DavidMHodges.net

Self-Evident Natural Rights and the Southern Partisan Mind: Reflections on a McClanahan Academy Course — Part 2 (Intermission)

2026-01-01T16:30:33-08:00

Welcome to Part 2. After posting Part 1, I received and read a book I’d requested through interlibrary loan. As it happens, that book, M.E. Bradford’s Original Intentions: On the Making and Ratification of the United States Constitution[1], may have answered some of the questions I posed to Brion McClanahan which said historian chose not to answer (or, at least, had not answered as of my most recent visit to his Teachable…

Self-Evident Natural Rights and the Southern Partisan Mind: Reflections on a McClanahan Academy Course — Part 1 (Lessons 1 & 2)

2025-12-09T13:29:02-08:00

In this series of posts, which (with my apologies) interrupts other series of posts already in progress and overdue for completion, I’m going to reproduce and comment on the comments I posted to each lesson in Brion McClanahan’s five-lesson course on the American Declaration of Independence, offered through his Teachable classroom, McClanahan Academy. Had my request to participate in his affiliate program been granted, I would provide the link here. I’ll also…

On the Impossibility of Productive Discussions in YouTube Comments

2025-11-16T12:08:07-08:00

On 14 November 2025, I responded to an All Israel News video entitled Inside the Middle East: Dr. Kedar on Hamas, Clans, and the Future of Gaza (posted 12 November 2025) as follows: “Thank you for an enlightening discussion. My main takeaway from it is that my country, the United States of America, should tend to its own affairs and stop interfering in a region it doesn’t understand.” One person liked the…

A Better Analogy for Israel’s War in Gaza

2025-07-18T11:59:16-07:00

In a recent and much-discussed debate, comedian Dave Smith, who’s become an influential and prominent spokesman for the most anarchistic and “anti-war” faction of libertarianism, likened Israel’s war against Hamas to a police department bombing a school whose students have been taken hostage by an on-the-run murderer. This terrible analogy has been persuasively refuted by many of the reliably pro-Israel voices out there, but I’ve yet to hear any of them suggest…

My (Not So) Sad Farewell to Yaron Brook Caricatures of the Christian Faith — Part 1

2025-05-23T16:06:25-07:00

In this post, we take a break from the “I Still Have Issues: Further Remarks on Established Themes” series (parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 done; concluding part 5 pending) to explore different matters, videlicet: Let us begin, then. During my years of agnostic confusion — which followed my loss of a fundamental Baptist belief that presupposed the sovereignty of individual free will in salvation and saw evidentialism as the proper method…

I Still Have Issues: Further Remarks on Established Themes — Part 4

2025-02-25T11:47:00-08:00

I apologize for my long procrastination in finalizing this post. Though I wrote most of it weeks ago, I set it aside to focus on other matters — then lost track of time. In this fourth part of the series (post 1, post 2, post 3), I cover materials under the following headings: Thinking in a consistently Christian manner, in a manner wholly compliant with all that Scripture teaches, is no easy…

I Still Have Issues: Further Remarks on Established Themes — Part 3

2024-12-17T22:16:00-08:00

In this third installment, I look further into some interconnected topics touched upon, or in some way related to, the themes established in the preceding series (post 1, post 2). Specifically, I cover materials under the following headings: In part of a prior post, I noted that A video I recently discovered from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion provides an excellent summary of why hormonal contraception taken by women (aka “birth-control pills”…

I Still Have Issues: Further Remarks on Established Themes — Part 2

2024-11-29T13:49:15-08:00

In this second installment, I look further into some interconnected topics touched upon, or somehow related to, the themes established in the preceding series (post 1, post 2). Specifically, I cover materials under the following headings: As we saw in part 1, Southern partisan Brion McClanahan fails to take full advantage of the explanatory power of our founders’ pragmatic realism. Claiming, as McClanahan does, that these men didn’t believe the propositions they…

I Still Have Issues: Further Remarks on Established Themes — Part 1

2024-11-26T11:49:32-08:00

In this first installment of a new series, I look further into some interconnected topics touched upon, or in some way related to, the themes established in the preceding series (post 1, post 2). Specifically, I cover materials under the following headings: In my last post, I attempted to make productive use of the common political spectrum by creatively redefining some terms. In the standard spectrum you will have run across, the…

Thinking Through Certain Issues — Part 2

2024-11-14T13:49:57-08:00

In this second of two posts, I continue grappling with such complex and interconnected issues as preborn humans’ right to life, federalism, the Fourteenth Amendment and its incorporationist interpretation, and use of government power to redefine “marriage.” Unable to simply join and comply with a tribe, I’m stuck having to work through and fit together the opinions I hold, or tend toward, on my own. In this second post, I think through…

Thinking Through Certain Issues — Part 1

2024-11-14T00:13:19-08:00

In this pair of posts, I grapple with some complex, interconnected issues, such as the right to life of unborn humans, federalism and the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and use of government power to redefine “marriage.” Many people seem content to find a tribe they largely agree with then, over time and under the tutelage of tribal leaders, bring their thinking into conformity with tribal norms. They might join Theonomists,…

Tariffs “Good” & Bad: Comments on a Commentary

2024-11-12T12:06:32-08:00

As you know if you’ve read my more recent posts, I think that, all other government policies being equal, tariffs are a bad idea. But I think that replacing the income tax with revenue-focused tariffs (not to be confused with protective tariffs) could be a good thing — if only government didn’t spend so much. Well, on the subject of tariffs, I saw an interesting video commentary recently. I think it worth…

On Tariffs, Taxes, Trump, & the Morality of War

2024-11-01T19:45:38-07:00

In this post, I opine on certain matters economic and political, in fine: When a bad candidate runs against an even worse candidate, the bad candidate becomes a good candidate, relatively speaking. Hence my “endorsement” of Trump. In much the same way, proposals that are bad ideas in themselves transform into good ideas when they’ll replace existing policies that are worse. One example is Universal Basic Income (UBI): as an adjunct to…

Political Idolatry, Free but Inept Will, & Choosing a Meal

2024-10-24T15:49:52-07:00

Professing Christians who consider Donald J. Trump, not just the lesser evil of two lamentable major-party candidates, but a national savior with the stamp of divine approval, continue to use their ostensible Lord’s name in vain to promote Trump (Exodus 20:7, Deuteronomy 5:11). It seems two of the sort of big-government, “national conservative” types who now dominate the political Right have even written a whole book inspired by the “miracle” of Trump’s…

Reflections of a Christian Citizen with No Good Options

2024-10-18T20:09:01-07:00

In my last post, I discussed some beliefs and behaviors of my fellow Christians that I just can’t make sense of. Staying with that theme, I now ask: what’s with the professing believers who treat Donald Trump as though he were a divinely chosen prophet or something? This past couple of weeks, I’ve seen all of the following: Now, I know America is in dire straits under the rule of reality-denying woke…

Anti-Calvinist Crusaders & Christian Morals

2024-10-17T16:17:25-07:00

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It’s been several months since my last post. This post discusses a suggestion that Reformed or Calvinist theology could be to blame for the moral failings of some Christians, under the following headings: In this age of social media, countless professing Christians who think themselves theologians believe they can and should refute Scripture’s doctrine of God’s comprehensive (exhaustive, all-encompassing) sovereignty. To them, the idea that…

What’s in Your Wallet? Probably Not Money

2024-06-15T23:59:00-07:00

Murray N. Rothbard. What Has Government Done to Our Money?, 6th edition. Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2024, softcover, 138 pages. (1st edition was in 1963.) In my last post, I noted how “I’m ill at ease with the emphasis on anarchism and preference for Hoppe and Rothbard in the [Mises] caucus” because “anarchism strikes me as unrealistic and Utopian, the same sort of ideology-driven fantasizing that created and sustains Marxism.”…

Politely Declining To Learn More About the Mises Caucus

2024-06-14T14:31:54-07:00

Several months ago, when I was still registered as a Libertarian, I inquired about the Mises Caucus through an online form. Well, I’ve finally received a response from the caucus representative in my state. If you’re among the few people who were seeing and reading my posts before X (still better known as Twitter) tagged my account for reach-throttling, you know my pro-Israel tendencies put me at odds with prominent Mises-Caucus voices.

Personal-Finance Writing for SuperMoney

2024-01-02T00:01:00-08:00

For a time, I earned part of my freelance income providing editing services, and doing some writing, for the personal-finance site SuperMoney. This document links you to archival copies of my writing for that site. Though I’ve included links to some of my more involved SuperMoney writing on the scholarly and technical editing page, the target audience for SuperMoney materials was a general rather than scholarly or technical readership. Thus, these samples…

Scholarly & Technical Editing

2024-01-01T00:01:00-08:00

So, is David M. Hodges qualified to do scholarly or technical editing & writing? Hiring minds want to know. See below ⬇ & decide for yourself. Introduction Some of my online posts do seem relevant to scholarly and technical editing and writing. Links to such relevant items follow. In addition, I served on the editorial team for Chinese Cultural Relics, an English translation of select articles from the Chinese journal Wenwu. (Sales,…

Pious Eye: Seeing by The True Light — In Memoriam

2023-12-31T12:59:00-08:00

“It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house…

Of Tall Tales and the Humble Mitochondrion

2023-09-17T23:49:29-07:00

Back in August, the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) posted a discussion to YouTube entitled These Scientific Papers Destroy Evolution. In the discussion, Dr. Mark Stengler asserted that three papers from secular scientific sources favor creation and work against evolution. He did not discuss any paper’s findings in detail, but the Institute has provided links to all three papers. In this post, I’ll examine one of the papers. Curious readers may first…

From Intelligent Design Novice to Fan: A Quick Postmortem of Some Twitter Discussion

2023-07-08T19:21:21-07:00

Retweeting and commenting on the last in a series of articles by the Discovery Institute’s Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (CSC)’s Dr. Jonathan McLatchie, a molecular and cell biologist, got me briefly embroiled in some discussions with the disciples of a YouTube “science educator.” Though the “educator” himself contributed the first tweets, the way he conducts himself on Twitter can’t rightly be called “discussion.” The initial interactions with him…

Opposing Anarchy, “Defending” Skepticism, and Promoting Life to Liberty-Lovers Gone Wrong

2022-12-03T18:32:43-08:00

Prospective Remarks This post comprises three sets of remarks: Some concluding comments will follow these three sets of remarks, though I can’t promise those comments will strengthen the linkages between the sets. I can’t even promise that they will attempt to do so. Favoring liberty but opposing anarchy, defending radical skepticism as a coherent and rational choice for unbelievers, and promoting the cause of abortion abolition to atheist empiricists who idolize Ayn…

Abolishing Abortion: On Role Models, Leaving a Party, and Paying for Emancipation

2022-11-28T20:04:47-08:00

Introduction and Contents My dissatisfaction with American political options persists. As I continue to reflect on what matters most to me in the political realm, I find I must make adjustments to my affiliations and entertain solutions to problems that I would not previously have considered. To those ends, here is what you’ll find in this post: While searching for abortion abolitionist broadcasters on YouTube, I discovered the Abolish Abortion California Initiative…

Culture War: What Is It Good For? (Or, My Sad Farewell to the Culture War)

2022-11-22T13:43:27-08:00

Introductory Remarks: Culture Peace As Possible God, through the Apostle Paul, urges his people to, “as much as lieth” in them (that is, insofar as doing so lies within their control), “live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). For a while now, I’ve found it difficult to square this divine directive with efforts to use the government to win the so-called “culture war.” I’ve also been troubled by how some include abortion…

2022 Q3 Correspondence, Part 2: Christian Libertarianism Reconsidered

2022-09-20T00:01:53-07:00

Welcome to the latest collection of my off-site correspondence, including online discussion posts and, possibly, remarks I opted not to post. As previously noted, all posts on this site are snapshots of my thinking at whatever point in time I wrote them. Since I’m always modifying and improving my thinking — or trying to — my current opinions may not precisely match this set of snapshots. The following materials are snapshots from…

2022 Q3 Correspondence, Part 1: Let Them Live!

2022-07-31T12:59:33-07:00

Welcome to the latest edition of the series formerly known as “prompted letters,” which chronicles my off-site correspondence with all and sundry. As will be noted in the Pious Eye “About” page when I get around to updating it, all posts on this site are snapshots of my thinking at whatever point in time I wrote down the posted material. Since I’m always modifying and improving my thinking — or trying to…

Concluding Political Postscript to 2020: My Christian Nationalist Libertarian Platform

2021-01-04T11:36:31-08:00

Preface ˅ Our nation’s degeneration into tyranny seemed to accelerate in 2020 as a new virus and the respiratory illness caused by it, one with a fatality rate that should not have caused any more fright or alarm than the ubiquitous threat of death hanging over every one of us every day, was used by America’s tyrant-at-heart government “leaders” to force upon a once freedom loving people an increasingly absurd assortment of…

Californians for Blankenship: An Update

2020-07-14T20:31:41-07:00

My belief that the Constitution Party’s 2020 presidential ticket * for this year could hope for nothing better than a write-in candidacy was, it turns out, too pessimistic. I learned earlier this week that the ticket will be able to appear on the ballot—provided enough of us are willing to serve as electors. The process for doing this is much less involved than the one I described for a write-in candidacy. The…

Counting Votes, Finding Success, Defining Essentials, and Dealing with Trolls (and a Bit More)

2020-06-02T17:54:06-07:00

With thanks to Dr. Fauci for helping scare America into its current state,[1] we prepare to move forward. A few items follow. They include: Though these items seem almost random, some closing remarks suggest that they are interconnected. Some end notes, with the usual elaborations and asides, follow these remarks and conclude the post. As noted in my last post, though I wasn’t initially pleased with the Constitution Party’s selection of Don…

Lamenting Lost Liberty, Lame Candidates, and Lunacy on the Left and Right

2020-05-24T16:32:21-07:00

Will you weep for the two poor prisoners in their COVID-19 isolation chamber?[1] Pandemic-excused infringements of liberty and a looming presidential election with typically nauseating major-party offerings have focused much of my attention on political matters lately. Fox News remains the Trumpian news network, of late choosing to emphasize its embrace of mass impulse by titling its election-coverage segments “Democracy 2020,” and MSNBC the official anti-Trump network, no doubt taking its lead…

Dark-World Animadversions and Other Remarks

2020-04-09T17:43:09-07:00

Will you ignore the stern friar warning you to repent?[0] A new prompted letter and some delayed-release items related to the use and meaning of certain terms follow. Also, like the last post and the post before that, this one includes materials dating back a while. As a result, some items may feel dated. Since I’m not greatly concerned about keeping up with the latest news cycle, just about applying eternal principles…

Akashic Records Prompt Letters

2020-04-04T22:00:36-07:00

Since most things that occur to me, and to most people, do turn out to have occurred to someone else before (Ecclesiastes 1:9), I fear I must credit this and all my posts to the mystical Akashic records, that storehouse of all that sentient beings have ever thought or done or experienced….[1] Just kidding. It is past time for a new “[things] prompt letters” post, however. Though I doubtless violate rules of…

Some Matters of Usage

2020-03-10T20:21:11-07:00

Some random commentary and other updates follow. Rather than cram all new updates and commentary into a single post, I’ll spread the latest updates over a few posts. I began preparing this post back in early January, but I then set it aside until now; as a result, some items may seem dated, as may items in succeeding posts. Items in this post all relate in some way to English usage or…

Rhetoric and Cultural Trends Prompt a Sad Farewell, Some Commentary, and a Couple Letters

2019-10-18T02:46:17-07:00

The relentless march of time continues, making another update necessary. This post is that update. In the items that follow, I bid a sad farewell to the unpeaceable rhetoric of “culture war,” object to the distasteful secular rhetoric of “sex workers,” affirm the right of the people (individuals) to keep and bear arms, condemn public-venue hosting of transvestite events, and make some closing remarks. On 12 October I sent an item to…

Brief Notice: New Old Paper Uploaded to My Academia Account

2019-10-12T19:31:19-07:00

I just uploaded a paper to my Academia account. Find it here.

Issues from Race and Religion to Burkinis, Empiricism, and Trump Prompt Letters and More

2019-09-09T10:54:54-07:00

Introduction and Contents A printed letter objecting to a columnist’s conflation of race and religion; An unprinted letter concerning the latest ultra-rich guy’s call for higher taxes; An unprinted U-T “Your Say” submission suggesting a lesson to be drawn from a tried soldier’s conduct; An unprinted letter drawing the same lesson from the same conduct, but with less detail; Am unprinted letter indicating that the politics of racial identity makes racists of…

Will, Sensibility, and Tangents

2019-08-26T18:13:01-07:00

Below: some preliminary remarks on a terminological issue related to a book in progress. The book: George Will’s The Conservative Sensibility (New York: Hachette Books, 2019). The issue: “This is a republic, not a democracy—let’s keep it that way!” to quote a John Birch Society sticker you’ve probably never seen. The content: main remarks and tangents. In The Conservative Sensibility, Will brings together various strands of discussion that have grown in prevalence…

Compulsiveness Prompts Letters, Emails, and (So Much) More

2019-05-26T15:17:17-07:00

Welcome to this latest edition in my “...Prompts Letter(s)” series. The materials following should bring you and this site up to date. Not addressed in detail in my various items below, though touched upon by one of them, is the efforts by Democrats to claim the moral high ground based on Trump’s long history of poor personal morals and on the simultaneous widespread support of Trump by self-identified evangelical Christians. As indicated…

Random Topics Prompt Letters

2019-04-06T17:40:07-07:00

I’ve continued to enjoy my new letters-to-the-editor hobby, though none of the letters I sent this past week has made it into print. (Nor has any of them shown up on the paper’s Web site, assuming the site’s search function isn’t missing anything.) While my outside-the-mainstream views and direct contradiction of the Opinion page’s editorial staff could play a role, I think the main reason none of this latest batch has been…

Letters & Longer Item Posted Elsewhere

2019-04-02T00:20:57-07:00

I took some time to check the San Diego Union-Tribune (SDUT) site to see if any of my printed, or my unprinted, letters or other submissions had ended up being posted there. It turns out a few of the printed ones have (all title are those assigned by the paper’s editors): (1) “Your Say | Facebook’s future? Tech giant brought it on itself” (I meant for this particular tech giant to represent…

Racialized Open-Border Rhetoric Prompts Letters

2019-03-19T03:04:21-07:00

My trending-left local paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune (SDUT), sometimes known in the past as the U-T San Diego, recently made a point of selecting syndicated editorials that insist on interpreting all support for physical barriers at the border, and all suggestions that unlimited and uncontrolled immigration might have drawbacks, as racially motivated. I felt obligated to write letters to this paper, unnatural though it is for me to express my thoughts…

Just How Evil Is Tucker Carlson?

2019-03-18T14:41:19-07:00

You know you want to read these Bubba the Love Sponge transcripts! Come on, just take a peek! — Satan to Tucker Carlson The mainstream media were briefly abuzz last week over left-liberal Media Matters’ unearthing of some old Tucker Carlson audio. Media Matters’ Madeline Peltz begins her related article (topically organized transcript collection) with a summary of Carlson’s bad behavior, part of which reads as follows: No doubt this gloss reflects…

Bring on the Green NUKE Deal

2019-02-25T12:44:04-08:00

Re Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal: socialist fever dreams that can never be realized solve nothing. We need a Green Nuke Deal: “nuclear power is the only carbon-free technology that has proven capability, and which is demonstrably scalable at a rate that can contribute significantly to solving the [alleged] climate problem [assuming it exists and is caused and solvable by humans]”(Tom M. L. Wigley, Ph.D., meteorologist and theoretical physicist, Nuclear Energy Fact…

Just posted a comment on Craig Huey’s Site Re a Handy Resource

2019-02-23T22:14:33-08:00

I just posted a comment on Craig Huey’s site concerning a handy resource.

A Year Later, This Senatorial Address Is Still Worth Sharing

2019-02-19T15:55:51-08:00

“…the voice of one crying in the wilderness…”: It’s been a year, but the major parties remain as fiscally irresponsible as ever. Rand Paul’s 2018 plea still resonates: http://ow.ly/Le8030nLfUk.

Shall We Listen to the Peacemakers?

2019-02-11T03:33:44-08:00

Image: “All we are saying is give peace a chance. John Lennon,” photo by Kate Ter Haar via Flicker, cropped, resized, and stretched a bit. Used under the Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0). Advocates of a less interventionist U.S. foreign policy, such as Ron Paul, have long argued that foreign hostility against the United States, and with it attempts by terrorists to attack the U.S., would be much…

E-Letter Prompts E-Letter: “Natural” Law & Rights

2019-02-05T15:01:07-08:00

Image: based on a Wikimedia Commons photo by Vitold Muratov, used under the Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license. Derivative work by David M. Hodges, reusable under the same license terms. On 04 February, I received an interesting fundraising email from the national office of the political party with which I’m affiliated, the Constitution Party. Written by Nicholas Kontgas and titled “Roadmap to Socialism: The Democratic plan to bring about a socialist revolution…

Representative Democracy ≠ Republic

2019-02-03T19:25:57-08:00

The United States was not founded as just a “representative democracy,” nor is “representative democracy” a synonym for “republic.” The point of the American Republic established by the U.S. Constitution is that free and sovereign individuals ceded to their federal (covenantal) state only a limited, explicitly enumerated, set of powers through that legal document.[1] Ours is, or at its founding was, a government of laws, not of men, whether those men be…

Zuhdi Jasser: Is Enlightenment Reason-Worship Cure for Islamism?

2018-11-23T03:24:17-08:00

Image: Islamic symbol modified for the Pious Eye site by David M. Hodges. Based upon a work by Wikimedia user DonovanCrow, used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license and available from Wikimedia Commons. In accord with that license, this modified image may itself be used under the same license term. I posted a comment on a YouTube video. As the PC censors at YouTube might not permit these comments to display, I’ll…

Hire Me

2018-07-17T02:17:01-07:00

Overview of Services, Skills, and Background Summary A capable editor, rewriter, and writer, I’ve been freelancing for several years, drawing upon my broad educational, vocational, and avocational background, and always striving to optimize my work by approaching it in ways that suit my personality and aptitudes. Currently focused on acquiring and honing coding skills useful for Web development and other programming, and on acquiring projects where I can use these skills, I…

Our Drunken, Suicidal, and Licentious Culture

2018-07-05T00:58:01-07:00

Item 1: Our Drunken Culture Not long before this I had overheard someone mentioning “getting a beer” with a new acquaintance in what has become the standard way males in our culture interact. Apparently, men today find each other too difficult to tolerate without a little alcohol in their systems. Maybe the fact that most of them have been convinced they are the evolved kindred of monkeys and apes, who must always…

Michael Barrett on the KJV: An Excellent and Edifying Presentation

2018-07-04T17:10:01-07:00

Another one for your queue (video or audio): Michael Barrett speaks on the “Tradition, Text, and Translation of the KJV.” Highly recommended.

Erratum: Trampling on TULIP

2018-07-03T00:35:31-07:00

This is my first entry in the new errata category, which in all likelihood will one day be the category with the most posts. Entries in the category will note instances where I have erred or might have erred in past statements, here on the Pious Eye site or (possibly) elsewhere. Minor errors, such as typos and complex sentences that seem to lose track of where they’re going, will simply be corrected…

One Lord, One Faith, One Olive Tree

2018-06-29T01:20:14-07:00

Covenant theology is not “replacement” theology. Its point is that the olive tree that is God’s people, the church, is a single tree, not two trees growing side by side with different promises and different futures (Romans 11). Though I don’t agree with everything in the following video series (the speaker is a Presbyterian and a Theonomist), it contains enough interesting and sound material to merit viewing: Joe Morecraft III lectures on…

Don't Baptize Another Baby Till You See This

2018-06-26T00:28:53-07:00

Another worthwhile theology video for your queue: “The Covenant with Abraham...The Case Against Covenantal Infant Baptism.” Though part of a series, it stands well alone.

Christ-Centered Hermeneutics: A Binge-Worthy Video Series

2018-06-20T09:46:45-07:00

While, from a Bible-believing perspective, popular entertainment never merits the “binge-worthy” descriptor, it turns out there are some online resources that do. Combining a speaker’s presentation of sound theology with a digitally generated environment reminiscent of DOS-based computer games, this series from 2006, which I just discovered, is an example: David P. Murray speaks on fundamental issues of biblical hermeneutics (interpretation) for freechurchseminary.org (posted by Stornoway Free Church).

Visit (to Library) Prompts Letter (to Publisher): Sikh Edition

2018-06-14T23:55:37-07:00

This is a letter I just wrote to an organization promoting Sikhism, the youngest of the so-called “world religions.” Encountering some Sikh beliefs in a recent editing project, I became curious, visited my local library, and checked out the Sikh Religion book identified in the letter. (To be precise, I put in a request for the two books on the subject listed in the library system’s online catalog, received notification that one…

Just posted a comment on Craig Huey’s Site Re Jeffress, Trump, Romney

2018-05-31T13:06:32-07:00

I just posted a comment on Craig Huey’s site.

Life’s Enemy, The International Super-State

2017-12-23T13:27:36-08:00

Life’s enemy, the international super-state: Worst Moments for Human Life and the Family at the UN in 2017 https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/worst-moments-human-life-family-un-2017/ via @FridayFax #ccot #prolife #getUSout

Moore, #MeToo Lamentations

2017-12-19T17:09:16-08:00

In July 2025, I discovered that this post, which needed some revision and reorganization anyway, had not survived the transfer from the Pious Eye site. It has now been restored and revised, better organized for online reading, and (with my apologies) expanded. Specifically, it now addresses topics under the following headings: Though I’ve given up both major parties as hopeless cases, I’m saddened by some things about the defeat of Republican Roy…

Leaders of developing nations more morally developed than leaders of developed nations?

2017-12-07T14:28:34-08:00

It seems leaders of “developing” nations are often more morally developed than leaders of “developed” nations: http://bit.ly/BN171207. #prolife #ccot

Worth Reading...with Healthy Skepticism: Carrin's Spirit-Empowered Theology

2017-08-06T12:38:28-07:00

Carrin, Charles, D.D. Spirit-Empowered Theology. Minneapolis: Chosen, 2017. 351 pages. $19.99 retail. ISBN 978-0-8007-9817-8. I am not part of the signs-and-wonders (Pentecostal, charismatic, and Third Wave) movement, nor has this book tempted me to join up. Though my Reformed Baptist convictions remain intact, I did find Spirit-Empowered Theology enjoyable reading overall, sometimes edifying (96-7, e.g.), and a good survey of the signs-and-wonders way of thinking. I admit that Carrin’s overuse of “impact”…

My Sad Farewell to Vimeo, with Protest and Reflection Suggestions

2017-03-31T00:39:06-07:00

“Leaving Vimeo” image © 2017 by Pious Eye (David M. Hodges). Created using, and modifying, three Wikimedia Commons images: two public domain image (one by Vimeo, one released to the public domain by user ZyMOS) and one Creative-Commons-2.0-licensed image by Marcin Wichary from San Francisco, U.S.A. One disturbing thing about the rise of the World Wide Web as people’s main source of information is that, though sites like Vimeo and Facebook, and…

Good Motives, Middling Result: Hambrick's Do Ask, Do Tell, Let's Talk

2016-07-18T15:40:30-07:00

Image: Pious Eye (David M. Hodges) modification and combination of images showing support of and opposition to homosexuality, acquired through Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licenses permitting adaptation. Source images are as follows: (1) flags for sale at Gay Pride 2015, Toulouse, by Gyrostat under CC BY-SA 4.0 license; (2) protesters at Gay Pride 2005, Jerusalem, by Benj (Flickr) under CC BY 2.0 license. In accord with the more restrictive of the…

The Materialist Face of Bouw: Do Omnipotence, Omnipresence Make God a Plenum?

2016-07-15T19:02:41-07:00

Image: Mysterious galaxy abstract, released to the public domain by its creator, Lynn Greyling, through the Public Domain Pictures site. I’ve recently started reading an interesting book by Gerardus D. Bouw, PhD: Geocentricity: Christianity in the Woodshed (Cleveland: Association for Biblical Astronomy, 2013). As I’ve read the beginning of the sixth chapter, on “The Biblical Firmament,” I’ve run across what strikes me as some very odd reasoning (55, 58-60). Since odd reasoning,…

Pentecostal Outpourings...the Reformed Way

2016-05-22T21:56:04-07:00

Smart, Robert Davis, Michael A. G. Haykin, and Ian High Clary, editors. Pentecostal Outpourings: Revival and the Reformed Tradition. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2016. Paperback, 260 + xii pages. ISBN 978-1-6018-433-9. This is an excellent and edifying book. An effective combination of sound research, sustained scholarly reflection, solid Reformed theology, and strong pastoral focus on an all-of-life Christian piety that goes far beyond assent to correct doctrines, Pentecostal Outpourings: Revival and…

Disenfranchised by Top-Two Open Primaries

2016-05-22T11:57:08-07:00

Pious Eye (David M. Hodges) posted a comment on someone else’s IVN article, as well as a related one on his own. Bottom line: old closed primary was better than California’s current top-two system, and David wants a “none of the above” option. Comment 1. Comment 2.

My Sad Farewell to Reddit, with Thoughts on Faith and Experience

2016-05-21T00:01:50-07:00

As it happens, my Reddit post was “removed [by a Reddit moderator] as it violate[d] Reddit‘s content policy with respect to personal and identifying information.” Since I am philosophically opposed to anonymous Internet posting (If you’re not willing to identify yourself, nothing you post deserves to be read, respected, or considered—certain whistle-blowers and the like might be an exception to this rule), thus ends the short, happy life of my Reddit exploration.

Reddit Comment Posted: Faith Not Based On Experience

2016-05-20T20:23:18-07:00

Pious Eye (David M. Hodges) posted a comment to Reddit’s DebateReligion subreddit arguing that faith is not based on experience, evidence, or arguments, but that, rather, trust in the faculties that allow experience, evidence, and arguments depends on faith. To read it, follow this link.

Responses to Some Comments on IVN Article

2016-05-20T20:02:46-07:00

Pious Eye (David M. Hodges) posted responses to some comments on his IVN article: response one, response two, response three, response four.

Achieving True Voter Enfranchisement

2016-05-18T23:52:02-07:00

Pious Eye (David M. Hodges) has published "Achieving True Voter Enfranchisement" on the Independent Voter Project’s IVN.

Constitution or Libertarian Party: Which for the Pious?

2016-05-18T22:05:04-07:00

I should note upfront that I am not an official representative of the Constitution Party. Nor have I run my ideas by any official representatives of that party. My reasons for preferring this party over the Libertarian Party are entirely my own. Partisans of either party who find my perspective inaccurate or unfair may certainly feel free to correct me—provided they can do so in a civil, constructive fashion, of course. That…

My Sad Farewell to the Pro-Life Movement

2016-04-03T13:20:11-07:00

As I began to realize a few days ago, when I spoke of the “Baffling Clash: Pro-Life Leaders v Donald J. Trump,” some of us cannot be part of movements. As someone who believes every person’s inalienable right to life begins at conception, I’m saddened to discover I cannot be part of the pro-life movement. The insistence of this movement’s leaders on lockstep conformity to the women-who-abort-are-guiltless-victims position, however, has made clear…

Baffling Clash: Pro-Life Leaders v Donald J. Trump

2016-03-31T11:00:04-07:00

Trump image by Michael Vadon, used under license (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons. Today’s “Morning Jolt...with Jim Geraghty” e-mail (free from National Review) contains an interesting passage on the latest Donald Trump controversy. Here it is, as it appears in my response to the sender: I have to admit, the dominant view of career pro-life activists on this issue has me baffled. If you hire a hit man and he accepts…

Reordering the Trinity: Unconvincing Thesis, but Still Worth Reading

2016-02-22T13:35:13-08:00

Durst, Rodrick K. Reordering the Trinity: Six Movements of God in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2005. Paperback, 369 pages. ISBN 978-0-8254-4378-7. Rodrick K. Durst’s Reordering the Trinity, in spite of an unfortunate lack of clarity in places, is interesting and often edifying, sufficiently informative and practical to merit perusal even by those who, as I have, finish their reading skeptical of the book’s thesis. That thesis might be summarized…

(A)sexual: (A) Weird Documentary

2016-02-08T21:38:40-08:00

I saw a very strange documentary recently: (A)sexual (directed by Angela Tucker, Arts Engine Inc., 2011). The premise of the film, which takes for granted the contemporary belief that people have innate sexual orientations (inclinations to have sex with persons of the opposite, their own, or both sexes: heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality, respectively), is that there are people who have an orientation not generally acknowledged: asexuality (an innate lack of inclination to…

Conservative Abortion-Ban-Exception Delusions

2016-02-06T22:28:42-08:00

Believing true what one wants to be true rather than what actually is true may be a less prevalent phenomenon among conservatives than liberals, but it is certainly not unknown among conservatives. For instance, one needn’t watch Fox New, the Fox Business Network, or an economics-related conservative event for long to hear someone who has been successful in the free market argue that his experience is “proof” that all one has to…

Gifted Mind: Engaging, Worthwhile...Unfinished

2016-02-02T18:12:55-08:00

Kinley, Jeff, with Raymond Damadian. Gifted Mind: The Dr. Raymond Damadian Story, Inventor of the MRI. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2015. Hard cover. Pp. 240. ISBN 978-0-89051-803-8. Certain aspects of Jeff Kinley and Raymond Damadian’s Gifted Mind: The Dr. Raymond Damadian Story, Inventor of the MRI suggest incomplete editing. I encountered, for example, dangling modifiers, odd punctuation choices, and subject-verb disagreements. (I almost included another indication of incomplete editing: the dominant…

Clarey's Dinosaurs: A Scripture-Consistent Counter-Narrative to Secular "Scientific" Orthodoxy

2015-12-01T13:17:55-08:00

Clarey, Tim, Ph.D. Dinosaurs: Marvels of God’s Design. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2015. Hardcover, 192 pages. ISBN 978-0-89051-904-2. Bible believers, who accept Scripture’s ultimate authority in all matters on which it speaks, are appropriately inclined to take all that Scripture says in its natural, straightforward sense (that is, in the sense that would be most natural and straightforward to its original recipients), and to let that sense, and all that it…

The Carson Option: Viable for Evangelicals?

2015-10-31T21:55:56-07:00

I just read an interesting document, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church’s 2001 “Report of the International Theological Dialogue between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches” (hereafter, the Dialog Report). As was the case with the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney, some evangelicals have (well, at least one evangelical has) seen the Seventh-Day Adventist faith of Ben Carson as…

For Love of God's Word: Useful, Not Essential, to Biblical Understanding

2015-09-16T09:13:16-07:00

Köstenberger, Andreas J., and Richard D. Patterson. For the Love of God’s Word: An Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2015. Hard cover, 444 pages. ISBN 978-0-8254-4336-7. Late in For Love of God’s Word (hereafter, FLGW), a condensed and revised version of their Invitation to Biblical Interpretation, Köstenberger and Patterson (hereafter, K&P) state the following about the book’s purpose: “In essence, this entire book is designed to set forth a…

Worthwhile Reading...For Some: History, Law and Christianity

2015-05-17T23:00:29-07:00

Montgomery, John Warwick. History, Law and Christianity. Corona, CA: NRP Books, 2014 (prior edition copyrights were 1964, 1991, and 2002). Paperback. 102+xv pages. ISBN 978-1-945500-01-5. While my philosophical and theological commitment are not Montgomery’s—I am an increasingly committed presuppositionalist; he is the quintessential evidentialist—I still found History, Law and Christianity worthwhile, if occasionally disagreeable, reading. Though its evidentialist stance—which is blatant, persistent, and uncompromising—would make me uncomfortable giving the book to non-Christians,…

Comprehensive, Informative...Inconsistent, Flawed: 40 Question about Creation and Evolution

2015-04-24T09:43:42-07:00

Keathley, Kenneth D., and Mark F. Rooker. 40 Questions about Creation and Evolution. 40 Questions, series ed. Benjamin L. Merkle. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2014. Paperback, 430 pages. ISBN 978-0-8254-2941-5. In this book, a fairly comprehensive survey of debated questions related to creation and evolution, particularly as those questions are addressed by evangelicals, authors Keathley and Rooker (hereafter, K&R) survey and assess the various extant opinions in a manner that attempts, more…

Decorated Chaplain threatened by Navy - Take Action

2015-03-13T05:13:45-07:00

Decorated Chaplain Wes Modder threatened by Navy - Take Action.

Pious Thinking: God's Battle Plan (Saxton Review)

2015-03-08T20:43:46-07:00

Saxton, David W. God’s Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2015. Paperback. 145+vii pages. ISBN 978-1-60178-371-4. Contemporary rediscovery of the intellectually rich yet rigorously practical work of Puritan thinkers continues. Pastor David W. Saxton’s God’s Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation is a welcome addition to the growing body of works presenting aspects of Puritan thought and…

The Gospel. Clear But Maybe Too Simple: The Evangelism Study Bible

2015-01-22T16:33:23-08:00

The Evangelism Study Bible. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2014. Hardcover. 1564+xiii pages. ISBN 978-0-8254-2662-9. Last time I visited my local Christian bookstore, I admit the one thought that didn’t occur to me was, “You know, what we really need today is a new study Bible.” In addition to believing there might be a few too many study Bibles on the market already, I tend increasingly toward the conviction that commentary and study materials…

Permission to Avoid Permission to Doubt

2015-01-08T05:32:32-08:00

Sullivan, Ann C. Permission to Doubt: One Woman’s Journey into a Thinking Faith. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2014. Paperback. 173 pages. ISBN 978-0-8254-4366-4. Ann Sullivan’s Permission to Doubt might best be described as a personal memoir, reflection, and self-help book that dabbles in apologetics and hermeneutics. Fairly effective on the personal sharing and reflection side, the book offers standard fare on the self-help side, is fairly superficial and cursory on the apologetics side,…

Christian Bioethics: A Useful Survey

2015-01-04T16:23:36-08:00

Mitchell, C. Ben, and D. Joy Riley. Christian Bioethics: A Guide for Pastors, Health Care Professionals, and Families. B&H Studies in Biblical Ethics. Daniel R. Heimbach, Series Editor. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2014. 207+xiv pages. ISBN 978-1-4336-7114-2. Christian Bioethics: A Guide for Pastors, Health Care Professionals, and Families, by C. Ben Mitchell (Ph.D. and professor of Moral Philosophy) and D. Joy Riley (M.D. with Bioethics M.A.), is described by its publisher (B&H Academic)…

Non-Apostolic Deformation Debunked: A New Apostolic Reformation? Reviewed

2014-12-13T11:34:12-08:00

Geivett, R. Douglas, and Holly Pivec. A New Apostolic Reformation? A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement. Wooster, OH: Weaver Book Company, 2014. 254 + xvii pages. ISBN 978-1-941337-03-5. In my reviews, I generally try to avoid hyperbolic statements like, “every Christian should read this book.” In the case of R. Douglas Geivett and Holly Pivec’s A New Apostolic Reformation? A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement, that statement could be merited.

Bitesize Rutherford Bio: Something to Chew On

2014-11-29T00:38:36-08:00

Hannula, Richard M. Samuel Rutherford: Lover of Christ. Bitesize Biographies. Darlington, England: EP Books, 2014. ISBN 978-1-78397-018-6. Richard Hannula’s Samuel Rutherford Bitesize Biography is an excellent brief introduction to Rutherford’s life, thought, and place in history. Suitable either as an easy point of entry into fuller study of Rutherford or as a quick standalone overview for the merely curious, the brief, easy-reading Samuel Rutherford provides more edification and instruction than its brevity…

Handling Hardship: Sunukjian's Invitation to James

2014-11-20T03:48:29-08:00

Sunukjian, Donald R. Invitation to James: Persevering Through Trials to Win the Crown. Wooster, OH: Weaver Book Company, 2014. ISBN 978-1-941337-25-7. Invitation to James is part of a series on “Biblical Preaching for the Contemporary Church,” with current or forthcoming titles on James (the present volume), Philippians, the life of Jacob, Galatians, Mark, and Joshua. As such, its official purpose “is to offer models of the principles presented in the textbook” by…

A Month that Will Live in Infamy: October 2014 (Reflection on News in My Local Paper)

2014-10-31T22:27:43-07:00

Introduction Having decided to waste no more effort sending letters to my local paper, the U-T San Diego, I’ve no longer needed to formulate quick responses to “the latest.” This has freed me to indulge my preference for prolonged reflection (also known as brooding) about news items. Two sets of articles have especially caught my attention this past month: articles related to homosexual “marriage” and miscellaneous other “gay” (or more broadly sinful…

Fesko's Songs of a Suffering King: Excellent, Edifying

2014-10-07T11:33:50-07:00

J. V. Fesko. Songs of a Suffering King: The Grand Christ Hymn of Psalms 1-8. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books. 123+x pages. ISBN 978-1-60178-310-3. This is an excellent and edifying book. A Christ-centered exposition of the first eight chapters of the book of Psalms, suitable for private devotional reading or small group study, Songs of a Suffering King doubles as a plea for Christians to use psalms more fully and frequently in…

Moynagh's Being Church, Doing Life: Creative Outreach Made Practical

2014-09-23T10:41:06-07:00

Moynagh, Michael. Being Church, Doing Life: Creating Gospel Communities where Life Happens. Oxford/Grand Rapids: Monarch, 2014. 352 pages. ISBN 978-0-85721-493-5. Kregel’s featured $1.99 Kindle book through 26 September 2014. An author who makes a point of quoting both Charles Darwin (116) and Peter Enns (112) obviously moves in different theological circles—and holds different ideas about Scripture’s inerrancy, clarity, and sufficiency—than I do. (I’m a Reformed Baptist and biblical creationist who still finds…

Consent: Only Repeated Yeses Will Do, Say State Lawmakers

2014-08-29T14:42:54-07:00

Image: California State Capitol, courtesy Wikipedia user Coolcaesar (Creative Commons license). The local paper today informed me of my state’s passage of an interesting bill to formally define, in the context of sexual assault investigations on college campuses, what does and does not qualify as “consent” to sexual activity (Fenit Nipappil [Associated Press], “State Ban on Plastic Bags OK’d; Bill Moves to Senate,” U-T San Diego, A1-A2; among “In other action, lawmakers...”…

Victory through the Lamb: Read-worthy, though No Epiphanies

2014-08-21T09:12:28-07:00

Wilson, Mark. Victory through the Lamb: A Guide to Revelation in Plain Language. Wooster, OH: Weaver Book Company, 2014. 223 pages. ISBN 978-1-941337-01-1. Victory through the Lamb, a nontechnical overview of the book of Revelation, is quite readable and contains enough interesting background and historical information to maintain the interest of most readers, particularly those who have not previously dedicated themselves to detailed study of Revelation’s background and content. Persons who have…

Just updated the Pious Eye usage notes https://piouseye.com/usage-notes/

2014-08-08T19:01:53-07:00

Just updated the Pious Eye usage notes.

Pride, Parting in Sodom Diego

2014-08-08T16:26:45-07:00

Main Remarks Well, I’ve been able to disprove the theory that my prior, somewhat-related letter only failed to make it into print because of U-T San Diego’s word limit (see also the follow-up letter I opted not to send). I disproved the theory by writing a very short letter that U-T staff could easily have used for filler, which I forwarded to them by email back in July. Here it is: From:…

Fixed irksome typos, added footnote to http://j.mp/1oizKuT

2014-07-29T07:44:58-07:00

Fixed irksome typos (perhaps not all?) and added a footnote to the Science Projects page.

Okay Planner, but Spare Us the PC Marketing

2014-07-26T09:56:33-07:00

Image of harvested trees (don’t worry, they’ll grow back) © Copyright Alan Stewart and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons licence. If, like me, you set yourself hard deadlines and make formal appointments only when you have to, but still you’ve found your lightly-planned lifestyle requires more planning space than monthly planners or standard calendars provide, the House of Doolittle Academic Weekly Appointment Planner 16 July 2014 – 02 August 2015…

Starting [Near] the Finish Line: [Almost] the Gospel of Grace

2014-07-24T20:56:10-07:00

Wallace, John B. Starting at the Finish Line: The Gospel of Grace for Mormons. Pomona House Publishing, LLC: 2014. 202+X pages. ISBN 978-0-9914622-0-9. I cannot recommend Starting at the Finish Line as an outreach tool, however, because it also has some negative qualities that, taken in combination, convince me that other outreach literature should be preferred. If you’re one of those people who reads lots and lots of books rapidly, drawing out…

Government as morality-corrupting, anti-Christian influence, San Diego County edition: http://www.sdcl.org/pr_2014-06-28.html

2014-07-08T10:21:09-07:00

Government as morality-corrupting, anti-Christian influence, San Diego County edition: El Cajon Library hosts celebration of sexual aberrance

Minor modifications completed on old item https://piouseye.com/2011/12/pious-apologetics/

2014-07-07T14:12:17-07:00

Minor modifications completed on old item https://www.davidmhodges.net/pious-apologetics//

Science Projects

2014-07-04T11:21:01-07:00

Image: Aliens hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil, courtesy Aaron Logan (Creative Commons license). Heard of distributed computing? If you have, you’ve most likely heard about it in relation to the search for space aliens. Why people who believe life originated by chance are so exited about searching for extraterrestrial intelligence has never been entirely clear to me. Especially was it unclear to me when my professed agnosticism-sometimes-atheism…

Titus for You: Doesn't “Rule,” but Still Good Reading

2014-06-24T09:09:49-07:00

Chester, Tim. Titus for You. The Good Book Company, 2014. Hardcover, 121 pages. ISBN 978-1-90991-961-7. Mostly, this book is very good. It is doctrinally reformed (“The Spirit gives the desire and the ability to respond to the gospel. Because God has made us alive, we hear the gospel and respond with faith” [15]; “God has done the choosing, so God will do the persuading” [17]) and does not try to evade widely…

Usage Notes

2014-06-08T12:24:39-07:00

In matters of formatting and citation, the Pious Eye site will generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, and Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th edition. Adherence will not be slavish, however, and readers may note consistent divergence from these standards in certain matters. For instance, the “15 November 2016” date format will be preferred over the “November 15, 2016” date format even when…

Kosher Pig: Tasty in Places, but Undercooked

2014-05-20T09:49:06-07:00

Shapira, Itzhak. The Return of the Kosher Pig: The Divine Messiah In Jewish Thought. Clarksville, MD: Lederer Books, 2013. xii+318 Pages. ISBN 978-1-936716-45-6. The author of The Return of the Kosher Pig (hereafter, Kosher Pig), Itzhak Shapira, is a Messianic [Jesus-accepting] Rabbi “born and raised in a traditional Sephardic Jewish home in Israel” who says that “he found the Messiah [Jesus] within the Hebrew writings,” meaning not just the Hebrew Bible but…

Berding's Burden: Promoting Bible Revival

2014-04-28T22:55:27-07:00

Berding, Kenneth. Bible Revival: Recommitting Ourselves To One Book. Wooster, OH: Weaver Book Company, 2013. 121 pages, paperback. ISBN 978-0-9891671-3-0. Correcting deficiencies of the contemporary church has been the focus of a number of recent texts. Deficiencies found in need of correction have included a “gospel” that fails to properly emphasize repentance and tangible obedience as evidences of genuine conversion and failure of professors of the faith to commit themselves to a…

Gospel Assurance & Warnings: Edifying & Troubling

2014-04-23T00:34:30-07:00

Washer, Paul. Gospel Assurance & Warnings. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2014. ISBN 978-1-60178-294-6. Some years ago, perhaps, a man asked you, “If you died tonight, are you sure you'd go to heaven?” You couldn't answer “yes” but did indeed want to go to heaven, so you accepted the man's offer to tell you how you could be sure. You were told you needed to admit you were a sinner, needed to…

True Reason: Worth Thinking Your Way Through

2014-03-02T22:10:59-08:00

Gilson, Tom, and Carson Weitnauer, editors. True Reason: Confronting the Irrationality of the New Atheism. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2013. ISBN 978-0-8254-4338-1. Abridged versions of this review may be found on Amazon and Goodreads. Associated with such high-profile names in Christian apologetics as the Christian Apologetics Alliance and Ratio Christi, True Reason originated as an e-book response to the New Atheists' 24 March 2012 Reason Rally and is now reissued (with modifications)…

Visit Prompts Letter: Baptist Edition

2014-02-10T10:44:38-08:00

Not long ago, lack of reliable funding for automobile fuel had me visiting some churches a little closer to home than the one of which I'm officially a member. It also had me wishing that active involvement in a local church were not required by Scripture—but, then, my preference for solitude (or at least social anxiety) has always made “forsaking the assembling” (Hebrews 10:25) an especially appealing sin. One church I visited,…

Prophet on the Run: Profitable Reading

2014-02-10T01:16:40-08:00

Maoz, Baruch. Prophet on the Run: A Devotional Commentary on the Book of Jonah. Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2013. ISBN 978-1936908-844. If you're like me, you tend to avoid books labeled “devotional” because you've usually found that they lack gravitas, are comforting but not convicting, encouraging but not very instructive. Prophet on the Run is not that kind of book. Nontechnical, practical, and written in common language for “Mr. and Mrs. Anybody”…

Protest Unwarranted: Robertson's Remarks Were Just Ducky

2013-12-20T13:47:40-08:00

No sooner had I recovered sufficiently from an illness to watch some news than I was greeted by a story highlighting once again the sorry state of our dieing culture. Members of the homosexual lobby (known in corrupt contemporary English as “gays”) apparently read GQ, since their (as always) loud and emotional condemnation of public statements unfriendly to their irrational and unbiblical worldview has gotten Phil Robertson, patriarch of the hugely popular…

Dalai Lamas in Hell? Continuing A Conversation

2013-12-10T13:45:24-08:00

About the Image: “The Wager” by David M. Hodges, created late 1990s, updated 2013. The version of this image I recovered recently from some old Zip disks dated to 11 September 1998. The late 1990s were the time when my skeptical agnosticism was consuming itself (as self-referentially incoherent thought systems always must if one refuses to stop analyzing and reflecting upon them; I once quipped during this time that, though Socrates had…

Noah's Ark & Other Boats: Responding to a Craigslist Post

2013-12-03T12:00:16-08:00

Re: abitwiser, “how the [expletive deleted] could Noah know with any” (posted 27 November 2013, accessed 28 November 2013), which rejects the Bible's flood narrative based on the belief that other persons than Noah should have been able to survive, since surely there must have been other people with boats. Although the remarks that follow are addressed to Craigslist (CL) user abitwiser (as “you”), I have posted them here rather than on…

Visit Prompts Letter: Can I Get A (Jehovah's) Witness?

2013-11-26T23:28:43-08:00

I'm not sure how this happened with all the barbed wire, “No Trespassing” signs, and roaming attack dogs on the property, but Monday of this week a local Jehovah's Witness made it to my front door. (Actually, there were two, but I only interacted with one.) Since I would be leaving soon and still had tasks I needed to complete first, I couldn't manage a long conversation, so I let my visitor…

Evolutionists' Fear and Loathing in San Diego

2013-11-16T15:16:41-08:00

Earlier this week, an email from my local creation museum informed me that said museum had been refused membership in the area’s Museum Council. I’d spoken to employees and friends of the museum the day that some representatives of the Council had visited, so I knew those representatives had been favorably impressed and that museum employees and friends fully expected their Council application to be approved. Dour gloom-and-doomer that I am, my…

Hoping the Best for C.S. Lewis: Reflections on Robbins — Part 3

2013-11-16T14:53:00-08:00

Before we proceed with part 3, here is the essential-to-quote notification you loved reading in parts 1 and 2: That taken care of, here is the contents listings for this third and final part of the series: This part opens with a continuation of Robbins’s discussion of Lewis’s conversion, which Robbins would likely label an alleged conversion. Robbins begins with a further quote from Lewis: He then launches into his analysis: Again,…

Hoping the Best for C.S. Lewis: Reflections on Robbins — Part 2

2013-11-16T14:52:00-08:00

Before we proceed with part 2, here is the essential-to-quote notification you so enjoyed reviewing in part 1: Because this part incorporates the full text of what, on my old site, were comments added to a separate post, this part and part 3 will both be longer than part 1. Please accept my apologies for the disconcerting lack of symmetry. Here’s what you’ll find in this part: Part 1 closed with Robbins…

Hoping the Best for C. S. Lewis: Reflections on Robbins — Part 1

2013-11-16T14:51:36-08:00

When I posted this in 2013, all parts were in a single post running over 10,000 words. When revising it for better online reading in 2024, I decided to break it into parts. You’re reading part 1. In this part, I cover material under the following headings: One seminary I attended, Bethel Seminary San Diego, hosted lectures this week by a C. S. Lewis scholar. Though I did not attend the lectures,…

Bad Times at Grifols Biomat: Local Business Reviewed

2013-11-10T03:24:30-08:00

Though only some remarks after “One final bit of irritation” are relevant to the Pious Eye site’s purpose, I’ve found no review site that will keep something of this length posted. Besides, Pious Eye is also my personal blog (at times, after a fashion), and this is a bit of my recent personal history. On the 5-star rating system standard to review sites, I give two stars to the Biomat Plasma Center…

Clear, Sufficient Scripture or Rachel Held Evans: Choose One

2013-10-19T09:43:45-07:00

A couple of my Facebook acquaintances seem to share most of what a certain Christian feminist/egalitarian (she self-identifies as both), Rachel Held Evans (hereafter, RHE), posts to her blog. (That's what I get for attending a seminary where ordination-seeking women are plentiful, I suppose.) Having finally taken the time to read one of these link-shares, I decided to post some comments. In what follows, I will analyze aspects of one of RHE's…

Don't Let Addiction to “Addiction” Cloud Your Reasoning

2013-10-05T10:11:33-07:00

Christians active in the battle against pornography have lately been excited by news of a not-yet-peer-reviewed Cambridge study popularly reported to prove that “porn addiction” is as real as addiction to drugs or alcohol. When I first heard about this (in an email from Breakpoint), I was skeptical, since I recalled (or thought I recalled!) from a couple Physiological Psychology courses that alcohol and drugs don't just prompt certain patterns of brain…

Arguing with Experts Is Not A Crime

2013-10-01T11:08:16-07:00

In my recent review of Randy Guliuzza’s “Creation Apologetics” presentation, I at one point made reference to “medicine and engineering, two fields in which Guliuzza (you’ll recall) has credentialed expertise.” As I reflect on this statement, it occurs to me that some comment on the value of “credentialed expertise” might be in order. Elitists among us like to treat all persons recognized as experts as entitled to have all their arguments accepted…

Designed to Renew Your Mind: Guliuzza's Creation Apologetics

2013-09-29T17:52:00-07:00

Yesterday (Saturday 28 September 2013), the creation museum in my area held its yearly “Museum Day.” Though the event ran from 9 AM to 6 PM, with presentations by a range of speakers from Gary Parker to John Morris to Ray Comfort, I only managed to attend a single presentation: Randy Guliuzza's “Creation Apologetics.” Dr. Guliuzza is both a Medical Doctor (M.D.) and an Engineer (P.E.), and the title “Creation Apologetics” falls…

Swanson's Apostate: Merits Reading, Could Be Better

2013-09-23T17:36:55-07:00

Note: Direct links to specific paragraphs may not work. Most of the anchors for these direct links were created by code I wrote for the Pious Eye site and had run when pages loaded. As my new site is static, dynamic coding from the old site has gone away. I apologize for any inconvenience. If and when time permits, I’ll manually fix some of these issues. — D.M.H. Swanson, Kevin. Apostate: The…

One More (Belated) Vote Against Bombing Syria

2013-09-09T09:53:06-07:00

Belatedly, I’ve decided I must oppose a strike against Syria. The purpose of the U.S. military is to defend America’s sovereignty and to protect Americans’ liberty, not to be the world’s superhero or the police arm of the U.N. (or any group of foreign nations). (I’m aware that international support is mostly absent in this case. My point is that international support has no relevance to whether or not the U.S. military…

Rape and Rationality

2013-09-09T09:10:40-07:00

Anyone who knows me knows my conviction that contemporary Americans feel too much and think too little. Lack of “impulse control” isn't just for the “poorly socialized” anymore; it's a culture-wide phenomenon. Emotionally charged, cognitively vacuous rants and shout-downs have replaced calm, controlled, rational discussion in many (most?) venues. This trend especially prevails where topics that have always been emotionally charged are concerned. One such topic is rape. As a couple news…

Justice? Yes. “Social Justice”? No.

2013-07-01T10:43:33-07:00

Although this modified image is not in the public domain because modified, visitors in search of public domain, and other free-to-use, Hayek images may find Flickr user Levan Ramishvil's Friedrich Hayek album, which I discovered in 2024, worth visiting. – D.M.H. “‘Social’ or Distributive Justice.” Chapter 9 in Law, Legislation and Liberty: A New Statement of the Liberal Principles of Justice and Political Economy, Volume 2: The Mirage of Social Justice. Chicago:…

Sovereignty, Love, Pink

2013-06-27T05:54:37-07:00

Among current books I'm reading, some of which I may even finish someday, is A. W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God (Chapel Library MOBI edition, available free, as are EPUB and PDF versions). I'm only at the eight percent mark in my reading, but have already run across what strikes me as a non sequitur. Though I would accept the label of “Calvinist” (Believing that, because God is sovereign creator of all…

Today's Epiphany: Hayek on True Individualism

2013-06-21T12:58:54-07:00

In a couple book reviews, I took issue with one author's anti-individualist rhetoric and expressed gratitude (though not perfect satisfaction) for another's effort to distinguish between different uses of the word “individualism.” I've just discovered that the use of “individualism” to refer to quite different things, so that true individualists may end up condemning and arguing against what they and others wrongly label “individualism,” is not a new phenomenon at all. In…

Yahoo! A Discussion Board Post Concerning The Trinity

2013-04-22T18:04:58-07:00

I just posted the message below to a Gordon Clark discussion group on Yahoo!. Find the original post (minus added links) here. The series of three posts I found confusing may be found here, here, and here. This whole discussion has me confused. My understanding of the Trinity is that the Triune God is one being (not one "person") eternally existing as three persons and that the second of these divine persons,…

Brauns' Bound Together: Bound To Be A Positive Influence

2013-04-22T09:00:57-07:00

Brauns, Chris. Bound Together: How We Are Tied to Others in Good and Bad Choices. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013. 208 pages. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-310-49511-6. On balance, this is an excellent book: well organized, theologically Reformed (in Baptist mode), engaging. Since I am a critical, glass-half-empty sort, and since I’m writing this review in the midst of assorted life problems and annoyances, I will attempt to offer some criticisms. Don’t let these criticisms…

Connecting Church 2.0: Merits (Cautious, Critical) Reading

2013-03-12T13:42:11-07:00

Frazee, Randy. The Connecting Church 2.0: Beyond Small Groups to Authentic Community. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013. 978-0-310-49435-5. Cover price $16.99. Something is wrong with the contemporary church in America. But what? Where did the church go wrong and how can it be put back on the right course? Books exploring these questions have become their own genre. The Connecting Church 2.0 is one recent addition to the genre. A new edition of…

Petty's Little Black Book of Compromise: Science and God

2013-02-24T10:00:28-08:00

Petty, Scott. Science and God. Little Black Books. Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2011. Paperback. 108 pages. ISBN 978-1-921896-19-4. Rating on 5-star scale: 2 stars. Promoters identify Science and God as intended for Christian youth between the ages of 14 and 20. Its author, Scott Petty, is a youth minister in Sydney, which seems to support this identification. So, if you’re the parent or friend of a 14-20 year old, or if you’re…

Creation Conference 2013: Why Carp Parts and Bahnsen Matter

2013-02-04T20:36:12-08:00

Creation Conference 2013: Why Origins Matter, also promoted as an Answers in Genesis “Answers Conference” and an Institute for Creation Research event, Monday 28 January 2013 and Tuesday 29 January 2013, hosted by Southern California Seminary at Shadow Mountain Community Church, 6:30 PM to around 10:00 PM each evening. I attended most of this event, leaving during intermission on Tuesday. Here is what the schedule of presentations looked like: In addition to…

Manhattan Declaration: Not Perfect, But Worth Signing

2013-02-04T11:07:13-08:00

Concerning the Manhattan Declaration (available on the Manhattan Project site, accessed 04 February 2013)….I have just signed this declaration). However, I thought I should note that my signing is not a blanket endorsement of all the wording found in it (though I do endorse most of the wording). Specifically, I am not entirely comfortable with all the wording in the preamble. For instance, that preamble states that Now, none of the actual…

Mary Elizabeth "Kill 'Em All, Let God Sort 'Em Out" Williams

2013-02-02T21:44:27-08:00

I just posted a comment on a Salon.com article by Mary Elizabeth “Kill ’Em All, Let God Sort ’Em Out” Williams. My comment should appear here, but my own testing of the link has not yielded positive results. If your results are equally bad, feel free to simply read my comment below. “Yet,” Williams writes, “a fetus can be a human life without having the same rights as the woman in whose…

Biblical Authority in Mormonism? Yahoo! Groups Discussion

2013-02-02T19:24:12-08:00

My Mormon interlocutor, Linda, was not persuaded by my remarks. See her response on the discussion group’s page. My response to her response may be found on Yahoo! Groups and, in improved form, below. (My tracking of discussions outside this site, whether on Yahoo! or elsewhere, is occasional at best. I therefore urge persons wishing to discuss these remarks to comment here, or at least to note here that they’ve commented on…

Intermittent Yahoo! Groups Dialog with Mormons Continues

2013-01-30T08:40:35-08:00

I’ve made a new post to the evangelicals-Mormons discussion group. Find the original, complete with any typos I’ve corrected below (but without added links), here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evangelicals_and_lds/message/3815. Sorry for the long delay in responding. Though the discussion has probably moved on without me, I thought I’d take a moment to respond anyway. Rather than try to address each point made by you [a Mormon group participant named Linda] and others who responded to…

Packer's Puritan Portraits: Solid Reading, Not Entirely New

2013-01-24T08:29:21-08:00

J. I. Packer. Puritan Portraits: J. I. Packer on Selected Classic Pastors and Pastoral Classics . Ross-shire, Scotland, U.K.: Christian Focus Publications, 2012. Kindle (Mobi) Format. ISBN 978-1-78191-076-4. (Location numbers in the review are sometimes approximate.) For some years, an introduction by J. I. Packer has served among Protestant evangelicals a function roughly equivalent that of the nihil obstat among Roman Catholics. For a Protestant evangelical like myself to give a Packer…

What Would The Lone Ranger Do? Wrong Question.

2013-01-19T13:28:42-08:00

John Crotts. Loving the Church: God's People Flourishing in God's Family. Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9824387-4-9. No price on cover. In Loving the Church, John Crotts, a pastor-teacher (Faith Bible Church, Sharpsburg, GA), university and seminary graduate (Liberty University, The Master's Seminary), and association board member (Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals, FIRE), seeks to counter an epidemic, documented by pollster George Barna (26-7) and journalist Julia Duin (27-8), of Christians…

Show Future Police State You Must Be Eliminated: Sign Today!

2013-01-16T10:44:22-08:00

I continue to sign online petitions. While not so deluded as to believe signing these will have any influence on policy (all my representatives have strong ideological commitments, either in agreement with or opposed to my own, so that no change in their actions or rhetoric can realistically be expected), signing them does make me “feel better” for a time, and I hope gives some encouragement to those who have gone to…

Yahoo! Groups Query Concerning "Official" Mormon Doctrines

2013-01-16T09:50:13-08:00

On 01/06/2013, I posted the following question to a Yahoo discussion group for Mormon-Evangelical discussion. This group, by the way, is moderated by Christian apologist, Rob Bowman. Though I've not yet had the opportunity to read any of Rob's books (no book funds), I did take an online class from him at one point, and I've been favorably impressed with most of his answers (those that I've so far read) in this…

Holidays and Tattoos, and The Evangelicals Who Love Them...or Not

2013-01-04T11:47:26-08:00

I just (Fri Jan 4, 2013, 11:47 pm) posted the message below to a Yahoo! discussion group hosted by apologist Rob Bowman, at this URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evangelicals_and_jws/message/40327. One thing I learned that will not be evident from the message below or the original post, is that a “curly” apostrophe, though it will be accepted if you paste it into the Yahoo! Groups editor and though it will display correctly in the online version of your post,…

Abortion: Dialog Concerning “Preserve the Life of the Mother” Exception

2012-12-28T14:43:24-08:00

Alas, I remain incapable of achieving extremest-of-the-extreme status. Compared to blogger Justin Edwards (a man likely more pious than myself), even my cherished pro-life convictions seem moderate. Edwards proposes a ban on abortion without even a self-defense (preserve the life of the mother) exception. In response to this proposal, I posted the comments below. (I've changed the URL in this version, since the original uses a customized domain that may no longer…

LaPierre versus Paul: Realism versus Delusion

2012-12-27T07:20:45-08:00

Like his typical remarks on foreign policy (remember those Republican primary debates?), Ron Paul's response to Wayne LaPierre shows what happens when praiseworthy ideals are wedded to a weak grasp of reality. Though common grace (God's pervasive positive influence on even those who will never become Christians) does seem (in combination with, or possibly expressed through, "traditional values" social conditioning) to guarantee that most people in most places most of the time…

Homosexual "Marriage" Debate Revisited

2012-12-15T21:09:53-08:00

Featured image inspired by Wikimedia Commons user Shubjt’s animated GIF, “Not equal to symbol in math and computer,” which see. U-T San Diego letter writers have continued trying, within the U-T word allowance for letters (125 words per the letter editor's email to me a while back, though the paper's posted guidelines only warn vaguely against being too “lengthy”), to debate whether “marriage” should be redefined to include homosexual unions. Leonard Foster's…

Confucius Say: “Gay Marriage” Debate Not About Rights

2012-12-08T15:00:23-08:00

This was created as an op-ed for the U-T San Diego, my local paper, and posted here as a draft on the same day I emailed it to the U-T (that is, 08 December 2012, the day of the U-T article that prompted my remarks). It would not be made visible here until I either got some sort of response from the U-T or decided that a positive response was unlikely. One…

Missional Moves, Yes; Missional-Attractional Moves, I Don't Think So

2012-12-07T05:50:05-08:00

Wegner, Rob, and Jack Magruder. Missional Moves: 15 Tectonic Shifts That Transform Churches, Communities, and the World. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012. ISBN 978-0-310-49505-5. Cover price $18.99. Rob Wegner and Jack Magruder's Missional Moves asserts that God's mission, and so the mission of the church and of every Christian, is to effect a (metaphorical) "reverse tsunami" "of love and service" that, unlike a (literal) forward tsunami, "rather than leaving orphans...leaves every child loved…

Do Zombies Matter? Uh, Not So Much.

2012-11-02T06:11:55-07:00

In his Moore to the Point blog, Russell D. Moore suggests an analogy between currently popular zombies and spiritually dead humankind in general: http://www.russellmoore.com/2012/10/31/why-zombies-matter/. Though I find this analogy superficially appealing, closer reflection suggests it doesn’t really work. I offered some comments to that effect on Moore’s post, which comments I reproduce below. If you have thoughts on my remarks (and want me to know about them), please comment here rather than…

Metaxas' Ewing Case: Unpersuasive Argument Against 3 Strikes

2012-10-31T16:04:12-07:00

Eric Metaxas posted an article to breakpoint.org arguing, based on the story of non-violent repeat offender Gary Ewing, in favor of revising California’s “Three Strikes” law: “Enough of Three Strikes, Unjust and Expensive” (http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/%2020657). I found a key statement in the article to be in error, and so found the argument overall unpersuasive, and posted comments to that effect under the title, “Ewing Case Study Not Persuasive Argument Against Three Strikes,” which…

Dear Obscure Candidates: Please Seek Endorsements

2012-10-31T13:49:47-07:00

The East County Magazine site carried an article about an obscure race on the ballot in my area (http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/11560). It noted how some candidates in that race had rejected the idea of seeking endorsements. Since I rely heavily on endorsements to clue me in on who believes what in these sorts of elections where none of the candidates' names are at all familiar to me, I offered some comments objecting to this…

Concerning Scorgie: Billy Graham Exploited or Christian Right Maligned?

2012-10-28T02:34:10-07:00

One of my former seminary professors, Glen Scorgie, recently posted an article accusing politically conservative Christians of “exploiting” Billy Graham by getting him to endorse (Glen says “allegedly” endorse) Mitt Romney over Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election. (As Glen is Canadian, he will not be voting for either.) I initially limited my response to a one line, “Just a brief note of my wholehearted support for...the right-leaning pastors politicizing their…

Evolution Important To Engineering? Nye Says Yea, Ham Nay.

2012-09-22T01:22:08-07:00

Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis and one of Pious Eye's heroes, responds to Bill Nye, "The Science Guy," who claims (among other things) that teaching evolution to kids is important because we need engineers. Apparently, Nye believes that teaching children evolutionary stories about the past will make them better equipped to learn engineering in the present. Ham doesn't buy it. Sharing a video: Ken Ham Responds to Bill Nye "The…

Petition: "No Budget, No Pay Act," Merit-Based Pay For Congress

2012-09-20T16:41:12-07:00

I just signed this petition on the Patriot Voices site. Amusingly, the site’s too-aggressive (or poorly configured) anti-profanity filter altered the word “pass” in my tweet to “p***.” In any case, this is another good cause promoted by a good organization. Pay congressmen what they’re worth!...at least until they pass a budget: Sign the “No Budget, No Pay Act.” patriotvoices.com/no_budget_no_p… — David M. Hodges (@piouseye) September 21, 2012

Higher “Rich” Tax Rates Lower Tax Revenue, Weaken Economy

2012-09-20T14:51:25-07:00

Posted on Twitter (20 September 2012): Higher “rich” tax rates lower tax revenue, weaken economy, Sowell shows: Sowell on Trickling Down. More Sowell.

Maybe Sometimes It Is Okay To Blame The Teacher

2012-09-17T23:36:48-07:00

Originally prepared September 2012 (09/17/2012, 11:46 PM, to be excessively precise) as a comment on a Facebook friend's post. As I don't have permission to reproduce the image I'm responding to, I ask the reader to visualize the following. A smiling teacher points to a world map on her left (your right, and the right side of the image) with a blackboard (green rather than black, if you want to be technical)…

Religion Is Not A Four Letter Word

2012-09-16T17:56:55-07:00

Though I'm generally a fan of LifeWay and its publications, I'm disappointed to find its new Gospel Project curriculum* indulging in the weary and misguided "religion is bad / Christianity is something other than religion" rhetoric (Ed Stetzer, General Editor, and Trevin Wax, Managing Editor, The Gospel Project: Adult Personal Study Guide, v. 1, no. 1 [Fall 2012], 15). Though the more common false dichotomy is "Christianity is not a religion, it's…

If In Doubt, Sit The Election Out

2012-09-16T16:17:56-07:00

Fox News has posted an interesting article about how some African-American Christian leaders are suggesting their followers should sit out the 2012 election because of (most notably) Obama’s newly “evolved” support for same-sex marriage: “African-American Christians waver over vote” (Associated Press, 16 September 2012). (The article also discusses reasons these leaders find Romney objectionable.) My question: If Obama’s support for gay marriage merits a recommendation to sit out rather than vote for…

Akin, and Achin' for the Unborn

2012-08-22T13:14:40-07:00

Rape and abortion are wrong for the same reason. Image courtesy DeviantArt user NickSeraph (Creative Commons license). The material below I originally prepared August 2012 as a letter to the Editor of the U-T San Diego newspaper. Unfortunately, I was informed by U-T staff that letters are limited to 125 words, which perhaps explains why they rarely seem worth reading. While one can easily “spout off” in 125 words, simply asserting conclusions…

Whimpering Radishes, Leftward Routes

2012-03-01T00:01:17-08:00

Originally prepared March 2012 for a course at Liberty University. Routes & Radishes: And Other Things To Talk About At The Evangelical Crossroads, by Mark Russell, Allen Yeh, Michelle Sanchez, Chelle Stearns, and Dwight Friesen (with an Afterword by Lynne Hybels). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010. Soft cover. ISBN 978-0-310-32468-3. 1 In Routes & Radishes, five “younger Evangelical leaders ” offer thoughts in what the publisher’s blurb calls “a unique, interactive format…

To See Scripture’s Plain Meaning Requires A PIOUS Eye

2012-02-08T00:01:29-08:00

Do Christians disagree in their interpretations of Scripture because Scripture is unclear, perhaps because spiritual truths transcend human language and so cannot be perfectly captured in words? Though many today would answer, “yes,” Samuel Hopkins, writing at the end of the 1700s, answers with a resounding (and pious) “no.” (By the way....Though the Kindle edition I'm reading has significant defects, such as numerous OCR errors and lack of an Active Table of Contents, an…

“Stay Hungry” For Better Piety

2012-02-06T00:01:55-08:00

Though his text should carry a warning for much of its content (page 68's error of calling unborn children "potential life" is especially grievous, and scripturally-suspect psychobabble abounds), John White does, in this late-seventies text, provide some information of possible use to resolute celibates like myself. Today's quote also helps one see why wise practitioners of spiritual disciplines have long seen fasting, ostensibly only corrective for gluttony, as in fact helpful with…

Does This Watch Make Me Look Old?

2012-02-03T00:01:41-08:00

John D. Morris, Ph.D., concludes a discussion of various methods for determining the age of the earth by noting how those methods that indicate young ages seem reasonably expected to be more reliable than those indicating ages sufficiently old to mesh with the time scale of evolutionary theory—though, he emphasizes, all the methods are limited by such doubtful assumptions as constant process rate (uniformitarianism). If only a witness to the earth's origin…

Change The Bible Doesn't Believe In

2012-01-30T00:01:10-08:00

Social Justice now! Or not…. Dean C. Curry notes how those who co-opt Scripture in service of a Leftist/Liberal “social justice” agenda misrepresent what the Bible teaches. When the Bible speaks of justice, Curry informs us, it never uses that term

Looking Inward Is Not The Path To Piety

2012-01-25T00:01:16-08:00

Richard Ganz condemns the growing popularity in Christian circles of such self-exploratory therapies as “healing of memories,” which Pious Eye would note (from his own observation and experience) seem very popular in seminary “spiritual formation” courses. (Politically correct lamenting over, and inculcation of personal guilt for, various social inequities one personally has neither contributed to nor [so far as one can discern] benefited from, also seems very popular in such courses...but that…

If It's Nonsense, It's (Still) Not Pious

2012-01-23T00:01:05-08:00

Ronald H. Nash emphasizes the nature of the Christian God as one who can be known and who communicates verbally with persons he has specially created with an ability to understand such communications. Rationality and perspicuity, not irrationality and ineffable inscrutability, are the stuff of biblical faith and the Bible's God. There is nothing in the nature of divine transcendence that precludes the possibility of our knowing the mind of God. There…

Pious Prior Commitment And Choosing A Fork

2012-01-20T01:01:07-08:00

Yesterday’s quote asked if Byzantine-priority or Majority Text theory is “less naturalistic and anthropocentric, and so more pious (and less impious), than the highly naturalistic and anthropocentric methodology of the eclectics.” In today’s quote, the late Theodore P. Letis answers in the affirmative. The text quoted, last I checked, was out of print and not easy to find used. (Not at a reasonable price, at any rate.) Some of Letis’ papers found…

Forked Path In The Forest of New Testament Manuscripts

2012-01-18T00:01:28-08:00

Maurice Robinson contrasts the Byzantine-priority (AKA Majority Text) approach to New Testament Textual Criticism, which he favors (and which in turn favors such versions as the King James, 21st Century King James, and New King James), to the dominant eclectic approaches that lie behind the New Testaments of almost all contemporary Bible versions (such as the New International, English Standard, and New Living, to name three popular selections). Is Robinson's approach less…

Shrinks A Sign of Shrinking Piety?

2012-01-13T01:01:19-08:00

Martin and Deidre Bobgan assert that the prudent course for the pious is to choose biblical counseling over either secular psychotherapy or the many biblical-secular/pious-impious hybridizations offered as “Christian”” psychotherapy. Do you (like Pious Eye) think they‘re right? Or do you think the Bobgans (and Pious Eye) need “professional help”?

Pious or Impious? "None of the Above" Is Not An Option

2012-01-06T00:01:14-08:00

Peter Kreeft, commenting on Pascal's Wager, notes how inevitable death makes choice between Christian belief and unbelief unavoidable. We are “condemned to freedom” (to use Sartre’s formula). “There is no choice”, says Pascal; that is, we cannot choose whether or not we must choose. We must choose, though we are free to choose unbelief or belief. Why can’t we choose not to choose? Why can’t we choose agnosticism? Because we are “already…

Pious Ranking of Information Sources

2012-01-02T00:01:58-08:00

Tim Chaffey and Jason Lisle explain how and why Scripture must take precedence over (theories about) nature in Christian scientific work. ...since the Bible has never been wrong about anything, and since it is the very Word of the One who knows everything, we must place our confidence in the Bible above all other sources of information. Many old-earth creationists do not accept this principle. Instead, they have a tendency to put…

Who Needs Red Bull? Piety Gives You Wings

2011-12-28T00:01:04-08:00

Arthur T. Pierson describes how the duties of Christian piety, though at first burdensome, in the end bring delight, as wings empower flight. We are reminded once more of the...myth about the “wingless birds,” who first took up their wings as burdens to be borne, but found them changing to pinions, which, in the end, bore them. We are the birds without wings. God puts our duties before us to be patiently…

Can You Ace The SAT/GRE/LSAT/MCAT Using Random Mutations?

2011-12-23T00:01:24-08:00

Nancy M. Darrall, in her contribution to In Six Days, illustrates how random variation without intelligence-originated new information cannot yield evolution. DNA...is analogous to...paper and ink....Anyone who has sat down in front of a blank piece of paper in an examination will be aware of the need for something more than paper and ink in order to pass. We need ideas, concepts, plans, purpose, memory...—in other words, information....An accidental spillage of ink…

Pious Confidence

2011-12-12T00:01:43-08:00

Edward F. Hills, in his Believing Bible Study, notes how Christian confidence should be grounded in faith, not faith grounded in Christian confidence. For many years the thinking of conservative Christians has been a house divided against itself, orthodox in some respects but rationalistic in others....This, however, is a sad mistake, for rationalism turns true religion upside down. It makes our faith in God and in His Word depend on our confidence…

Pious Apologetics

2011-12-05T00:01:08-08:00

Greg L. Bahnsen, in his Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended, offers insight on the properly pious Christian approach to apologetics. In Scripture, God requires Christian believers to subject every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. This is not done if the apologist attempts to use unbiased premises and non-committed logic to persuade his opponent....If every thought is to be subjected to Christ’s authority, then we must not attempt to set forth…

Hermeneutical Maxim (Against Various "Wax Nose" Hermeneutics)

2011-12-04T23:11:55-08:00

No matter how clever, sophisticated, erudite, linguistically astute, or stunningly beautiful in its complexity your interpretive scheme may be, if it requires you to ignore or dismiss patently clear passages of Scripture, or to interpret them to mean what any honest reader will admit they do not mean, your interpretive scheme cannot be correct.

My Friend The Holy Spirit's File Drawer Problem

2011-12-03T20:06:43-08:00

Initial Post In My Friend the Holy Spirit, San Diego area pastor, Mark Peterson, a Charismatic (and a friend of the friend who gave me this book), makes many interesting claims. The following two claims seem typical (quotations are from the Kindle edition, 3% and 22% marks; paragraph breaks removed; contextual information about inebriation added in brackets in the second quotation): And then I felt it. The Holy Spirit revealed to me…

About Pious Eye (Legacy)

2011-11-24T05:18:21-08:00

This site’s old “About” was a depressing piece of business, no doubt about it. Though my convictions were strong, I was “not a happy camper.” Truth be told, I remain a melancholy individual. Except for some alleged cheerfulness during infancy, in fact, I’ve always been such. I don’t foresee this changing radically in the future. — D.M.H., 03 May 2024< Though for a time the site’s founder made an effort to cultivate…

Zen & The Art of Gospel-Evasion: Interview with Commentary

2011-08-01T12:01:00-07:00

Originally written for a course at Luther Rice University & Seminary in August 2011, under the title “Zen & The Art of Gospel-Evasion: An Interview with Commentary.” On Thursday, 4 August 2011, the writer interviewed a priest and assistant instructor at a Zen center in San Diego County, California, where the writer resides. Because the interviewee shared some information the writer deems private, he has not included the interviewee's name or the…

Zen: Accepting Reality as It Isn't

2011-08-01T00:01:07-07:00

Originally written for a course at Luther Rice University & Seminary in August 2011, under the title “Zen: Accepting Reality As It Isn't.” This post, please note, in not yet “complete”: Some revisions, such as introduction of relevant links, remain pending. This paper will survey central metaphysical and epistemological tenets of Zen philosophy and examine two Zen practices growing out of these tenets. The philosophy, and practices based upon it, will be…

Where Could You Affix The Warning Label For This One?

2011-01-27T00:01:32-08:00

Norman Geisler and Frank Turek observe an inconsistency in U.S. lawmaking. On the one hand, use of government force to discourage smoking is deemed appropriate because studies find that smokers die, on average, seven years sooner than non-smokers. On the other hand, though at least one study indicates that homosexual practices correlate with a much greater reduction in life-expectancy than smoking, government force is not only not used to discourage homosexual behavior,…

An Open System Gathers No Moss, Only Mess

2009-12-26T00:01:53-08:00

In the 1984 Baker edition of The Biblical Basis For Modern Science, author Henry M. Morris refutes the argument that earth’s being an open system makes the law of entropy irrelevant to the creation-evolution debate. He writes: Of course, the application of scientific reasoning required here presupposes things about the trustworthiness and reliability of human faculties (sense, perception, reason) that those who reject the rational and trustworthy God of the Bible seem…

The Impropriety, If Not Impiety, of Mysticism

2009-06-11T00:01:08-07:00

In The Fountainhead (1996 Signet paperback edition), Ayn Rand, atheist philosopher-novelist and widely known proponent of a godless and (to my eye) Nietzschean version of capitalism, caricatures the mystical mindset, with its frequent appeals to the “mysterious” and the “ineffable,” in the person of her character Peter Keating. She writes: Since humans can have experiences that they either are not permitted to verbalize (2 Corinthians 12:2–4) or that they are unable to…

Lesslie Newbigin's Epistemology: Humble Presuppositionalism?

2009-06-01T00:01:10-07:00

“Humble Presuppositionalism: Newbigin’s Fallibilist Coherentism, with a Dash of Plantinga,” originally written in June 2009 for a course at Bethel Seminary San Diego. Bracketed comments carrying my initials (DMH) mostly date to 2011 (when I first prepared a version of this paper for the Web), though later comments are also possible. I should note, by the way, that my conservative theological and political convictions would generally put me on the side of…

What Has Evangelicalism to Do with Postfoundationalism? Van Huyssteen, Polanyi, and the Conservative Christian Mind

2009-03-01T00:01:14-08:00

Backstory ˅ I prepared this paper for an independent study at Bethel Seminary San Diego, where I earned an MA in Theological Studies, in March 2009. A branch campus of Bethel Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Bethel Seminary San Diego closed in 2019. The Saint Paul campus now maintains all records for San Diego alumni. Most San Diego professors who have not retired or moved away are now teaching at Pacific Theological…

If It's Nonsense, It's Not Pious

2009-01-08T00:01:25-08:00

Some suggest that pious Christian faith includes belief that the logically contradictory is true, such as in a divine realm beyond the laws of logic and all distinctions. In By Scripture Alone (2002 Trinity Foundation edition), W. Gary Crampton rejects this as impious nonsense: As I’ve noted in brackets, what is to be rejected is belief in contradictions that are true. It is in the sense of insoluble contradictions that, I believe,…

Theology Is Queen, Science Subject

2008-12-14T00:01:44-08:00

Gordon H. Clark, in the 1963 Presbyterian & Reformed edition of his Karl Barth’s Theological Method, argues that letting Scripture-based theology reign as queen over the sciences yields the unity of knowledge that reason requires. He writes: This proposal may strike even some Christians as odd today, since many so-called apologists now look to science for evidence upon which to base their version of Christian “faith.” In this scheme, science is queen…

Interpreting Genesis

2008-07-02T00:01:12-07:00

In the 2005 (second) edition of Did God Create In 6 Days? (Tolle Lege Press, Presbyterian Press, and The Covenant Foundation), Joseph A. Pipa asserts the following about the correct interpretation of Genesis 1: Although not everyone agrees that Scripture’s references to the sun moving and standing still may be dismissed so easily (some Bible believers do advocate geocentricity), Pipa does show that fair-minded exegetical analysis rules out any such dismissal of…

Impious Hermeneutics

2008-02-07T00:01:20-08:00

Philip Jacob Spener, in his 1675 book Pia Desideria (Pious Desires), addressed the origin of impious interpretive schemes at odds with the perspicuity (clarity) of Scripture. Theodore Tappert translates Spener’s remarks as follows: While it is possible Spener considered some reasonable inferences from all that Scripture says to have been “Subtleties unknown to the Scriptures,” his basic observation merits every Bible believer’s attention. Very complex and imaginative interpretations may be made to…

Impious Ethics (Still) Impossible

2007-12-30T00:01:37-08:00

In To Be As God: A Study of Modern Thought Since The Marquis de Sade (Ross House, 2003) Rousas John Rushdoony reiterates how the consistent immorality of the Marquis de Sade is the course most logically consistent with unbelief. Because [the Marquis de] Sade was so consistently evil, he was more logical than most evil men and most churchmen, whose inconsistent profession of Christianity blurs their vision badly. Sade’s fundamental premise in…

Impious Ethics Impossible

2007-07-15T00:01:36-07:00

Rousas John Rushdoony, in his The Mythology Of Science (Ross House edition, 2001), points out the logical superiority (given unbelieving or “neutral” premises) of the Marquis de Sade’s anti-ethics over relativistic “consenting adults” morality. To date, American society has only been inclined to adopt the demonic Marquis’s logic when it comes to the victimization of innocents unable to speak for themselves, by making surgical abortion, which ends an innocent person’s life based…

In Search of The Soul

2007-03-01T00:01:43-08:00

Originally prepared in March 2007 for a course at Bethel Seminary (San Diego campus, now closed). Revised to improve Web presentation in October 2024. In Search of the Soul: Four Views of The Mind-Body Problem. Edited by Joel B. Green & Stuart L. Palmer. Downers Grover: InterVarsity, 2005. Pp. 223. Paper. ISBN 0-8308-2773-0. [1], [2] Prefer to skip ahead? Here is a heading-by-heading, hyperlinked breakdown of the paper’s contents: Editor Joel B.

No Piety, No Unity; Know Piety, Know Unity

2007-01-21T00:01:47-08:00

When essential bricks are left out, the wall cannot stand. Do better. Cornelius Van Til, in The Defense of The Faith (Presbyterian and Reformed, 3rd revised edition, 1967), describes how any unity of thought and experience that the impious (unbelievers) claim is illusory. At least, any unbelieving basis claimed for such unity is illusory, though a degree of unity at odds with unbelief, “a shadow unity,” is inevitably retained. And so it…

For The Impious Eye, More Light Means Greater Terror

2006-12-19T00:01:44-08:00

If you reject the Bible, be afraid. Be very afraid. H. P. Lovecraft, in his 1926 story “The Call of Cthulhu,” models how the unbelieving, the impious, should view the world around them—with horror, terrified. Were unbelief correct and Scripture no revelation, one would be quite reasonable to think as this narrator does: The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all…

Christendom is Dead. Long Live Fundom (or Worse)?

2006-05-01T00:01:27-07:00

In his 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse In The Age of Show Business, Neil Postman suggested that the rise of television to its central place in contemporary culture has negatively affected public discourse in multiple and evident ways. How the ascendancy of the Internet has since, and will henceforth, intensify or moderate these effects largely remains to be seen. However, the tendency of each new connected technology to emphasize…

How Can A Gospel Presentation Be Wrong When It Feels So Right?

2006-01-16T00:01:48-08:00

In the 1981 InterVarsity edition of his book Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People, Will Metzger warned against using a watered-down “feel good” gospel to make Christian faith seem more appealing to unbelievers. He wrote, “God has a wonderful plan for your life!” and “Won’t you give Jesus a chance?” may feel good to say, but that doesn’t mean you should say them. While it…

Doubting Commonsense Epistemology

2005-11-20T00:01:17-08:00

Keith Lehrer, in his Theory of Knowledge, cautions against the sort of “commonsense” thinking prevalent among advocates of externalism, which is “The view that mental events and acts are essentially dependent on the world external to the mind, in opposition to the Cartesian separation of mental and physical worlds” (Oxford Living Dictionaries: English online, under word externalism). Should the pious heed his warning? According to Lehrer, then, reliance on commonsense notions to…

Over Time, Exercise Could Kill You

2005-06-04T00:01:01-07:00

The late longevity researcher, Roy Walford, M.D., noted how such exercises-to-exhaustion as marathon running could shorten lifespan, a matter perhaps relevant to Christian stewardship. In his Beyond The 120 Year Diet: How To Double Your Vital Years (2000 revised and expanded Four Wall Eight Windows edition, 199), he wrote the following: Apparently, the “bodily exercise” that “profiteth little” (1 Timothy 4:8) is moderate exercise. Immoderate exercise, on the other hand, does not…

Christianity: Religion or Relationship?

2005-01-18T04:35:11-08:00

The world is full of popular, clever-sounding sayings that are simply not true. This brief post concerns one such pseudo-aphorism, namely this: This popular saying, which I have heard from pulpits and from other Christians for as long I can remember, has finally exceeded my tolerance. A relationship motivates practice; it does not replace it. Therefore, Christianity is both a religion and a relationship, with the latter motivating the former. To deny…

This Is Only A Test

2001-01-01T01:01:33-08:00

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I Still Have Issues: Further Remarks on Established Themes — Part 5

1901-01-01T01:01:00-08:00

This is a placeholder. When the post is ready, it will be uploaded and assigned a proper date. Please check back. Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 3 · Part 4 · Part 5

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1901-01-01T01:01:00-08:00

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