Examination

Today was the first day of final exams for the term at my school, and honestly, I am very thankful I do not have to give any and in fact was able to turn in most of my grades today. Thank you, Lord!!

A lot of students wonder why we give final exams. Ideally, it is a chance to see how much of the material presented over the semester has stuck and how deep the student’s understanding of it has become. Ideally, the student has spent three and a half months struggling with the new material, trying to fit it into their understanding of the world and having that understanding reshaped to accommodate it.

The consideration of new ideas, new exercises in critically examining assumptions/arguments—both our own and those of others, whether we agree with them or not—these compose the real heart of education, the maturing of the mind and heart, ideally helping them work together and deeper with the goal of developing wisdom more than knowledge.

Which is Responsible for More Evil, the Church or Atheism?

The last several days have been inspired by comments on the Greta Christina blog post that inspired February’s “Unlikely Bedfellows” post here on TSR. In some of her responses to readers’ comments, she discusses various arguments for and against both faith and atheism. While I passionately disagree with much of what she says and supports, I respect her stated desire to have rational discussion on the merits of different worldviews.

She takes issue with certain classic Christian arguments about atheism, such as more evil has been committed by atheists than the Church, and responds that it is the other way around.

As I thought about the topic, I realized it is a pathetic argument from either direction.