tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94772362008-07-01T08:14:44.942-04:00The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2050125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-21193793712300102422008-07-01T08:00:00.003-04:002008-07-01T08:14:44.975-04:00

Joe Carter says, "My tummy hurts. Ergo, there is no god." Then he unsays it, in a good discussion of the evidential problem of evil ("the evidential problem of evil is the problem of determining whether the existence of evil constitutes evidence against the existence of God"). Barbara Curtis brushes up against the same issue, in a painfully personal way, in Family Skeletons (not a post for

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-67784901458868652722008-06-30T07:12:00.001-04:002008-06-30T07:12:01.328-04:00

Sometimes after finishing a highly dramatic novel, my boys suddenly are struck by the banality of their existence. "Our lives are so ordinary," they say. "We want to have an adventure." "The thing about adventures is that they're unexpected," I remind them. "You can't plan them, and you generally don't like the look of them when they first appear. It's only after they're over that they're fun."

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-8196956269833037082008-06-29T07:53:00.001-04:002008-06-29T07:55:50.194-04:00

Let nothing disturb thee, Nothing affright thee; All things are passing; God never changeth; Patient endurance Attaineth to all things; Who God possesseth In nothing is wanting; Alone God sufficeth. --Teresa de Avila (1515-1582) (Originally in Spanish; translated by William Wordsworth.)

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-46639771116108958752008-06-27T09:05:00.001-04:002008-06-27T09:12:56.220-04:00

(Via Web Elf)

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-2836596876109765012008-06-25T07:52:00.003-04:002008-06-25T08:12:07.448-04:00

We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbor. Hence he comes to us clad in all the careless terrors of nature; he is as strange as the stars, as reckless and indifferent as the rain. He is Man, the most terrible of the beasts. That is why the old religions and the old scriptural language showed so sharp a wisdom when they spoke, not of one's duty towards humanity

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-85061549110295783632008-06-23T13:22:00.002-04:002008-06-23T13:23:24.161-04:00

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-60166150629204049432008-06-23T13:14:00.002-04:002008-06-23T13:22:23.210-04:00

The man who said, "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed," put the eulogy quite inadequately and even falsely. The truth is, "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall be gloriously surprised." The man who expects nothing sees redder roses than common men can see, and greener grass, and a more starting sun. Blessed is he that expected nothing, for he

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-5137305221136333012008-06-21T20:55:00.002-04:002008-06-21T20:57:04.041-04:00

The Scribe What lovely things Thy hand hath made: The smooth-plumed bird In its emerald shade, The seed of the grass, The speck of stone Which the wandering ant Stirs--and hastes on! Though I should sit By some tarn in thy hills, Using its ink As the spirit wills To write of Earth's wonders, Its live, willed things, Flit would the ages On soundless wings Ere unto Z My pen

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-83413501225284839702008-06-20T08:10:00.002-04:002008-06-20T08:14:11.754-04:00

From Diana Pemberton-Sikes, who runs Fashion for Real Women: QUESTION: When did women start shaving under their arms? ANSWER: While men and women have been removing unwanted hair since the Stone Age (it's required in some Middle Eastern cultures) the practice of Western women shaving under the arms can be traced to an aggressive marketing campaign launched nearly 100 years ago. When the May

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-9219680186007177122008-06-18T08:38:00.000-04:002008-06-18T21:03:45.638-04:00

Thomas Merton:A humble man can do great things with an uncommon perfection because he is no longer concerned about incidentals, like his own interests and his own reputation, and therefore he no longer needs to waste his efforts in defending them. For a humble man is not afraid of failure. In fact, he is not afraid of anything, even of himself, since perfect humility implies perfect confidence

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-68277383971093491142008-06-17T09:03:00.002-04:002008-06-17T09:24:45.878-04:00

Patrice Lewis is greener than green, but her kind of green doesn't count:Greenies don't really care if you walk the walk. They only want you to talk the talk. The purpose of today's environmentalism is not to get people to live a green lifestyle; otherwise our neighbors and we would be their heroes. No, the purpose, the scheme, the agenda of the greenies is to get us all to knuckle under to

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-609319094463775192008-06-16T19:21:00.003-04:002008-06-16T20:26:55.615-04:00

1. A person can seem fine one day, and be in a mental institution suffering from paranoid schizophrenia the next. 2. Children can watch a psychotic break and be pretty much okay. 3. Old Star Trek episodes about androids, however, might keep them awake all night. 4. It's a really bad idea to work off stress by painting one's study when it's 90 degrees and raining. 5. Jonathan can lock his keys

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-58071267754049918442008-06-16T08:01:00.002-04:002008-06-16T08:03:04.645-04:00

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-1395632881809127362008-06-16T07:25:00.001-04:002008-06-16T08:01:10.236-04:00

Peter Kreeft:Natural virtues are real virtues, just as natural reason is real reason and natural beauty is real beauty. True, it does not save you. You do not get to Heaven just by being a little more just, wise, courageous, and temperate. That is not enough. But it is good. It is also a foundation for the supernatural virtues, which do get you to Heaven. A person who is unjust, foolish,

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-62187911212361166482008-06-13T07:57:00.004-04:002008-06-13T08:28:08.562-04:00

Last year when we'd first begun looking at houses, we went to one that had a decorative stepping stone beside the back door. This stone obviously had been handmade by the homeowner's grandchildren, because it said "GRANDMA" in wobbly letters across the middle. "Look, Mommy!" said the then eight-year-old, his voice urgent. I looked. "That's sweet," I said, and walked on. But he didn't come. He

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-64058912038461244262008-06-12T12:11:00.003-04:002008-06-12T12:16:23.445-04:00

This is Acton University week, "a unique, four-day exploration of the intellectual foundations of a free society." Many of the lectures are available here, including Robert Sirico on civil rights, Michael Miller on 18th century social thought, and my Jonathan on wealth and poverty in scripture.

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-24380594681670683202008-06-11T18:25:00.000-04:002008-06-11T18:27:17.124-04:00

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-43037927582713639292008-06-11T18:23:00.003-04:002008-06-11T18:25:28.901-04:00

Peter Kreeft:Forgiveness sees more than evil, toleration sees less. Forgiveness faces evil, admits it, and sees beyond it, forgiving it. Mere toleration refuses to face or admit evil; it says, "There's nothing to forgive." Instead of freeing from evil, toleration blocks the way to that freedom.

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-49866945961400453442008-06-10T08:19:00.000-04:002008-06-10T08:48:31.570-04:00

Peter Kreeft:A frequent mistake about mercy, one which hides its mystery, is to believe that it is merely a subjective attitude. That kind of mercy is not terribly costly. To change one's mind from seeking revenge to seeking the enemy's good is to give up only a moral headache. But real mercy is more objective and more costly than that. It forgives debts that are objectively real, not

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-10620298266177205222008-06-09T08:57:00.002-04:002008-06-09T09:04:33.835-04:00

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-44844881485799421192008-06-09T08:04:00.001-04:002008-06-09T08:56:27.670-04:00

Mark Steyn sums it up: "In practice, a 'woman’s right to choose' turns out to mean the right to choose not to have any women." The rest is here. Walter Kirn on beautiful women: Radiant happiness was Maura’s best feature, the kind that comes from filling up on pasta and not leaping up afterward to go running. This distinguished her from the other girls I’d dated during my first two years at

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-90887225350261232342008-06-09T08:00:00.014-04:002008-06-09T11:07:10.438-04:00

While arguing for higher taxes and expanded government programs, one woman said: "Most people just aren't smart, and can't be trusted to make good decisions or use their money wisely." She isn't a politician, obviously. A politician would have been more diplomatic. But the fact remains: While we argue on on the one hand that everyone should have the right to his or her own beliefs and choices--

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-23057652420971732512008-06-06T09:00:00.001-04:002008-06-06T09:10:45.124-04:00

There's a certain older woman at church who thinks one of my sons is really cute (he is, of course) and always goes out of her way to speak to him. One day she told him his eyes were so pretty, they ought to belong to a girl. Her husband scolded her. "Don't say things like that to a boy!" he said. "You'll embarrass him!" Well, one day at lunch this particular son was making horrible faces at

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-68851126192919192582008-06-04T08:35:00.002-04:002008-06-04T08:37:07.076-04:00

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477236.post-64982049755328954152008-06-04T08:26:00.002-04:002008-06-04T08:35:33.697-04:00

Thomas Merton on happiness:It is not that someone else is preventing you from living happily; you yourself do not know what you want. Rather than admit this, you pretend that someone is keeping you from exercising your liberty. Who is this? It is yourself.

The Wittsnoreply@blogger.com