*I tried to post this on Friday, now it’s Sunday, and just realized that it didn’t actually publish. Let’s try this again.
FFTF (Food For Thought Friday)
Spirit: Truth can be created? Hmmmmm
Body: Apple Yogurt Bowl
Spirit: Truth can be created? Hmmmmm
What is truth? Do you think it’s possible to create your own truth? Let’s take a look at what Winston Churchill once said.
Incontrovertible: Big word, wouldn’t you say? Let’s see how the dictionary defines it:
- Not able to be denied or disputed.
And how about “Truth” itself:
- The real facts about something : the things that are true
- The state of being the case
- The body of real things, events, and facts
- The property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality
It seems that now-a-day postmodern thought leans toward this tendency to believe that one can actually create his/her own truth, and I have a difficult time with that. I would like to borrow a piece from Josh McDowell, former agnostic that used to believe that Christianity was worthless.
The Postmodern Age: Create Your Own Truth
Postmodernism is a worldview that asserts that external, absolute truth—that is, a truth that is true for all people, in all places, and at all times—cannot be known through reason or science because truth is either nonexistent or unknowable. Postmodern thought asserts that experience is more reliable than reason, and the idea of truth is created rather than discovered. In a nutshell, postmodernists say, “If it’s true for you, then it’s as true as it needs to be.”
Postmodernism now shapes the attitudes of our society as a whole even though most people don’t even know the meaning of the word. Don’t be surprised to meet many adults or even Christians who are reluctant to draw a line between right and wrong or to affirm a belief in absolute truth. They have adopted a postmodern mind-set without bothering to check whether it is based in absolute truth—or even needs to be. Perhaps, if pressed, they might offer an explanation that borders on New Age mysticism.
Contrary to postmodern thought, we do not create truth–we discover it. Belief does not determine reality–reality exists apart from belief. Our belief in the truth merely brings us into alignment with it and activates its power in our lives. Absolute truth is an objective reality that exists totally independent of what anyone thinks or feels about it. Truth is real and solid whether or not we choose to believe it, just as Mount Everest is real and solid whether or not we choose to climb it. (original here: http://joshmcdowell.blogspot.com.br/2008/01/postmodern-age-create-your-own-truth.html)
So what do you think? Do you think it’s possible to create your own truth? Just some food for thought as you go into your weekend.
Body: Apple Yogurt Bowl
I love breakfast. Don’t you? It’s my favorite meal of the day. I have recently discovered an amazing breakfast that I have been enjoying frequently. A simple recipe, but a good one. Hope you enjoy.
A great weekend to all and please, let me know your thoughts.
Blessings =)
stacilys.wordpress.com 
Gosh, deep topic for sure.
I’ve read all of McDowell’s books and I generally like him (do you like how I start out with that because I’m gonna say something a bit contrarian? ;). )
Obviously you’re right on track that ‘we do not create truth’. There is a propensity in the 21st century for people to lean towards the idea that we can all ‘believe what we want to believe’ and ” It doesn’t matter what you believe we are all right and nobody is wrong’…… but of course even though people say they believe ‘truth is subjective’ most people don’t actually live that way; because the world tends to be filled with either/or’s…
—) You either believe in some type of god/creator/intelligent designer…… or you don’t
—) You either believe in loving people of all races…… or you don’t
—) You either believe in climate change…. or you don’t
But I think where people like McDowell go wrong is they don’t realize ‘entirely’ why postmodernism has become such a force in society; its not simply because people want truth to be subjective
But rather, postmodernism initially came out of the art and architecture world of the 19th century and then in the 1950’s it became more clearly expressed as a; “dissatisfaction with modern architecture, and that led to the postmodern architecture movement”. So postmodernism at its core is not the propensity “towards” something…. but rather a propensity “away” from something (i.e. dissatisfaction)
In the United States, throughout the 20th century evangelicalism pretty much dominated the different facets of culture; most people went to protestant evangelical churches, (see Noll, Marsden, Hatch, or any of the other Historians who’ve written on the history of Evangelicalism in the Western World..a.I’m kinda obsessed with the topic and I’ve read a hundred or so history books on it lol)
And the problem is that protestant evangelical culture in the Western World was growing stale during the 20th century. Community was rather bland, evangelicals were producing practically ZERO art, and evangelicals were producing very little when it came to music…….
So enter the 1960’s, we’ve already defined postmodernism as “dissatisfaction… with something”… and in the Western World for many people (because the majority of people attended protestant churches) they became dissatisfied with church.
Have you ever read Francis Schaeffer? I’ve literally got every single book he ever wrote on my shelves. In the 1960’s & 1970’s he became one of the lone voices within evangelism who understood why so many youths were dissatisfied; why they had become disillusioned. He says it well when he wrote,
“Christian parents would say to their children, ‘believe in god’ and the child would ask, ‘why’, and the parent would say, ‘because I said so’. And Christian parents would say to their children, ‘go to college so you can have a better education’ and the children would ask ‘why’, and the parent would say, ‘so you will have a higher earning potential’ and the child would ask ‘why do I need a higher earning potential’ and the parent would say ‘so you can earn more money’ and the child would ask ‘why do I need to earn more money?’ and the parent would slap him on the face and say ‘quit giving me an attitude!” —–I’m paraphrasing all of that from one of his books cuz I’m sitting at a coffee shop right now and I don’t have it with me.
Essentially; Christian parents instead of having deeper dialogue with their children during the 1950’s & 1960’s simply expected their young adult children to obey unquestionably what they told them to do or believe. Those parents came out of the great depression and thus had a very different view of life then their children…….
And so Children in the 50’s, 60’s, 70,s became dissatisfied with Christian culture, community, the lack of art, the lack of relevant beautiful music, etc. Postmodernism within the church then is not as much a movement of people who want to ‘believe whatever they want to believe’ but rather it is a movement AWAY from the things they are dissatisfied with; cold community, parents who don’t dialogue, churches that are more concerned with sermons than with the homeless and single mothers, etc.
And now here we are in the 21st century and Protestant Evangelical life isn’t much better than it was 50 years ago;
—-) Evangelicals do not have much prominence in the world of science
—-) There aren’t a lot of famous, leading professors in the academic world
—-) Evangelicals are simply not making music that the masses listen to
—-) The fine art world is practically void of any notable evangelical Christian painters
As Professor Mark Noll writes in “the Scandal of the evangelical mind”… he says, “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is no evangelical mind”.
When we think about Christianity in history though we think of famous Christians who led the way in the various disciplines;
—-) Many of the great composers were Christians and their pieces were actually played in church (Bach, Beethoven, etc. Handel)
—-) Many of the famous painters were Christians (Michelangelo, Leonardo, etc.)
—-) Many of the famous scientists were Christians (Galileo, Bacon, Pasteur, etc)
Being a Christian ‘was cool’…. being a Christian meant the ‘pursuit of truth’ and the pursuit of beauty, and the creation of art, and the creation of music……..
But now; like I said, there are almost no notable Christians in the various disciplines, and the ones who we could name are the exceptions rather than the rule.
First Things Magazine wrote a review of Noll’s book and they wrote,
“. Even today, polls tell us, a solid majority of the folk who regularly attend and participate in the life of local churches are evangelical in belief and behavior. But in the process, Noll argues, they have paid a terrible price, for they have “abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of ‘high’ culture.
By “mind” Noll does not mean theology or biblical studies per se, where, all things considered, evangelicals have done quite well. His target, rather, is evangelicals’ failure seriously to confront the “whole spectrum of modern learning, including economics and political science, literary criticism and imaginative writing, historical inquiry and philosophical studies, linguistics and the history of science, social theory and the arts.”
The problem, in short, is evangelicals’ appalling parochialism, their unwillingness to break out of the vast but all-too-comfortable ghetto of evangelical churches and colleges and publishing networks and engage an intellectual world long ago captured by Marx and Darwin and Freud.
Noll’s work is a jeremiad, profound in implication but simple in form. The tragedy of evangelicals’ poor scholarship, he argues, is that it grew from negligence, and the roots of that negligence go way back. In his view evangelical thought is best understood as a tissue of unexamined assumptions arising from early nineteenth century American values. Those values included revivalism, separation of church and state, political republicanism, social democracy, economic free enterprise, philosophical realism, and patriotic nationalism. Evangelical thinking suffered additional damage from the “disaster of fundamentalism.” In its holiness/pentecostal form, fundamentalism encouraged morbid inwardness; in its dispensationalist form, it fostered wooden literalism and an unhealthy preoccupation with predicting the future. “. END of quote…..
Thus, although it might seem like semantics. I think its important to identify postmodernism as a dissatisfaction with something and a move ‘away’ rather than simply saying that people ‘want to believe in subjective truth’….. because I think at its core postmodernism is in the subconscious of the average person; they don’t know WHY they are dissatisfied, they don’t know WHY they tell people they believe truth is subjective…. they only know that they FEEL a certain way; they don’t understand though why they feel what they feel…..
Sorry if the comment is too long…..i don’t comment a ton on blogs because my time is so limited but I enjoyed your post 🙂
First of all, can I just say, W O W! You know how they say, “You learn something new every day”? Well, I believe I’ve just learnt something new for me to chew on for the next month. That’s a good thing.
I first started hearing about, and learning about post-industurial and post-modern thought back in 2006. And boy am I ever glad that I did. When I first became a Christian, I was involved in the whole Pentecostal, experiential type of Christianity. This was during the time of the whole, “Toronto Vinyard” movement and Pensacola Florida. I wanted to have these experiences that others were having, but it seemed to me that I would have to force it to make it happen (does that make sense?) Anyhow, to make a long story short, over time I came to realize that it’s not all about feelings and ‘spiritual’ experiences. I used to be like an emotional roller coaster, but I believe that God, in His mercy and great patience, has brought me to a place of stability and a desire for intellectual growth. Even in reading the Bible, I used to be seeking that ‘feeling’ or some great ‘revelation’ from it, and if that didn’t happen, well then God wasn’t really ‘speaking’ to me. Or, I wasn’t getting anything out of it. I have recently started to read the Bible now as a history book and as an account of things that have happened (am I making sense?) At any rate, my husband is a huge ‘thinker’ and I am, or at least was, a huge ‘feeler’. I’m so thankful for him, because I can see how I’ve been challenged to come to a place of balance in my faith. I swear, if you and he were to get together you would be talking until the cows come home.
“But I think where people like McDowell go wrong is they don’t realize ‘entirely’ why postmodernism has become such a force in society; its not simply because people want truth to be subjective”
-Thank you for pointing this out. For me, it seems like such a heady topic (and as I mentioned, I was a strong feeler) and I’d like to understand more about it. I feel as if I’ve just stepped (not even) ankle deep in the water concerning this topic. I really enjoy reading what Josh McDowell has to say about the whole topic, and about how we should approach apologetics now-a-day, but I’m glad you have shared what you did so that I can be aware of the history and the ‘why’ of it all.
“Have you ever read Francis Schaeffer?”
-I tried to read one of his books in 2006, but at that time I was pregnant and always tired (pregnancy does not agree with me) and all this was very new to me. After reading the quote you wrote I am interested. What book did you quote this from?
“—-) Evangelicals do not have much prominence in the world of science
—-) There aren’t a lot of famous, leading professors in the academic world
—-) Evangelicals are simply not making music that the masses listen to
—-) The fine art world is practically void of any notable evangelical Christian painters”
-What a shame, don’t you think? Really. We need to be influencing every facet of society. We need to be in all 7 areas of influence of society. Have you ever read, “His Kingdom Come”? It’s an integrated approach to discipling the nations and fulfilling the great commission. You can read a chapter of the book here, http://ywampublishingftp.com/websitePDF/CalvinandGenevaBloomer
“being a Christian meant the ‘pursuit of truth’ and the pursuit of beauty, and the creation of art, and the creation of music……..”
-I love this.
““. Even today, polls tell us, a solid majority of the folk who regularly attend and participate in the life of local churches are evangelical in belief and behavior. But in the process, Noll argues, they have paid a terrible price, for they have “abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of ‘high’ culture.”
-Not good.
I really must read some of these books and authors you have noted here. Could you give me a few suggestions as to what I should start out with?
Thanks a ton Kenneth. I really mean it. You know, when I wrote this post I had trouble posting it. And then I tried again to post it and it wouldn’t show up in the reader. I don’t think many have seen it. But the fact that you saw it and wrote this amazing comment was well worth having posted it.
2 boys & 2 girls, the older children are in their teens so I phased out mentioning them in my articles as to prevent them from being targets of any nasty readers. Last summer I had quite a few people commenting and writing pretty heated articles against me so I wanted to protect my family from any potential backlash. My long time readers are better acquainted with my private life because in the beginning I was more open about it 🙂 Some well known bloggers are very open about their children and spouses, they even post pictures of them, and that is fine, everyone is different……but since I worked in a jail for two years as a counselor and then at the drug rehab clinic, I was taught to be very protective of my family’s privacy in order to prevent clients, stalkers, etc. from having any access to our personal lives.
Smoking pot and talking about the holy spirit….i would NEVER do that back in the day…. (okay, maybe I did but my lips are sealed 😉 )
Sounds like your husband has similar ideas as I when it comes to art/music/film etc…..i wish I had more time to be involved in the art scene. I used to work at a cable station when I was a teen but my life is such a whirlwind of busyness at the moment that I simply don’t have much time for anything it seems……
If I can find one of the essay’s I’ve written about the 60’s and the church perhaps I will send it to you…… it might take me a minute though because I don’t have a good electronic filing system for my essay’s. In college I wrote more than 600 essay’s (on top of another 1000 or so personal essay’s I’ve written) and I was so stupid and never tagged them properly; so in my Microsoft word I have a big mess of all these things I’ve written and all of the titles are just dates like “Week 1 December 2000” its so dumb because I don’t know what anything is unless I open it up.
Wow, four kids. I just couldn’t handle another one. Don’t get me wrong, I love my children. I just ‘HATE’ pregnancy. You hear people say, “Your pregnant, not sick”. Might as well have been for me. I was absolutely traumatized with my second one.
“Heated articles against me” -Wow, not good. I guess when you touch on topics that become personal to others, things can get heated. And you never really know who you could be dealing with. Wise choice on your part. Keep family and other personal things out of it.
Hahaha. I wasn’t smoking pot and talking about the Holy Spirit. I quit the pot, became and Christian, had elated emotional experiences at first, so hence, “take a tok of the Holy Ghost”. This was 20 years ago.
“Sounds like your husband has similar ideas as I when it comes to art/music/film etc…..”
Totally. You guys would have a ton to talk about, for sure. However, you won’t catch him drinking coffee. It would be a hot chocolate for him. Can you believe it? A Brazilian that doesn’t like coffee? Actually, his stomach doesn’t handle it at all. He will eat anything you put in front of him (even goat testicles in Afghanistan -Yuck!), but he will not drink coffee.
Before getting into film, we were part of an arts ministry. We trained others in the areas of theatre, dance, interpretation. I’ve written songs and have a CD. I used to do musical theatre. However, the songs I’m working on now-a-day are a lot different than the ones I’ve already recorded. They are more along the lines of addressing social issues, giving a voice to the voiceless, realities of today. I’ve got a few in the works that I have no idea how to finish yet. One on depression, another about a young girl and an old woman (north east brazil context, poverty and suffering. young girl encouraged by her dad to sell her body for a measly piece of bread), another on the issue of indigenous infanticide. We’ll see what I end up doing with them.
Oh ya, that would be great, the essay about the 60s. But no pressure though. I know you’re busy. Wow, you sure write a lot. 1,600 essays without a good filing system. Gotta be tough.
Thanks a ton=)
My father was Pentecostal but by age 14 I read a book “Christianity in Crisis” and wanted nothing to do with the movement anymore. It caused a lot of tension between the two of us… and even after he died in 2008, the majority of my siblings (there are 10 of us) are still Pentecostal so I am kinda like the black sheep of the family (spiritually speaking that is)…… the Vineyard movement, Toronto blessing, well, I’ve written about it extensively in my private journals and I’ve read countless books and have met with dozens of people who traveled to Toronto…… lots of stuff to say about all that but I wouldn’t even know where to begin 🙂
One of the problems with Christian theology is that if we’re not careful (well at least if I’m not careful) its easy to get stuck into the mode of a never ending book-a-thon and actually living a life like a Christian gets forgotten…… fortunately, I’m a really fast reader so I can read three or four books a week and do it in my spare time….. but I probably shouldn’t have referenced so many different authors, the only reason I did was in the by chance that you may have read some of them so that we could have a common starting place 🙂
Of everybody I mentioned, Schaeffer is probably the most relevant for all of us in our everyday lives. The God Who Is There is his ‘magnum opus’ and its a simple read, not very long (most of his books aren’t very long) and since you’re a parent like myself, he presents a lot of the history of Christianity as it connects to the history of art and music and the 1960’s…and things every Christian child should probably be aware of……… its very important to me as a parent that my children understand the 1960’s because I believe (and I obviously could be totally wrong) that the sexual revolution is directly tied to the Christian church in the 1960’s and the manner in which is got stale, dull, and bland….. that is what historians like Noll write about (but he writes about in an academic tone which can be a bit more difficult for the casual reader who just wants to read something a bit more lighter)
Schaeffer for me was in many ways my savior. Not in the sense of him being Jesus… but in that Schaeffer showed me Jesus. As Paul said, “Be like me as I am like Jesus”… Schaeffer’s love for teens, young adults, and those who were struggling in their faith was a breath of fresh air for me in an ocean of books by theologians who are often very black-or-white.
Schaeffer wasn’t afraid to share his own doubts, his own misgivings, and his own problems. He was real with the people that came to visit him in Switzerland and that’s why thousands of white suburban kids from the States traveled to Switzerland to meet with Schaeffer at LaBrie……Perhaps one of Schaefer’s failures was his inability to help the white suburban churches cross racial boundaries…. although it seems like churches all across the united States fail at that because Sunday is still one of the most segregated times of the week 😦
One of the things I found interesting about you and your husband is the documentary that he is working on…… its an area where I feel there needs to be a MAJOR focus by Christians; making documentaries, making films, making music…. not necessarily “Christian” documentaries, but simply documentaries created by Christians…….i wish I understood Portuguese 😉
The few Christians around the country who are involved in the arts tend to simply be ‘too’ evangelical to connect with a larger audience.Thus, someone like Bono from U2 who is a Christian is able to make more of an impact globally because he doesn’t exclusively make “Christian’ music… he is merely a Christian that makes music…. although it may seem like an issue of semantics… its actually a pretty big difference…
Sorry for my rambling comments….. like I said, I’m terrible when it comes to making comments on people blogs because I am often very pressed for time and in a few short seconds I can end up all over the place 😦
Wow, nine brothers and sisters. You grew up in a full household. My husband’s grandmother had 23. Can you believe it? North east Brazil and no TV make for a lot of ‘you know what’ at night. That’s like a pregnancy career.
Don’t know where to start when it comes to the Toronto Vinyard eh? lol. I became a Christian soon after I turned 20. I did not have a Christian upbringing and didn’t understand the cross at all. I was a little tomboy, pot smoking, hippy chick that used to say, “Take a tok of the Holy Ghost.” I’ve come a long way (thank God). So, for me, young and ignorant, I just went with the flow. I’m out of that flow. Have been for a long time.
Wow, you go through 3-4 books in a week? I’m lucky if I get through 1 in a month. I have a pile of books that I bought before I went to Canada for Christmas the year before last, picked them up there and brought them back here, and still haven’t finished them. Little kids and other responsibilities take up so much time. Right now I’m reading a book on apologetics for today. It goes into this whole issue of post-modern thought and all, but hasn’t shared the ‘whys’ or the ‘how it came to be’ of it (or at least not yet). So I’m really glad that you suggested “The God Who is There” by Francis Schaeffer. I’m going to have to see if I get it electronically for Kindle. If not available on Kindle, I may be in Canada at the end of June/beginning of July.
I had no idea you had kids. How old are they? Interesting what you said about them understanding about the 60s. I’m interested to know why you think “the sexual revolution is directly tied to the Christian church in the 1960′s and the manner in which is got stale, dull, and bland”.
I first heard about Francis Schaffer when I was pregnant with my first. We were involved with a couple of schools and in a ministry that was training people for missions in a post-industrial world within the context of ‘sodality’ (as opposed to ‘modality’ church). As I’ve already mentioned, this was all new to me at the time, but we had met a guy in Afghanistan that ended up coming to Brazil to do one of these schools and I was doing personal translation for him. I heard about LaBrie at that time as well.
Yes, films. Daniel has a huge vision for this area. He, like you, doesn’t believe in creating “Gospel” content. He is a firm believer in making quality films without all the “Christianease”, but incorporating Kingdom values. The film that we are in the post-production phase for right now about human trafficking and tourism is very strong. There will definitely be many from the ‘church’ that will be offended by the content. Actually, during the filming, there was this big, rich church that had given us their facilities for filming brothel scenes. However, when the pastor saw how the girls were dressed he was very uncomfortable. Daniel decided to pack up the crew for the night, go spend some time praying in the prostitution district and find another solution. But it’s just like you said, “not necessarily Christian documentaries, but simply documentaries created by Christians”. Actually, this film is a feature-length film. It will be the second. The first feature-length film was just awarded seven awards at the National Christian Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro last October, including best film, best script, best direction, best actor, best actress, best soundtrack and best photography. And, believe it or not, the entire film was made by 100 % volunteers that believed in the vision. Many times paying out of our own pockets and even built a piece of equipment needed. (ok, enough bragging about my husband=) I’ll be translating it into English so there will be subtitles. Once it’s complete with subtitles and all I’ll send you a copy, or upload it to our Vimeo site and give you the password so you can watch it.
I hear you on the whole Christian arts thing being too evangelical. There are very, but very few Christian artists that I’ll listen too. And the ones I do like aren’t even mainstream. And don’t even go there with Daniel. He can’t stand most Christian music, or better yet, Worship music. He’s so tired of hearing music so focused on ‘self’. There’s a song here in Brazil that says, “the best is yet to come”. Daniel likes to say, “No it’s not. It’s already here”
Hahahahaha. I don’t think you’ve gone all over the place. No need to apologize at all for your ‘rambling comments’. I’m just honored that you’d actually take the time to comment. I follow your blog, remember? I’ve seen how many followers you have. I personally don’t know how you do it all. Attending to your blog, replying to all the comments, working a full-time job (I’m just speculating it’s full time), and you are a parent. Really, how do you do it?
Thanks a ton Kenneth. Really appreciate it. =)
Truth … hmmmmm. Hard to say: you can create your own truth but it would only be true to you. Truth seems subjective, but I figure there must a universal truth. I think it is both. You can create it, but it also may already exist. And…. Wow, very good question. I don’t know anymore. Truth is very complicated idea. I think there must be many different ways of thinking of truth. There are universal truths, subjective truths, true truths, and fake truths. But they all of these truths make up the definition of what truth is without actually defining a consistent truth other than in inconsistency. Maybe that made sense or maybe not. I hope you’re having a great weekend regardless!
I think I want to try that apple yogurt bowl, besides i can’t eat nuts. It sounds delicious.
Heyyyyyy Benjamin. Ha, this post is a funny one. I tried to post it some time ago and WordPress did something funky. For some reason it didn’t work and had to reblog it and not many people have read it. Glad you found it and entered into this conversation and that it threw you for a bit of a loop. I love what you said, “Wow, very good question. I don’t know anymore. Truth is very complicated idea.”
Have you read the other comments by Kenneth, The Culture Monk. Wow, I was floored by them. He got me so turned on to Francis Shaeffer. I even watched a whole five hour documentary by him (not all in one sitting though). It was sooooooooo good. His arguments and explanations of how culture formed and changed throughout history. And how it affected the arts, government, and moved on into post-modern and modern thought. Really very interesting. Oftentimes I found myself stopping to take notes.
“you can create your own truth but it would only be true to you. ”
–Do you really think one can ‘create’ truth? See, I find this difficult to believe, because something is either truth or it isn’t. Like if something is black, it’s true it’s black. It’s not white at all. I can’t just change it because I have decided to create a new truth about it. Now, I believe there is subjective truth and there is absolute truth. The difference between subjective and absolute to me would be something like this:
Apples are either red or green – absolute
Apples are a fruit – absolute
Apples are yummy – subjective
Apples are my favorite fruit – subjective
So then, what do we say about the universe and existence and all? I believe that there is absolute truth when it comes to creation, morals, etc. I don’t believe that I created that truth for myself, but that I discovered it. I’ve read somewhere before, “Truth can’t be created, only discovered”.
Ok, I hope I didn’t get too heady or philosophical at all.
Hahahahaha, yea, I used to put recipes up here on my blog. It doesn’t really fit with my niche though so I have another health and fitness blog now. I don’t invest much into it though. Mainly when I’m going to do my own personal health and fitness challenges. 🙂
I really go into this yogurt bowl at one time. It’s soooooo yummy. Bummer though that you can’t eat nuts. You could substitute with some type of seed though. At any rate, give it a try. Let me know if you do, ok.
🙂
I think I might try chia seeds with it.
“Truth can’t be created, only discovered”. That makes sense to me to some extent, but then again everything has to be created. What really exists that wasn’t created? I don’t think we can create truths, no. Or at least not true truths. But I think it is key to distinguish between true truths and false truths. The world subsists off false truths, which are mostly subjective.
However, some objective truths become false truths in time. And often it is discovery that makes them false.
I’m always looking for new people to read and see their views. I’ll have to look into that sometime. How culture forms and changes is one of my favorite things to look into.
Apples are either red or green – absolute
Apples are a fruit – absolute
Apples are yummy – subjective
Apples are my favorite fruit – subjectiv
This can’t even been absolutes for me. Maybe they are absolutes now. Nothing tangible can be absolute, I think (but then again, I have to think about it more.) Only concepts and ideas can be absolute. Evolution could turn things different colors or into new creations.
Thanks for giving me lots to think about. Hope you’re having a good start to your week!
Oh yes, chia seeds are the best. I made this one recipe once that was sooooo yummy. It was a chia pudding with 1/4 cup of strong coffee cooled, coconut mild and peanut butter.
So glad for this conversation Benjamin. And so glad that you appreciate culture and the way it forms and changes. My husband teaches on the topic of worldview and I absolutely love it.
You have a great day, my friend.
🙂
I’ve never made it like that. But i have had chia pudding and I like it a lot. I”ll have to look into making this recipe of yours, but just put in sun butter instead of peanut butter.
That’s really interesting and great that your husband teaches on the topic. Sounds like he’d always be fun to talk to.
You have a wonderful evening! 🙂
You have a great day as well.
Oh ya, sun butter sounds great. The first time I tried it was when I was doing some training in Perth, Australia. Really wish I could get that here. I guess I could make my own, but it would probably be quite hard on my blender. At least the peanut I buy to make peanut butter is all crushed and fine.
You must let me know if you make it and how it turned out.
You have a great day too, Benjamin.
🙂
Sounds exciting. I’ve heard great things about Australia but have never gone there myself. I’ll make sure to tell you how it turned out when I make it. Have a fantastic evening! 🙂
Dearest Staci, this is so wonderful and insightful.Must say, I love the beautiful analytical expression here. I love exploring and I am glad that I am lucky to have a glimpse of Christianity here. There are so many intriguing thoughts here on truth: Absolute and subjective. Got to know so many new stands on Christianity. I read all the comments word by word. Each comment here is a complete post in itself. I am impressed with the profound thoughts shared in the conversations. I was not cognizant of your core religious roots. This gives me the other side of your personality…..also the apple yoghurt bowl side. 🙂 I would like to read more of such writings of yours. Do share me the links, if you have any. This interests me a lot.
Thank you so much for sharing the link. Do share more, if possible. Love and only love.
Reva.
Ohhhh, I’m so glad you enjoyed this. And may I say, WOW, you read all the comments? There’s a whole book, right here on this page. 🙂
I really loved the conversation especially with ‘http://culturemonk.com/’ I love his blog. He is also a Christian, but struggled a lot growing up with fundamentalism. He started to do a lot of his own studying and now he’s going for his PhD in philosophy. He questions everything. He got me really turned on to the author and philosopher, Francis Schaeffer. All I can say is WOW. I really believe there is a balance between emotion and reason. I used to be all emotion, but you can’t build a strong foundation on just feelings and experience. You need to use your mind as well.
I really liked how Josh McDowell said in this that you can’t create your own truth. That truth can’t be created. It can only be discovered. I thought that comment phenomenal.
Anyhow, I haven’t really written a lot about the ‘religious’ side. It just comes out in my poetry as a natural expression of my worldview. There are, however, a number of posts from when I first started my blog that touch on this. If you look in the ‘Spirit & Culture’ section in the menu bar, and then scroll down to the bottom and start there. Those posts there from the bottom up are touch more on this.
THanks a ton for your encouragement and appreciation Reva. I’m so glad we’ve me. If I ever get to England, I’m coming to visit you.
Much love sweetie.
🙂 ❤
Oh yes, one more post too. I was on “The Kenny & Kylie Show” podcast and there’s an interview with me there that goes all into my beginnings. If you’re interested at all you can listen to it here:
http://kennyandkylie.com/2014/06/23/episode-7-the-show-with-staci/
🙂 ❤
My Pleasure, Staci. I am so happy to know so many things about you and from you. My home doorways are always welcome. Drop in any time. Would be glad to receive you. Until then, I would make rounds of your blog. I will definitely checkout the “Spirit and Culture” section.
Stay kind and beautiful….always. Love, Reva.
Yeah! I will definitely drop in if I make there some day. I would love to meet you.
You too. Stay kind and beautiful sweetie.
Love Staci
🙂 ❤
I tried this today. Very very good. Thanks for sharing this one!
Woo Hoo! Yeah, I’m so glad you liked it Benjamin.
You’re more then welcome.
🙂
Yes, very good. Thanks again 🙂
I must say Staci, this is a very well thought out and wonderful written post. You have touched few very important aspects and which rightly so deserve the discussion…
One is on the truth itself, the question whether it is created or is it discovered? It is a very fascinating contest, things have been created and have become matter of truth, we only discover as we progress in our thinking and in our exploration of self. No doubt that truth is absolute…
The second aspect that Belief doesn’t determine Reality, is a brilliant proposition. Yes, it reality exists and we need to just open our eyes and keep our ears ready to hear and it is there…Reality is absolute truth, we run away from reality and when our perception governs our thinking, we get confused and try to discover the reality and get distorted by the perceptions.
And the quote by Winston Churchill; is indisputable, yes, the word “incontrovertible” is a big word but it conveys the power of truth, it cannot be changed…
Loved it…some thoughts make us to think a bit deeper and this post did that…Looking forward to more such insightful propositions…
Ohhhhh Nihar, I’m so glad you liked this post. It is definitely thought-provoking, isn’t it? Post-modernism and modern fragmented culture and belief systems have resulted in people seeking out their ‘own’ truth. Like trying to create their own truth. How can one just decide they want to create their own truth? It doesn’t work that way. If we look at the universe and the laws that exist, and moral code, it is very difficult to say that all is relative. How can that be so? Especially when it comes to moral conduct? I firmly believe that truth is to be discovered, and not just deciding that one will believe a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and so on.
Ohhhhh, Nihar, I don’t know if what I’m saying is making any sense. But these are just my ramblings.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and input.
🙂
It was indeed a very thought provoking topic…a fascinating facet to debate. I was also further contemplating on this topic and realized that truth is absolute and we make it relative to suit our need, which makes no sense…Regarding moral conduct there just cannot be two ways, it has to one and the absolute truth…only our ignorance eclipses us from the truth and as we learn new things, we discover the truth hidden somewhere in those nuggets of hidden knowledge…
I just missed out in the last discussion on the experience vs. reason contest which you had nicely brought out…yes reasons has limitation and experience is reality…we change our reasoning with more experience…
I am enjoying this discussion and you are bringing out newer dimensions…
Hello Nihar.
“truth is absolute and we make it relative to suit our need, which makes no sense”
–Totally. Sometimes make it relative because that’s what they want to believe. However, wanting to believe something doesn’t turn that into truth.
Now about the reason and limitation… for me I think that reason is reason period. The definition in my computer’s dictionary for reason is this: “Logic a premise of an argument in support of a belief, esp. a minor premise when given after the conclusion.” So, in saying that, truth can be discovered ‘logically’. As a personal example, I am a Christian. I made a rational decision to become one because I was seeing evidence for belief. Not just because of an emotional ‘experience’, or even a ‘spiritual’ experience. I did not grow up as a Christian, so it wasn’t something that was just embedded in me because of culture or of what my family taught me. I used to be an atheist, until I started to question why I’m here, what I’m here for, what purpose do I have, why am I frightened of death… I only started to have ‘spiritual experiences’ after I made a logical and reasonable decision to follow Christ. And now even, I am a very strong feeler, but I can’t depend on feelings, nor experiences when it comes to my faith and belief. Feelings and experiences come and go, but what is reasonable and logical remains and can’t be thwarted. When I was doubting things about my faith, I was able to look at the ‘why’ of it all, come back to reason and say to myself, “hey, no need to doubt. The Bible is not just a spiritual book, it’s a history book. The events of it and how they came about to be documented actually happens and there is evidence. So when experience and feelings are all over the place, what stands firm is the rational.
Oh Nihar, I don’t know if any of this made sense. I sure hope it did. I also am so glad we are having this discussion. THis is something very dear to me.
🙂
Hi Staci, you have touched on many aspects. Let me take one by one…
First of all we all have our own faith and a set of beliefs, this comes from multiple sources, the family we belong, the place we reside, the institution we study and people we interact. These set of beliefs are not static in nature, it evolves with age and with our exposure and changes with our maturing thoughts…
Religion is private…Religion is matter of one’s choice and nobody should question our choice, it based on our belief and faith…and there is no logic that can be attributed to it, it is like that only…yes, it should not be hurting or harming others, humanity is the best form of religion.
Yes, feelings and experiences are transient in nature and those which are based on valid reasons and logical proof remains for longer time, sometime we do also question our logic and it creates a paradigm shift and a new logic get established…
This is a wonderful stream of deliberation and it is evolving into newer streams of thoughts…I am enjoying it…
Hi Nihar
“Religion is private…Religion is matter of one’s choice and nobody should question our choice, it based on our belief and faith…and there is no logic that can be attributed to it, it is like that only…yes, it should not be hurting or harming others, humanity is the best form of religion.”
This is interesting what you’ve shared here. In large part, I agree. I wrote a post once something along these lines. Here’s the link to it if you would like to know my thoughts on the matter:
https://stacilys.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/i-am-not-a-machine/
Concerning religion, my blogger friend Frederic shared a comment that I did on this post: https://stacilys.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/pure-intoxication/, and I would like to share that:
“the etymology of a word “religion” teaches us that it is linked with “link” and “relation” (Religion is, etymologically, an attempt to get “linked” with the Divine…) – and “relationship” is very accurate, since it implies sharing (You and God, God and you), I agree with your definitions!”
🙂
That apple yogurt bowl looks good–thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂 As far as creating our own truth, I honesty believe that we can’t. The truth is what it is. The truth is something we must discover and understand.
Hey Crystal. I’m so glad you like the recipe. It’s soooooo yummy. 😀
Ohhhh, I love your comment about truth. I totally agree.
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