escaping the goolag

29 - 08/17 /10:15

Google has been getting some bad press. They deserve it. And more.

Most everyone’s heard about the Google programmer who naively trusted his company’s motto, “Don’t be evil.” But then his 10-page memo critiquing the company’s diversity policy which mandates “Unconscious Bias” training, began circulating beyond Google. James Damore abruptly discovered the most evil thing any Googler can do (that’s really how they identify their employees) is to criticize the mother-ship. Read More…

defining evil, part 2

22 - 08/17 /11:46

Before the deadly events at Charlottesville are flushed away by our 24-hour news cycle, a reflection. The week before Charlottesville I observed that neither philosophers nor theologians have developed a widely accepted definition of evil. Rushing in where they fear to tread, and adhering to Albert Einstein’s desire that explanations be as simple as possible, but not simpler, I offered my own definition of evil.

Evil views death and/or destruction as a solution. Read More…

Bible translations

16 - 08/17 /09:10

Why are there so many different translations of the Bible? The cynical answer is, Bible translations are money-makers. To be sure, every few years a few fragments of ancient manuscripts come to light. But not since the Dead Sea Scrolls in the late 1940’s (which included only Old Testament books) has a trove of Bible manuscripts appeared. Yet translations keep popping out.

Allow me a heretical claim. Almost every modern translation of the Bible is quite acceptable. Read More…

defining evil

09 - 08/17 /12:29

Why evil exists is a hard thing. If there is a God who is good and omnipotent—if He is the loving heavenly Father, why does He tolerate evil? And, what exactly is evil? We may know it when we see it, but we usually recognize evil only after it has produced some horrible harvest. It often isn’t readily recognized. Nazi Germany was awarded the 1936 Olympics. Cambodia welcomed the Khmer Rouge as liberators. Read More…