{"id":6087,"date":"2020-06-21T12:26:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-21T20:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=6087"},"modified":"2020-06-29T12:01:50","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T20:01:50","slug":"christianity-for-modern-pagans-order-method","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2020\/06\/21\/christianity-for-modern-pagans-order-method","title":{"rendered":"Christianity For Modern Pagans: Order & Method"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through an anno\u00adtat\u00aded trans\u00adla\u00adtion of Pas\u00adcal\u2019s Pensees called Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty For Mod\u00adern Pagans<\/a>, I\u2019ll post the thoughts I\u2019m email\u00ading the stu\u00addents here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all tagged sum\u00admer-read\u00ading-project-2020<\/a>. The read\u00ading sched\u00adule is online<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theme that seems most impor\u00adtant to me from this first week\u2019s read\u00adings (the pref\u00adace and the chap\u00adters Order & Method) is the need to under\u00adstand the heart behind some\u00adone\u2019s skep\u00adti\u00adcism. We must gen\u00aduine\u00adly love our skep\u00adti\u00adcal friends if we are to per\u00adsuade them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal ques\u00adtions are real and have to be answered hon\u00adest\u00adly, but the cries of the heart (Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty is intol\u00ader\u00adant, faith is for igno\u00adrant peo\u00adple, becom\u00ading a Chris\u00adt\u00adian would make me into some\u00adone I would\u00adn\u2019t like, fol\u00adlow\u00ading Jesus would mean aban\u00addon\u00ading fun) are far more impor\u00adtant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find when I speak with unbe\u00adliev\u00aders on cam\u00adpus their first ques\u00adtions to me are often tests: they want to see how I respond to pure\u00adly intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal inquiries before they begin rais\u00ading the issues that real\u00adly keep them from faith. And some\u00adtimes they don\u2019t even know the real rea\u00adsons they won\u2019t con\u00adsid\u00ader Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty. A reply I\u2019ve found help\u00adful is, \u201cI\u2019ll answer your ques\u00adtion as best I can, but I\u2019m curi\u00adous: if I answer it to your sat\u00adis\u00adfac\u00adtion will you seri\u00adous\u00adly con\u00adsid\u00ader becom\u00ading a Chris\u00adt\u00adian? If not, what would still hold you back?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you think Stan\u00adford stu\u00addents\u2019 biggest heart objec\u00adtions are to Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty? I\u2019m curi\u00adous what you notice as you speak with your friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now a few excerpts from the read\u00ading I par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly enjoyed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, the dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty in accept\u00ading Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty was its sec\u00adond point, sal\u00adva\u00adtion. Every\u00adone in pre\u00admod\u00adern soci\u00adeties knew sin was real, but many doubt\u00aded sal\u00adva\u00adtion. Today it is the exact oppo\u00adsite: every\u00adbody is saved, but there is no sin to be saved from. Thus what orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly came into the world as \u201cgood news\u201d strikes the mod\u00adern mind as bad news, as guilt-rid\u00adden, moral\u00adis\u00adtic and \u201cjudg\u00admen\u00adtal\u201d. (page 26, Kreeft\u2019s com\u00admen\u00adtary on pensee 6)<\/p>Page 26 (from Kreeft\u2019s com\u00admen\u00adtary on pensee 6)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If he exalts him\u00adself, I hum\u00adble him.
If he hum\u00adbles him\u00adself, I exalt him.
And I go on con\u00adtra\u00addict\u00ading him
Until he under\u00adstands
That he is a mon\u00adster that pass\u00ades all under\u00adstand\u00ading. <\/p>Page 37 (Pas\u00adcal speak\u00ading, pensee 130)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When we want to cor\u00adrect some\u00adone use\u00adful\u00adly and show him he is wrong, we must see from what point of view he is approach\u00ading the mat\u00adter, for it is usu\u00adal\u00adly right from that point of view, and we must admit this, but show him the point of view from which it is wrong. This will please him, because he will see that he was not wrong but mere\u00adly failed to see every aspect of the ques\u00adtion. <\/p>Page 39 (Pas\u00adcal speak\u00ading, pensee 701)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Our reli\u00adgion is wise and fool\u00adish: wise, because it is the most learned and most strong\u00adly based on mir\u00ada\u00adcles, prophe\u00adcies, etc., fool\u00adish, because it is not all this which makes peo\u00adple belong to it. . . . What makes them believe is the Cross. . . . And so St. Paul, who came with wis\u00addom and signs, said that he came with nei\u00adther wis\u00addom nor signs, for he came to con\u00advert, but those who come only to con\u00advince may say they come with wis\u00addom and signs. <\/p>Page 42 (Pas\u00adcal speak\u00ading, pensee 842)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through an anno\u00adtat\u00aded trans\u00adla\u00adtion of Pas\u00adcal\u2019s Pensees called Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty For Mod\u00adern Pagans, I\u2019ll post the thoughts I\u2019m email\u00ading the stu\u00addents here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all tagged sum\u00admer-read\u00ad\u00ading-project-2020. The read\u00ading sched\u00adule \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cChris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty For Mod\u00adern Pagans: Order & Method\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Reflections on Pascal's Pensees. Sort of.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[124,284,283,282],"class_list":["post-6087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-reviews","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-kreeft","tag-pascal","tag-summer-reading-project-2020"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1Ab","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6087"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6125,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6087\/revisions\/6125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}