Preach the Gospel at All Times, and Words are Absolutely Necessary

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“Preach at all times. Use words if necessary.” You probably have heard this quote before if you’ve been in churches any length of time. It’s been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but there’s some dispute about whether or not he actually said it. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking a couple of different things: 1. “Wow! How I live in the world really matters. I need to live a life of integrity and love in the world.” 2. “Whew! What a relief! I’m already pretty introverted, so now I’m excused from evangelism. If I’m a good enough person, some people will eventually ask me what makes me so different” Guess … Read more

The Christian and the Euthyphro Dilemma

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One of the arguments raised against God being the basis for morality is the age-old Euthyphro Dilemma. Socrates, in Plato’s dialogue, asks Euthyphro: “Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?” The modern adaptation raised against theism goes something like this: “Is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by God?” The Catch-22 for the theist is this: God could command any arbitrary thing that popped into his head – like killing kittens – and we’d be obligated to obey and call it good because God says … Read more

Is Jesus Alive?