My hope is that it will be received with the same sincerity in which I sincerely wrote it.) A Response to the Article, Homosexuality: One Parishioner’s Perspective (A deconstruction of the context of Bible verses used against LGBT rights): In the article put forth by Philip H. “Hutch” Hutchens, PhD, Homosexuality: One Parishioner’s Perspective (A deconstruction of the…
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Fallacious Arguments #1: The Fallacy of Composition
If the human civilization continues to populate the earth in any sort of meaningful way, no doubt centuries from now, historians will comment much about the 21st century’s failure to think and speak clearly. One of the plagues of this modern era is that ambiguity, and its resulting confusion, often stands as a roadblock in the way of healthy progress and the resolution to conflict. There are many guilty parties which have served to create this dilemma, but one which should be noted and not overlooked is the logical fallacy of Composition. Understanding this fallacious way of reasoning is one of the first steps in overcoming the error of ambiguity,…
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A Critique of the Divine Hiddenness and Silence of God
One of the more challenging arguments against the existence of God by atheists is the one which comes from the problem of divine hiddenness. From the claim of theism is the belief that God exists as all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good. Yet with these attributes of God, the skeptic to theism would point to the seemingly uncomfortable issue of the presence of evil in this world which God has created and continues to be responsible for. This issue is like a giant pink elephant in the room, argues the atheist, demanding that the theist give an account for it. Along with this difficulty, the skeptic points to a related issue which…
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Freewill and Responsibility
One of the marks of humanity is that it has been created in the image of God as moral creatures. Mankind therefore has a responsibility to live in an ethical way, pursuing what is virtuously right and rejecting what is morally wrong. Within this calling is the debate on what kind of freedom mankind must possess to be able to fulfill this responsibility. This essay will examine what kind of freewill is required for moral agency, including the place of determinism within the compatibilist and incompatibilist views, and finally articulating why compatibilism is the better account for freewill in regard to moral and responsible agency. When discussing freedom and freewill,…
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Logical Fallacy: Argumentum ad Hominem (against the person, avoiding the claim)
Discernment A mark of weakness in any society, organization, or individual that could potentially prove fatal is an inability to discern what is right and accurate from what is false and inaccurate. For the Church, this has been one of its major battles from the beginning. Jesus Himself warned of the dangers of false representations of truth wrapped up in the lives and teaching of the Jewish leaders known as the Pharisees. The apostle Paul warned the elders at Ephesus as he was departing for Jerusalem that savage wolves would rise up from within their own ranks speaking perverse things that would lead the disciples away. The cry of the…
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Burning Away the Fog
Autonomy as a Modern Flaw When our children are little, much energy is spent in training them to be independent. The goal is to see them become wise, mature adults who are self-determining, self-ruling, and self-governing. As babies, parents show them how to hold their own bottle in order to be able to feed themselves. As toddlers, they are taught to learn how to dress themselves and how to use a toilet instead of diapers. This push towards independence continues through adolescence as the child is given greater levels of responsibility, such as part-time jobs to earn their own money or a driver’s permit to operate a car in traffic.…
