Back to blogging

Well, it has been over six months since I last posted on this blog. A lot has happened since then and I cannot say that I have much motivation to continue blogging. I do like being able to write book reviews and every now and again argue with an atheist or two, but in general, blogging I must admit is very impersonal. Perhaps I will start posting again, but the goal or the result of such activity I cannot see.

So until later then,

~Jahothanan

School’s OVER!

Yay! School is over for the year. Now I just need to focus on applying to Hillsdale and getting my textbooks for next quarter.

Oh yes, and get ready for Christmas, everyone’s favorite holiday (or at least it should be ). Anyhow, I’m too happy and excited to try to think of a post right now, so Merry Christmas everyone!

Free Hugs Campaign

This is really funny and kind of cool.

Here is what it says on the official website at http://www.freehugscampaign.org/:

“How it all started:

I’d been living in London when my world turned upside down and I’d had to come home. By the time my plane landed back in Sydney, all I had left was a carry on bag full of clothes and a world of troubles. No one to welcome me back, no place to call home. I was a tourist in my hometown.

Standing there in the arrivals terminal, watching other passengers meeting their waiting friends and family, with open arms and smiling faces, hugging and laughing together, I wanted someone out there to be waiting for me. To be happy to see me. To smile at me. To hug me.

So I got some cardboard and a marker and made a sign. I found the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and held that sign aloft, with the words “Free Hugs” on both sides.

And for 15 minutes, people just stared right through me. The first person who stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning. How that morning had been the one year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident. How what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug. I got down on one knee, we put our arms around each other and when we parted, she was smiling.

Everyone has problems and for sure mine haven’t compared. But to see someone who was once frowning, smile even for a moment, is worth it every time.”

Atheism: is there sufficient morality?

In my discussions with atheists, the issue of morality comes up an awful lot. Many of them claim that ethics and morality is relative to society or the individual or they say it is “culture-dependant.” They mean that morality changes over time and that it is not absolute. What may be “right” for one person or one culture may not be “right” for another person or culture depending on the time, place, and technology.

As a Christian, my morality is and must be based on the Bible because it is an unchangeable concrete foundation for all morality and ethics. The thing about that is, though, that man is fallen. For anyone to deny that man is fallible and corruptable, they are either a lyer or just plain stupid. It is everywhere. We see it in the news everyday. We hear about it on the radio. We often times witness its horrors first hand. Even ourselves, we are corruptable and tend toward bad behavior.  I do not think this fact is disputable.

That being said, it is of utmost importance to me as a Christian, to share my faith in Christ, the only means I see for hope of a more perfect, good, and holy existence, not in this world by trying to create a utopian society, but after death.

For the atheist, though, I do not understand why they feel the necessity to challenge Christians. If they are right, what difference does it make? People will eventually die and that is the end of it, no matter how much money or pleasure you amase to yourself in this world. However, if the Christian is right, would it not be advisable that as many people as possible come to faith in Christ?

If there is no God and people believe in Christianity or some other religion, what ultimate difference does it make? But, if God does exist and people do not believe in him, we are all in a lot of trouble since we decided not to follow God’s morality, but our own or some culture’s morality. In either case, as a religious person, and I believe as a Christian, I will always have the upper hand.

To depend on a changing morality, one that either changes over time or is relative to the person or culture creates a delema when one wants to challenge someone else’s actions. As a Christian, with an unchanging moral foundation, I do believe I have the right to challenge others on their behavior.

This is not to say that everything must be exactly the same between cultures and people, but that there are certain underlying principles that all people must abide by. Those are moral principles. Not everything deals with morality and so it is wrong to treat everything as though it did (i.e. some people, and even some Christians, seem to think trivial things such as going 1 or 2 miles over the speed limit is a moral issue). Some things are advisable, but not all things are moral.

4-27-08 Again

4-27-08

4-20-08

Tom Friends of the day

Test your knowledge of economics!

If you are passing by, don’t leave until you give the following questions a shot. The answer doesn’t have to be right. It can be a guess.

What is economics?

What are prices?

What is supply and demand?

Define “economies of scale” and “diseconomies of scale.”

These are just a few questions that deal with basic economics. Recently, I was asked to lead a group of homeschool students in studying the book Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. If you don’t know anything about economics or even if you think you know everything about economics, you should read this book. You would be surprised. All of the above questions are part of a list of study questions I have been compiling to help with discussion and study. This should be fun!