A blog by Tom Sheepandgoats (aka Tom Harley)
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Psalm 139:1-2
Some things in service that didn’t go the way I wanted, and I was short on that account with a totally uninvolved party. But later on, I felt bad about it and apologized. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ he says. ‘I know you.’ And, you know, that is sort of reassuring. Even more so when come across Psalm 139:1-2 in last week’s Watchtower study: “Jehovah, you…
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Save Us from Critical Thinking: Part 6
For best results, start here. Of course we should think. Of course we should be reasonable. Of course we should (God help us) use “critical thinking” if that term does it for us. But don’t go thinking you’re getting to the bottom of anything that way. In the end, were stuck with what Solomon described at Ecclesiastes 8:17: “I considered all the work of the true God, and I realized that…
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Save Us from Critical Thinking: Part 5
(for best results, start here) In recent years, the term “reason” has been upgraded to “critical thinking,” as though to imply increased potency. It’s the same stuff. It’s just that the latter was not the buzzphrase then that it has come to be today. Like “fake news” or declaring things “unacceptable,” it’s a term that came out of obscurity, if not nowhere, and becomes ubiquitous.…
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Save Us from Critical Thinking: Part 4
For complete results, start here It was irksome when atheists put up their ‘Let Reason Prevail’ billboard right next to that Illinois State Capitol Nativity Scene back in 2009; that much was immediately apparent. But putting my finger on just why it was irksome required more effort. Was it the presumption of the atheists that they held a monopoly on “reason?” Partly. Was it the…
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Save Us from Critical Thinking: Part 2
Luke Timothy Johnson, lecturer of the Great Courses series, ‘The Story of the Bible,’ likened the historical critical method (higher criticism) to a Trojan Horse. It is dazzling in appearance. Therefore, you let it right into your camp. Once inside, however, it releases the seeds of your own destruction. This is because the historical critical method is based entirely on ‘critical thinking,’ which is all…
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Save us from Critical Thinking: Part 1
Here in the U.S, when the media wishes to discredit someone, they say that he or she stated such-and-such “without evidence,” as if it were a god that they failed to bow down to. It is a relatively new expression, not more than 10 years old. In fact, meaningful “evidence” is extremely hard to obtain. Just distinguishing causal from correlated can spur endless studies and…
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Save Us from the Trolley Problem
The trolley problem: it’s a great philosophical puzzle to occupy the musings of that bunch and keep them off the street where they might do harm. Maybe you’ve seen the drawing. By pulling a lever, you divert the trolley to the track on which one person is lying, killing him. By doing nothing, the trolley rolls ahead and kills 5 on the main track. What…
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When the King is a Boy and the Princes Start Their Feasting in the Morning
In government, when people enter office with modest means and a few years later have amassed wealth far beyond what the paycheck would account for, is that an example of the following? “How terrible for a land when the king is a boy and the princes start their feasting in the morning!” Ecclesiastes 10:16. [The king is a relative “boy” who allows them to get…