The biblical concept, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" has embedded within it a presupposition. Normally when preached, this statement is outwardly focused. You (subject) shall love your neighbor (object). Good. Now what? Stop. By whatever means you think you are loving your neighbor, cease temporarily. The hidden presupposition in the phrase is in …
How Søren Kierkegaard Changed My Life
Update 5/5/2013: I have removed the content of this original blog post as the article has been refined and published for the popular Christian magazine, Relevant Magazine. A link to the article can be found through the link below. It is out just in time for Kierkegaard's 200th birthday (today). I much appreciate all the …
The Existential Cogito
Cogito Ergo Sum. Rene Descartes' famous words translate into what is possibly the most well-know philosophical phrase, "I think, therefore I am." It is the first indubitable truth of the Cartesian system. He arrived at this foundation via intuition and from it deduced both God and matter (the soundness of said deduction is up for …
Influence of Philosophy: The Categorical Imperative
I am often asked why I teach philosophy. I give a variety of answers depending on the circumstances of the question. One I give more frequently than not is to present how ideas have consequences (whether the ideas and/or the consequences are beneficial or detrimental). We see this in history. Take Rev. Martin Luther King, …
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God is Love
The titular line is no mere simple statement. It suggests the essence of reality. People use this phrase flippantly, yet it constitutes the most meaningful relationship in existence. I have been reading through Sylvia Walsh's book, Kierkegaard: Thinking Christianly in an Existential Mode. She examines Kierkegaard's enamor with the subjective interaction with God and theology …
“In These Times Politics is Everything”
In the preface to The Single Individual, Soren Kierkegaard utters a statement not only relevant to his immediate circumstances, but one that transcends the immediacy of 1800s Denmark: "In these times politics is everything." Denmark was in a transition from absolute monarchy to parliamentary monarchy - a radical change of political system. Kierkegaard was not …
The Value of Star Trek
Many know how much I value science fiction, namely the franchises of Star Trek and Star Wars. In fact, there is a perennial debate on which franchise has a more lasting impact on people. As you will be able to infer from this article, I am a strong proponent that Star Trek is the most influential …
The Subjectivity of Objective Truth
Countless hours have been spent searching for, arguing for, and defending objective truth. I believe in objective truth, and in some capacity, objective truth can be known. I believe God to be an objective truth. He can be known by me, and by anyone else, not through mere objectivity, but a subjective search of this …
Identity, The Self, & Conversion
Trans - Prefix, denotes moving beyond a certain state or object. Identity - The fact of Being; the substance of what something is. As an existential philosopher I am immediately concerned with the development of the Self. The Self, following Kierkegaard, is a created Being, one which Becomes and fulfills its existential desires. Yet the …
Remorse: The Sincere and Faithful Friend
People are quick to ask for forgiveness of a wrong that they have done (or perhaps, have not done). There is, of course, nothing wrong with such a thing. From a Christian standpoint, the concept of forgiveness is intrinsic to not only commands given to individuals, but also to the very method of salvation that …
Former Aspiring Philosopher 