Author: Tim Schwab
a novice
Apothegms and Observations IV
Compassionate Atheism, Or, Insanity Justified
How can I believe in a God? How can I believe in a God that allows the world to exist as it does? Take a look around. Every two minutes, someone is raped. What is this?!? Who is doing this? How can this man exist who so violently hates women, or hates God, or hates himself, or something, that he would do such a thing? How can thousands, millions of these men exist? Do I know someone who has done this? The chances are not small.
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Apothegms and Observations III
Apothegms and Observations II
Apothegms and Observations
A Weak Man’s Prayer
What is the value of an actionless lament of evil? Is it not merely feeling righteous? What is it other than an emotional outpouring? What does it accomplish except allowing me to feel the problem has somehow gone away because I am so spiritual as to feel sorrow at evil? What is my faith without deeds?
Speck in the Brother’s Eye
When we love others, we want the best for them, which in large part just means that we want them to be the best they can be. We want to see their souls be kind, strong, and joyful. It is truly astonishing, however, how quickly and completely this good hope can turn from a love of who they were made to be into a hatred of who they are. Once we find out that they are not what we earnestly desire them to be, we become angry and frustrated with them, and cope by turning to control and manipulation. “After all,” we say to ourselves, “it is for their own good.”
Self Indoctrination
What we read and hear shape what we believe and how we think. If we only read Marxist literature, would we not be Marxist? If we only read Protestant authors, would we not be Protestant? But what we believe shapes what we read. We read what we think we will like, and we like things that confirm what we already believe. Similarly, we tend to associate with people who will agree with us. It is a vicious cycle, always validating our conceptions of how the world does and ought to work. But occasionally, our beliefs are wrong. How can we then combat the propaganda we feed ourselves? How can we break the cycle?
Bare
All my life, I have heard humble men talk of being “known.” They say that all people want to be known, that everyone yearns for it. I scoffed in my arrogance. That is just old guys getting too wrapped up in themselves. I mean, isn’t it the hormoney teenager that cries to be understood? I don’t need that, I’m perfectly happy just doing God’s will and going on my merry way. I’m good, everything is fine. I don’t want to get emotional here and put a burden on you to care for me, so let’s not talk about spiritual things. Let’s not talk about this dull uneasiness I feel. All this insistence of the importance of community is just hype over a buzzword.
Thoughts of a Novice 