wheaton has opened my eyes to many new things. people, places, beliefs, and histories. wow, that was a terrible transition, my english professor would be horrified. anyways. lately though, i've been struggling with people and beliefs. being a christian environment, an extensive collection of subsects are all the religious diversity that i see. though there is the skeptical underside that nobody sees but everyone knows is there. i have added myself to these numbers, of how many i do not know, and in the recent weeks have questioned christianity at its foundations. the ideal is, as revealed by my friend, deism. there is a god, but can he be all good?
why am i questioning this? my father is a pastor, i've grown up in the church, so why do i question my what i believe now? firstly, i do believe that everybody should critically evaluate what they believe in. not doing so is irresponsible, and when given the opportunity to search for answers, people should always actively grab them. there is no point where you can no longer question and get closer to the truth. so. why now? i was given reason to, and i suppose they deserve some thanks for initiating this search. i would have contented myself with ignorance of my belief had they not caused this skepticism.
now why was this post called pizza and (red) tomatoes? well, it was a sophomoric attempt at being clever, but hey this is my first blog in a while, so give me a break. the pizza, of course, refers to deep dish, which references the serious nature of this post. tomatoes go on top of the pizza, as per usual. and specifically red. well, there are several meanings to that. hopefully the person i intend to get that meaning will see. but for the rest of you, tomato sauce is red. obviously.
until i decide to muse again, i thank you if you read it and understand if you didn't.
oh phil oh phil
ReplyDeleteWe should talk more often, Phil. Part of me is worried that you've begun investigating the foundations of Christianity, but another part of me is proud that you've gathered the intellectual and investigative gall to do something far too many Wheaties don't. Perhaps this is where you'll make the faith your own, perhaps it's not. But I'm glad you're thinking, as opposed to many of our peers (you know who I'm talking about).
ReplyDeleteI think the problem with a lot of our peers is that they'll dismiss a conclusion simply because it goes against the ramifications of their own worldview. But that's a logically flawed methodology, because the point of critical analysis is to view the systematic flow of ideas and rationale within a different vantage point from beginning to end, analyzing the paradigm as a whole-that is, you have to look at things from the bottom up. I'm so tired of people telling me that N.T. Wright is wrong because he supports something that goes against Calvinism; it's such farcical, primitive logic that does nothing but substantiates my point that nobody at Wheaton is really a true Calvinist, but just a John Piper fanboy.
Keep thinking, Phil. Come seek me out whenever you want to philosophize.