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Science built on philosophy

May 26, 2013 pilgrim Leave a comment

In my random atheist encounter last weekend we spent some time talking about faith and science. I spoke about the limits of science (the material world) and the philosophical presuppositions which science must assume to be true:

1. A world outside our minds must exist
2. We must be able to attain true knowledge of this world
3. Logic must be operable
4. Our sense must give us trustworthy data
5. Nature must be orderly and constant

(I didn’t make up this list, I read it a while ago on Soul Device)

Catholicism

Yoga and Catholicism

August 30, 2013 pilgrim 4 comments

Today’s post might be a little controversial, but I survived the dating series, so I figure I may as well 🙂

I’ve recently been catching up on my Catholic Stuff You Should know backlog. I’ve just finished listening to the podcast episode entitled, Yoga: Is it okay?

yoga

Catholicism

Staying Connected

December 8, 2011 pilgrim 3 comments

I wrote this post over a year ago but I never felt quite comfortable in publishing it. I now think it’s time…

I have my friends in Washington DC on speed dial. I am only a few clicks away from video chatting with my family in England. I regularly send emails and texts which could wait until we meet in person, but I choose not to delay because of the ease of communication. We live in a world in which we are increasingly connected to one another…

This idea of a deep connection between people in far-flung locations is nothing new. Catholicism has clearly understood this concept for two thousand years. I mean, think of all the things that Catholics “share”. Regardless of where we are in the world, we are all washed in Baptism. We share in the same Spirit. This connection through the Spirit is indeed profound; we are all bound together, even with those who have already died and are in Heaven. We pray common prayers such as the Our Father and Hail Mary. We share a common Sunday liturgy. We proclaim the same creed. And finally, of course, we share the same Eucharist meal.

Catholicism

The Great Divorce: Chapter 1

May 6, 2018 pilgrim Leave a comment

Summary

We open with Lewis standing in a bus queue. He’s been wandering in continual twilight through The Grey Town in the rain. Other than the bus queue, the town appears to be deserted.

As he joins the queue, a couple argue and they both leave.

The Short Man in front of him makes a disparaging comment about “the sort of society” in the bus queue. After Lewis fails to respond to the slight, The Big Man punches The Short Man who limps away.

Next, a young, seemingly androgynous, couple leave arm in arm, “it was clear that each for the moment preferred the other to the chance of a place in the bus”.

A woman four places ahead complains “We shall never all get in”. A man offers to change places with her for five shillings, but he then double-crosses her. The rest of the group throw her out of the line.

We get the impression that events like this continue to happen for some time until “the queue had reduced itself to manageable proportions long before the bus appeared”. The bus is a stunning vehicle, driven by a driver who is “full of light”. To our protagonist’s puzzlement, the driver’s appearance raises the ire of those in the queue. They all push and shove to get into the bus but, in the end, there is plenty of room for all.

Our man sits at the back of the bus, a good distance away from the others, but is immediately joined by “a tousle-headed youth” who sees in our protagonist a kindred spirit. He comments on his bewilderment at the other passengers, saying they “won’t like it at all when we get there, and they’d really be much more comfortable at home” where “they’ve got cinemas and fish and chip shops and advertisements and all the sorts of things they want”. He says he ought to have taken the bus as soon as he arrived, but he’d “fooled about trying to wake people up”. It becomes clear that this man is a poet and, to our protagonist’s horror, he is about to show him some of his poetry… It is at this point Lewis realizes that the bus is now airborne and he looks out of the window to see the Grey Town disappearing below into the rain and the mist.

Questions

Q1. What words would you use to describe The Grey Town?

Q2. What do you make of the different members of the queue? The arguing couple, The Short Man, The Big Man, The Androgynous Couple, The woman who pays to change places with the man who cheats her…

Q3. In what way do the characters in the line each display one of the Seven Deadly Sins? Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, Wrath

Q4. In what ways are the members of the bus stop similar? In what ways are they different from each other?

Q5. Why do you think the line for the bus is so short? Why do people so easily leave the line?

Q6. Why do you think the members of the queue react so badly to the driver?

Q7. Do you think the tousle-headed youth represents anyone in particular?

Q8. Why does the tousle-headed youth think that the others would be happier staying in the town?

Q9. Who do you think Cyril Blellow was?

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Apologetics

Catholic Bibles: Bigger, Better.

September 20, 2012 pilgrim 3 comments

Earlier this week, Joe at Shameless Popery produced an excellent couple of posts (Part 1 | Part 2) in response to an hour-long presentation by Evangelical Brian Edwards. In his lecture, Pastor Edwards attempts to prove why the Protestant canon is correct and why the Bible should only contain 66 books.

I strongly recommend you go and read Joe’s rebuttal. However, if you’re too lazy, here it is expressed in “meme” form…. 🙂

closed canon meme

Catholicism

St. Thomas Aquinas: Pro-Choice?

March 15, 2014 pilgrim 6 comments

A friend of mine recently referred to the book “Good Church, Bad Church” by Tom Kane, a former Catholic priest. I read the synopsis on Amazon and read the extract on the author’s website. In the extract, a couple came to Kane while he was still a Catholic priest and he counseled them to have an abortion, calling upon St. Thomas Aquinas as justification:

“The great Catholic theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas, whose theological reasoning is the foundation of Catholic morality, said that a fetus does not contain a soul until several months because there is not enough development yet to hold a soul, so the fetus, Thomas says, is not a person,” I said. “Yet the Vatican and the Vaticans of Protestantism would sacrifice an endless number of lives for a miniscule embryo that resembles an amoeba.”

“But the fetus has life,” he said.

“Yes, but what kind of life? Plant life? Animal life?” I said. “A fetus has a very primitive form of life—not yet a human life.”

Lectionary Notes, August 7th

August 2, 2011 pilgrim Leave a comment

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1: 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a

The events of this passage take place after Elijah has defeated the Prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:22-40). As a result of this humiliating defeat, Princess Jezebel has sworn to kill him (1 Kings 19:1-2). Elijah flees into the desert where, dejected and overcome by fear, he tells God that he may as well let him die (1 Kings 19:3-4). He then goes to sleep, but is awoken twice in the night by an angel who gives him bread and water. Strengthened by this food, he travels for 40 days to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:5-8), also known as Mt. Sinai, the mountain where God revealed the Law to Moses.

Whereas Moses interceded for the Israelites (Exodus 32:11-13), Elijah appears to have reached the end of his tether (1 Kings 19:10). Elijah complains about his lack of success, saying that the people have abandoned God and he effectively condemn them. In saying this, there is the subtle implication that God’s promises have failed…

Then in the passage assigned for this Sunday, God reveals Himself to Elijah, indicating his patience, mercy and gentleness with His people. In the text that follows afterwards, God gives Elijah instructions as to what to do next.

At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the LORD said to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.”

A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD— but the LORD was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake— but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake there was fire— but the LORD was not in the fire.

After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.