How should we Love God?
2018 Dec 15We are commanded to love God:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Jesus in Luke 10:27 NIV quoting Deuteronomy 6:5).
But what does this mean to love God? What does loving God look like?
Darwinian Metaphysics
2018 Dec 11Darwinian evolution is based on several metaphysical assumptions. (Note: I am talking about evolutionary species origins through universal common ancestry.) There is no evolutionary science without these assumptions, so the basis of Darwinian evolution is metaphysics. These include:
- Truth exists and is knowable
- Truth can be inferred from evidence, artifacts or experiments
- Materialistic explanations are the only valid truth explanations for the physical world
- We, as products of Darwinian processes, are competent to detect and to know truth
- Materialistic mechanisms are sufficient to explain the origins of existing biological systems
- Darwinian mechanisms are capable of producing optimized biological features and/or systems
- Darwinian mechanisms have the creative power to invent new biological systems
The first four are purely metaphysical. Science cannot speak to these assertions, and yet Darwinian biology absolutely depends on these philosophical assumptions.
A Solo Cello Recital - Rachmaninoff Sonata
2018 Nov 24Today I put on a solo cello recital. It was the culmination of many years of interest and effort. I performed well enough that I was happy with the outcome. And so it was very satisfying.
It also over-extended me enough that I delayed writing this entry for four years!
I am motivated to play cello as an adult by deep enjoyment in producing rich and exquisite sound. These vibrations of notes, melodies and harmonies dance in the air between you and me. They create a stream of moments that overlap and linger briefly in our mind. Sometimes the music tells stories made out of feelings - dread, surprise, regret, chaos, calm, grief, joy. Sometimes it reaches into us and grabs our soul, and for a moment we can’t even breathe.
How can wiggling air do this?
Glider Rides
2018 Jul 9We visited Alan in upstate New York in the summer. This day we went to Elmira to the Harris Hill Soaring club, one of the oldest glider flying clubs in the nation. They offer rides for a good price.
Melanie's glider went up first, behind a tow plane.
Then when the tow plane came back, it was my turn to be taken up. When we were at altitude, the pilot had me pull the release from the tow plane. The tow plane banked down and away from us, back to the runway.
Free Will and Biology
2018 Jul 3I was listening to a talk by biologist about how our biology influences our decisions. His approach was from the atheistic evolutionary perspective. He saw that our biology is extremely complex, nevertheless it is a predictable mechanism. At times we might feel that we have made a free decision. However, he said that usually you could show how the "choice" was entirely predictable from our biology working in our circumstances. "Its biology all the way down", he said, therefore he felt we had no free will.
However, the view that free will does not exist has been rejected by all cultures through all time. Humans have always been held responsible for their choices by the law. Socially (except for certain narrow circumstances) persons are always held accountable for personal choices.