CADRE Comments

Botticelli's concept of St. Augustine


…St. Augustine’s view that God is being itself is based partly upon Platonism (“God is that which truly is” and partly on the Bible—“I am that I am”). The transcendence of time as a condition of full reality is a central theme…[in Augustine’s work].[1] Of course Augustine was one of the seminal thinkers of all Church history. Along with Aquinas he’s probably one of the two most important theologians of all time. He might be called the last thinker in the tradition of the classical age. His view of the Trinity cemented the Orthodox position and set the Western view of Trinity on it’s trajectory diverging from the eastern Church. His work The City of God is one of the greatest theological master pieces of all time, and to think it’s a letter to friend (a letter the size of the New York Phone book). Augustine expresses the concept of the super-essential Godhead many times and in many ways. Augustine was a Platonist. In that regard perhaps his grea…

1. Something exists.
2. Whatever exists, does so either necessarily or contingently.
3. It is impossible that only contingent things exist.
4. Therefore, there exists at least one necessary thing.
5. If there is a necessary thing, that thing is appropriately called 'God.'
6. Therefore God exists.
(revised 8/6/'18)

This version understands Necessity and contingency largely in causal terms. The necessity that creates the universe must be understood as eternal and uncaused for two reasons: (1) The impossibility of ICR[1], there has to be a final cause or nothing would ever come to be, (2) empirically we know the universe is not eternal. See the supporting material. Atheists will often argue that this kind of argument doesn't prove that God is the necessity that causes the universe. but being necessary and creator and primary  cause makes it the sources of all things we can rationally construe that as God. Finally, even if the cosmological argument is sound or cogent, the difficu…

I haven't been by for a while, and last time I was here I explained a bit about why. In April 2018, a dear friend of mine passed away: Elliot Miller, editor in chief of the Christian Research Journal. In the wake of his passing, I was asked by his wife to take up the completion of a project he did not finish -- a book on spirituality with the title The Odd Faith Out.

By "completion" I don't mean I did any writing or original research. The book was a work in progress, and Elliot left behind some notes and ideas for how he planned to complete it. His plan called for a book three times the size of what was in the manuscript. All I did was add a few easing transitional phrases between sections and write a brief foreword. The rest is pretty much as Elliot left it.

It's been published now because more than anything else, Elliot wanted to be sure it could get into the hands of others who needed the information it provided. That's also why the price has been set extrem…

I am taking a couple of weeks off for action, I need to know people are reading this blog please let me me hear from you. If you want this blog to continue.





Let's remember in part 1 established that the christian walk is both an individual relationship with God 1x1 and membership in a body of Christ. This  is not a contradiction   because it is a body, a collective made up of individuals who have personal relationships with God. The idea that we only have a relationship with the church can   be a big excuse not to do what we know is right but to use membership in the group to shield us from personal responsibility. Of course it can also be used by the leader of the group to take control of the lives of individuals and abuse power.

I am specifically addressing the article by  Chad Bird. [1]I do not know anything about brother Bird but I do know that he uses a set of flimsy arguments to defend his position. Let's examine them. I am not accusing him   or his group of anything but h…