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And this just in...

Here's the part of my site where I get to tell you what I've been up to, what I'm currently doing, what I may be into down the pike, or anything I might feel like expressing in a somewhat public fashion. If you see something here and have questions or thoughts that you'd like to communicate to me, you can use my contact form or look up my contact info here.

Note that dates and times for posts are listed using the U.S. Eastern Standard time zone, and times are listed in 24-hour format (e.g. 7:04AM is 07:04, 7:19PM is 19:19, etc.).

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A lot to catch up on...

I've been meaning to update my reading list for quite some time now, and in going over the backlog I also realised that I've not posted anything newsworthy here for quite some time. I need to fix that! A lot has been happening to me, and I want to keep track of some of it in a public sort of way. So I'm considering this a sort of promissory “note to self”, that I will be posting here again soon!

Does God Exist?

Title: Does God Exist?
Rating:
Author: J. P. Moreland and Kai Nielsen
ISBN: 0-87975-823-6
Pages: 307
Format: paperback
Started: 2014-05-11
Finished: 2014-09-08

After reading this book, I've finally and reluctantly come to the conclusion that there is no conclusive, object evidence that proves the point for either answer. If there were such evidence, everyone would merely point to it and thus end all argument. Period!

Nonetheless, I found quite a bit of food for thought, and some interesting ideas that I'd never encountered before, and the book has an extensive bibliography that covers the gamut. More to add to my already extensive list of pending reading material!

Of all the intense thought this read provoked, there is one thing that I discovered for myself: “Pascal's Wager” really seems a totally moot point. The gist of it is that if “bet” that God doesn't exist, but he does, when you die you lose. But if you “bet” that He does exist and believe in Him and live in a way that seeks to please him, it doesn't matter if He does or doesn't, when you die at least you don't lose. However, the whole uproar about what happens after we die is beside the point. We can with utter certainty say that we are alive, and that the time we have is limited. For me, it is far more important that we truly live life for all that it is and can be, making the best of each and every moment, as much as we possibly can. Too much time and energy is wasted by the living on “what happens after we die”! And if there is a God that does care about how we spend our lives, those are quite likely to be His thoughts on the matter as well.

Sepulchre

Title: Sepulchre
Rating:
Author: Kate Mosse
ISBN: 978-0-399-15467-6
Pages: 565
Format: hardcover
Started: 2014-05-15
Finished: 2014-08-16

[Details to come…]

Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads

Title: Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads
Rating:
Author: Chris Lowney
ISBN: 978-0-8294-4091-1
Pages: 152
Format: paperback
Started: 2014-07-02
Finished:

Dead Write

Title: Dead Write
Rating:
Author: Sheila Lowe
ISBN: 978-0-451-22812-3
Pages: 310
Format: paperback
Started: ~2014-05-01
Finished: 2014-05-21

[Details to come…]


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NOTE: I use a 0 to 5 system to rate what I've read. A book or article that has no rating at all is either waiting to be finished, or I've not had the chance to rate it yet.
 0 = I disliked the book, and do not recommend it at all.
 1 = The book was just tolerable enough to finish.
 2 = The book was okay but nothing to write home about.
 3 = The book was fair enough to read at least once.
 4 = The book was enjoyable and definitely worth reading.
 5 = I thoroughly enjoyed the book or it had a lasting impact.
  

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