Kierkegaard: Humor on Money

In the midst of my readings on Kierkegaard this semester, I came across a text the other day that was quite amusing.
"From what I know about the political situation, it would be easy for Denmark to borrow fifteen million rix-dollars. Why does no one think of this? Now and then we hear that someone is a genius and does not pay his debts, why should a nation not do the same, provided there is agreement? Borrow fifteen million; use it not to pay off our debts but for public entertainment. Let us celebrate the millennium with fun and games. Just as there currently are boxes everywhere for contributions of money, there should be bowl everywhere filled with money. Everything would be free: the theater would be free, prostitutes would be free, rides to Deer Park would be free, funerals would be free, one's funeral eulogy would be free. I say "free" for if money is always available, everything is free in a way. No one would be allowed to own any property. An exception should be made only for me. I shall set aside for myself one hundred rix-dollars a day deposited in a London bank, partly because I cannot manage on less, partly because I am the one who provided the idea, and finally because no one knows if I will not be able to think up a new idea when the fifteen million is exhausted.
SK
Either/Or, A Fragment of Life

Pain's Intrinsic Value

Is pain intrinsically evil? In his book Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe Erik Wielenberg (pronounced wheel-en-burg) argues that, in a naturalistic universe without God, there can still be moral obligations to humans. In part of his book, he argues against a popular theological position that holds to the belief that, all true ethical claims are true in virtue of some act of will on the part of God. He does so based on a number of reasons. One of which is that this thesis implies that it is impossible for anything distinct from God to be intrinsically good or evil. He then argues against this upon the fact that some things are intrinsically evil, such as pain (Wielenberg 49-50). This raised a question in my mind, what is the intrinsic nature of pain?

Typically, the response to this is of course that pain is intrinsically evil. To examine this, we need to look at a couple of things. First, what intrinsic nature is. Second, the nature of pain.
As described earlier in his book, Wielenberg defines intrinsic nature as the nature of something in virtue of its own nature, in and of itself. He holds to the Moorean view (Wielenberg 23).
So then, pain, in and of itself, seems to be intrinsically evil, right? I'm not so sure.
Wielenberg's argument would look something like this.
He would first use the Dependency thesis:
1. If all true ethical claims are made true by an act of will by God, then nothing would have intrinsic value.
2. There are some things that have intrinsic value (such as pain).
3. Therefore, not all ethical claims are made true by an act of will by God.

I refute Wielenberg's claim on 2 premises: Either (1) Nothing has intrinsic value, or (2) an act of will by God can bestow value upon something without affecting its intrinsic nature.
I hold to the Augustinian view of evil, namely, that evil is nothing in and of itself, but that it is only a privation of good. Since this is the case, I don't think that pain is intrinsically evil. We seem to always associate pain with something bad or something we don't want. Pain however, does not have a value one way or the other, because it is a privation.

A Response to Luke Liechty

On the place of women in ministry, Southern Baptists agree for the most part. On their place in education, there has been some dispute over the past few years, especially with all the stuff that has gone down at Southwestern (www.swbts.edu). Recently, a Louisiana pastor has blogged, or ranted and raved, about the issue. You can read it here.
His Argument is a decent one, but it could use some work. He bases his argument from the standpoint that in his letter to Timothy, Paul instructs us that no woman should teach a man. They should only teach women. Of course, many Southern Baptists take this to mean in the church and even further, at the seminary level. I am a Southern Baptist and agree, women should not be in authority over a man, in the church. Liechty uses this premise to argue that women should not teach men who are training to become pastors.
However, if we take Paul's argument to its logical conclusion, then we would deduce that women should not teach men in any field. Mathematics, history, physics, literature. Any woman seeking to teach in Higher Education would only be allowed to teach women, at least in an SBC institution. This is something that is absurd and not Biblical.
If we accept this view of Paul's statement, we would find ourselves firing women professors and administrators all over the country.

Generational Blessing

This past week it was my birthday. I usually receive a gift from both sets of grandparents. It is usually a card that comes in the mail and of course, a couple dollars are sent along. Something every college student enjoys! This year however, I received a little something extra. I called my grandmother to thank her (Mamalou) and Papa for the gift. As we talked she asked me if there was anything else I needed and said to call them anytime that I needed something. I said I just need prayer, that I could always use prayer. She said "well I'm always doing that". She told me how she and Papa prayed every morning for all of us by name. After I hung up the phone I reflected on the character of my grandparents, and of my own parents. We are all familiar with the "sins of the father", but what about righteousness of the father.

As I look at my heritage, I can easily see that I am the product of 2 righteous people, who were the product of 2 righteous people, and as far as I know, they are the product of 2 righteous people. So it is safe to say that I am a 3rd generation of blessing and possibly a 4th. Something that I am grateful for beyond expression. This generational righteousness thing is very real.

Changing the World, One Person at a Time

In my quest to change the world, I believe that I truly have been burdened with a role in the abolishing of abortion in America. This is just one of many ways in which I intend to change the world. To do so would require a few things. Pastors need to preach Biblical ethics in churches. Parents should teach Biblical ethics in there homes. And if possible, our government leaders should instigate codes by which these ethics can be carried out. So, if a Biblical ethic against abortion is preached in our churches, taught in our homes, and enforced in Washington, then we would live in a totally different society.
I spoke with Justice For All founder David Lee today about getting involved with what they are doing. JFA is a pro-life organization that travels to college campuses to exhibit the real effects of abortion and train individuals in how to teach others about abortion.
JFA's role in this task is currently to change society, as Lee puts it, "one person at a time". The message preached by JFA ought to be preached in the churches that congregate all of us who call ourselves Christians. Strikingly, this ethic is almost unheard in evangelical churches in America. If this ethic were truly taught in our churches, American society would be different. The problem is, we have no one to preach. So, as I and many others my age search for purpose and calling in life, a question we must ask ourselves is, How might we go about changing our culture? Will it be by preaching in a church or even on a street corner? Will it be by raising our children in the way of The Truth? Will it be by passing a law as a U.S. Congressman in Washington?
It is a cooperative effort that must take place if we are to really transform our world. The change could come tomorrow.

Father's Pain

Last night I had car trouble. I was on my way to play a baseball game across town. As I was driving down the interstate my car shut off. I pulled to the side and tried my best to get out of the way of traffic. Despite my many years of being under the car watching my dad work, I couldn't quite determine what the problem was. I had problems with the car before and knew this could be frustrating. I called me father who I knew could assess the problem easily. He didn't pick up so I called my older brother and told him I needed help. When he arrived, my father called and we spoke for a moment, he figured the alternator was bad. My brother and drove home in his car and later went back with gasoline and other items we thought might help our situation. We finally got the car back, but I missed my baseball game. Even before I spoke with my father on the phone I knew he was not going to be in a great mood about the situation. He expressed his discomfort, but did not blame anything on me. However, I still felt terrible because I knew I had caused him discomfort and he was feeling anxiety nevertheless. I thought later that night, that is the way it should be with our heavenly Father as well. When we cause Him pain, we should feel His pain. It should hurt us that we hurt Him. I think we experience this and it's a good thing that we do. When we realize that we are causing our heavenly Father pain without feeling any remorse ourselves, there is a serious problem.

Literary Meme

I don't usually do "memes," but I like this one:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 161.
3. Find the fifth full sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

Here's mine: "All I knew was that I was going mad, but for the sake of my sanity, and dying that I might live, aware of the evil that I was but unaware of the good I was soon to become."

Confessions, Saint Augustine